Growth Vs. Fixed Mindsets

We all have goals, and we want to achieve them. Our mindset is vital for accomplishing our personal and professional goals. When we don’t, many of us struggle to understand the reasons why the situation did not result in our favor. We often fail to realize that our mindset may be why we see limited to no success towards our goals. 

Our mindset matters the most when working on our meaningful goals. It can affect whether we think we can succeed or not. When working on our meaningful goals, there are two different mindsets to approach it – a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. This distinction between fixed versus growth mindsets is essential when considering how it relates to working on our influential goals. So, let’s explore the difference between two mindsets and how you can better understand your mindset when aiming to accomplish your goals. 

Fixed Mindset Limitations

Having a fixed mindset can cause a lot of limitations in your life. If you believe that you only have a certain amount of talent and intelligence, you’re less likely to try new things. Once you do, you will be more disappointed by any potential failure that may occur than if you had believed that there was some room for improvement.

Every time you fail at something, your belief in yourself gets chipped away at more and more. This often occurs with a fixed mindset because people view failure as meaning that you are incapable of doing what you set out to do. If you keep a fixed mindset about your ability to do well or achieve specific goals, then most likely, when the going gets challenging and more effort is required, you will start getting discouraged. You might even want to give up altogether because of the lack of belief in yourself.

People with this mindset also tend to view their abilities and opportunities as limited by inflexible characteristics instead of through the lens of what they can do to improve or change those characteristics. In other words, they become so attached to their idea of who they are and what they can and cannot accomplish that they begin to believe those ideas are facts rather than just limited perspectives. It makes it difficult for people to reach their full potential or overcome adversity because they don’t think it’s possible.

Growth Mindset Opportunities

People who often have a growth mindset tend to seek more opportunities to grow and deepen their self-awareness and development. Growth mindsets believe that intelligence and abilities can be developed through hard work, training, and persistence. They see mistakes as an opportunity to learn. They see failures as an opportunity to learn. People with a growth mindset are more likely to stay engaged with a challenge and have stronger self-motivation. And they’re also more willing to seek help from teachers or others for their learning needs because they understand that learning is one of the most important life skills you can develop to succeed.

Individuals with growth mindsets also tend to have a positive self-image and find it easier to take risks in their lives. People with fixed mindsets are often afraid of taking risks because they do not want to face failure. People with a growth mindset are also more likely to take advantage of opportunities. They are more likely to let others know about their skills and experiences. They are also more likely to put themselves in challenging situations, which makes them better at handling challenging situations.

Shifting Your Perspective To Cultivate Growth

Many people often have to learn that going from a fixed to a growth mindset is genuinely possible, and it’s all a matter of shifting your perspective to cultivate more remarkable growth. We can control many things if we take a moment to reflect and see if we can control our surroundings with certain scenarios and goals. One of the best things I often do in situations where I find my mind going into a fixed and limited state I ask myself if this is a situation I can control. If it is a situation I can control, I look for the chance to shift my mind to find opportunities for learning and growing to help me better achieve my goals. If it’s not an outcome or situation I can control, how can I find an opportunity to learn from it and even find a new path from it?

Take, for example, my first attempt at K2 in my mission to complete the Seven Second Summits. K2 is a dangerous mountain to summit, and only 377 people have reached the summit to date. I saw firsthand the challenges of attempting this summit push. When lines were not set and things were continuously disorganized, I knew that attempting to push through to still summit may not be worth my life. Climbing any mountain, let alone K2 takes a lot of training and work in the background to even attempt the mountain. I realized this was something beyond my control. My attempt wasn’t a failure; it was a reassess and regroup. I still made it to base camp 3, so I told her I would be back again after regrouping and learning from this experience. I learned so much about myself, my limits, and what to do differently when I attempt again this summer. 

Shifting your perspective when you catch yourself going into a fixed mindset is essential to cultivate more growth and tremendous success at your goals. While these things may seem like small changes, they lead to significant results. When people know that they can change their circumstances, they are less afraid of failure. They see failure as something that is an opportunity for growth and learning. This creates a positive feedback loop. People become less fearful of being wrong, which leads to them taking more risks and achieving more success with their goals. This also leads to even more confidence and an even greater sense of self-efficacy.