Growth Mindset: What Is Growth Mindset And Why Is It Important?

Last Updated on June 20, 2022

If you will talk to someone successful in their career and observe what’s that one thing that makes them distinct from you is that you’ll find their mindset that makes them different.

Mindset is all you need to grow in life, and without a doubt, it’s the most significant asset. However, many of us don’t know what mindset actually means.

Let’s learn what a growth mindset is and how you can develop a proper mindset to achieve success.

What is Growth Mindset?

A growth mindset is a way of thinking in which an individual thinks that skills and intelligence are developed — people who are good at something are good because they built that ability, and people who aren’t good at something is because they haven’t put in any effort.

This idea of “Mindset” has been pushed over by a Stanford professor of psychology and the author of a bestselling book, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” Carol Dweck.

According to Carol Dweck:

“A growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.”

People with a growth mindset always believe that skills are built and not born. People with such a mindset always try to never give up because they know they can learn and grow.

There are many big successful CEOs who believe in the power of growth mindset.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft himself, believes in a growth mindset; he had repeatedly credited Dweck’s “Growth Mindset” as inspiration for Microsoft’s culture change.

Carol Dweck Research on Growth Mindset

The results of Dweck’s research found that mindset plays a key role in their math and science achievement.

The results were based on a simple technique which is to measure mindset by asking them to agree or disagree on a 6-point scale with statements such as:

You have a certain amount of intelligence, and you can’t really do much to change it(fixed mindset item). No matter who you are, you can significantly change your intelligence level (growth mindset item).

This is what they found:

Students who believe that intelligence or math and science ability is simply a fixed trait (a fixed mindset) are at a significant disadvantage compared to students who believe that their abilities can be developed (a growth mindset). Moreover, research is showing that these mindsets can play an important role in the relative underachievement of women and minorities in math and science.

Source: Mindsets and Math/Science Achievement 

Carol Dweck’s studies also showed that “At every level of family income, those who believe they could develop their intelligence perform substantially higher on achievement tests than those who thought they couldn’t.”

Why Having a Growth Mindset is Important?

Having a growth mindset is really crucial nowadays, not just for students but for everyone. If you lack a proper mindset, you cannot grow in anything you do.

Even I have a mindset that all prominent people are born, but that is not true. Having a growth mindset is to work hard on yourself and polish the skills you have rather than thinking low for yourself.

The main reason having a growth mindset is essential you will start believing that a person’s true potential is unknown and unknowable.

This will motivate you to do great things; obviously, not everyone can become Einstein, but your years of hard work in your skill will make you a master in it.

Mindset change is not about picking up a few pointers here and there. It’s about seeing things in a new way. When people…change to a growth mindset, they change from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework. Their commitment is to growth, and growth takes plenty of time, effort, and mutual support. – Carol Dweck

How to Develop a Growth Mindset?

If you want to become a great learner, then a growth mindset can be your great foundation. A growth mindset also leads people to take on challenges, stick to them, and improve.

Even LeBron James believe in the power of having a growth mindset; this is what James said after the Lakers’ next victory over Milwaukee:

We learn from every game that we’ve played this year, both wins and losses. You’ve got to have a growth mindset and you’ve got to be able to grow in losses and be able to grow in wins as well—and see things that you could’ve done better, things that you did well that you can apply to the next game and things of that nature. It’s always a growth mindset for our ballclub. – LeBron James

So how can you develop a growth mindset?

#1. Do not think everyone is born with a talent

Not everyone is born with talents; the reality is that there are millions of people who are talented but do not excel in their careers or field, on the other hand, some are not talented but work hard to build skills and excel at what they do.

“You cannot buy your talent because talent is inside you you have to develop it only…”

Rahul Sharma

#2. Embrace challenges

Whenever you say YES to challenges, you say NO to your comfort zone. Challenges will develop you as a person. The more you will challenge yourself, the more opportunities you will gain.

Developing a growth mindset is to learn new things and learn new things. Look for new challenges. You have to understand that you can never learn when life is easy; you only know when it challenges you.

#3. Do not give up

To have a never give up mindset will be a bonus in your overall development. Life is about duality, and there can never be a success without failure; if you understand this, you will grow. You will fail, but you should have the curiosity and the passion to try one more time.

Know that the sun will always return no matter how strong the thunderstorm is, and the same goes with failure. Be confident and believe in yourself that one day your effort will not go in vain.

#4. Embrace criticism and learn

It is very common to leave things after someone criticizes us. We don’t learn and grow from criticism, but give up after it. This is not what we call a growth mindset.

To develop a growth mindset is to take criticism like lessons and learn from them. Grow and become better because it is important to learn well than to learn quick.

Criticism only strengthens you. Take an example: there is a man A who always stays in his room because of the fear of getting infected with some disease, and there is another man B who goes out, gets ill, and recovers.

What do you think whose immunity is strong enough to fight any disease between A & B?

Obviously, B because A’s body fought no disease, so his immune system became lethargic and inefficient.

Therefore, this is the power of criticism; it will strengthen you and will increase the pace of your growth.

#5. Focus on the process instead of the results

When you focus on the results, you only work for them. The best way to work is to involve in the process thoroughly. Yes, it is important to have goals, but you just think about the results you get attached to it.

When you get attached to the results, you deviate from your goal and the process. If you get your results, you find faults in it, but when you don’t, you avoid doing it and become stressed.

As Sri Krishna says, “The wise lament neither for the dead nor the living. They do their duties in all circumstances without being affected by results.”

Conclusion

In a nutshell, a growth mindset is all about focusing on your efforts of getting better and better in your skills rather than thinking about skillful people are naturally talented.

Develop a growth mindset by taking criticism and learn from it,  by never giving up and by believing that skills are built.