#18 - Fixed vs Growth

As you work your way through Advancing Daily, it is imperative that you have the right mindset—having the wrong mindset will make this all a waste of time. Your mindset goes way beyond this program though; having the right mindset has a huge impact on your relationships, your development, and your achievement. In a broad sense, there are two distinct mindsets a person can have when faced with their skills, a challenge, and how to approach it.

A fixed mindset believes that the skills, talents, and intelligence we possess, the things that make us who we are, are fixed. In other words we get a certain amount of skill, talent, and intelligence at birth, and that’s what we have for the rest of our lives. The problem with this mindset is that it simply doesn’t fit reality—science has shown that our skills, talents, and intelligence can all be improved. Being aware of this reality and believing it is critical for us to develop as human beings.

Not only is it necessary for dealing with challenges, feedback, and failure, it also plays a big role in how we see ourselves. For a fixed mindset person to be challenged, receive feedback, or fail means that the limits of their abilities and intelligence are being judged and put on display for everyone to see. As a result, fixed mindset people avoid any chance of failure. Unfortunately, challenges are a reality of life and any type of success requires some failures along the way. To a growth mindset individual it’s no problem—failure is just another opportunity to learn and try again. Unfortunately, many well-meaning people reinforce the fixed mindset, especially among young people. Based on the second illustration you can see why the right mindset is important—a fixed mindset sends messages to your brain which confuse who you are with what you can do. This is why so many students in school compete to see who can try the least hard. It’s not because they will get extra credit but because they believe that not trying means they’re smarter and trying means they’re stupid.

I think you’ll be surprised how often you notice these mindsets in action over the coming days. Do your best to embrace the growth mindset. Over the coming weeks, we will be discovering what success means to you, the skills that you value, the challenges you’ll face, and the tools you need to achieve them.