Building a growth mindset is something you will want to do to both develop in life, and to move forward from a current position or situation, particularly if that situation means you are experiencing uncomfortable challenges.
A growth mindset is not just a case, as often perceived, of having a total positive outlook on a situation or problem. Being positive is important, but on its own a positive attitude will not get you to where you want to be.
A growth mindset can be looked upon on as one that will look to positively solve a current challenge and to provide an outcome that has moved the person (or situation) into a more favourable scenario.
Further, there are ways you can go about developing a growth mindset, but it is important to understand that no one has a mindset that is fixed as positive, or one that is negative. Often our mindsets will change from this Fixed or Positive state depending on various factors such as:
Where we are currently in life
The nature of the challenge or situation presented
The resources we have at our disposal to solve or move (grow) away from a situation or scenario
Support Structures for Developing a Growth Mindset
Our previous and past success at solving similar issues
Also, it is important to understand that not everyone can achieve everything. However, working on, and developing a growth mindset will help to set you up for future success.
How to Develop a Growth Mindset in Life
1. Where are You Coming From what is Your Mindset
When faced with a problem how do you approach that problem? Considering how you currently approach challenges, either in your work life, your personal life or even when at ‘play’ determines your current mindset.
By asking questions about your approach to challenges you can help to identify whether you are a person with a more fixed or growth mindset. Are you Solution Based in your thinking, or will you write off a challenge immediately?
2. The Nature of The Challenge Presented
Life throws us challenges on a daily basis and from the day we were born. For example, a big challenge when we were very young was learning to walk. It was a daily, physical, and mental struggle until mastered. Now it comes naturally. You don’t even think about the process as you get out of a chair and move towards another location.
Developing a Growth Mindset for Success applies similar principles. We need to understand the nature of the challenge presented and build a strategy either short term or long term, depending on the challenge.
The end goal, will be to fix the success point at which the challenge has been resolved or bought to a successful outcome or conclusion.
By back-engineering from the Success Point steps to take to where you are now will give a plan of action to follow. The more of this you do, and achieve positive results, the more you will develop the growth mindset you need for success. You are literally building on success platforms to move forward in your thinking, and to have experience to call on and fall back on.
3. The resources we have at our disposal to solve or move (grow) away from a situation or scenario
By resources we are not just looking at financial resources. Although it’s true that the saying ‘If you chuck enough money at a problem, you can find a solution’ may be an answer, we all do not have bottomless pits of financial resource to use.
Yes, a financial base will help with challenges, but sometimes Developing a Mindset for Success can be something as simple as working on your health and achieving goals and milestones on your path to fitness or perhaps a weight target.
Cutting down on food calories and doing more simple exercises such as walking, stretching and cardio can be simply done with out the need for expensive resource deployment.
You may be surprised at the depth of simple resource you have already at your disposal.
Part of our resource we can draw on will be our support structure
4. Support Structures for Developing a Growth Mindset
Our Support structures take two forms. The first is a physical support in respect of Family, Friends, Physical entities, or material possessions that can be employed in the success of a challenge.
Family, mostly can give support and help if asked. A small caveat here, sadly some family members may be negative to something you are trying to achieve. This may be borne of a jealousy of what you are looking to accomplish, or often a misunderstanding of what you are doing.
However, do not take ‘feedback’ to be criticism, especially if it comes from someone that you respect or has succeeded in what you are trying to achieve.
The second support structure for developing a growth mindset is probably the most important and that is the internal reinforcement and foundations you will have mentally built in accomplishing similar or related tasks. This is particularly true if those tasks were tough or challenging.
5. Our previous and past success at solving similar issues
In developing a growth mindset what are you better at now than you were previously? When faced with a similar scenario or challenge that you may have faced before ask yourself the following questions
Why did you previously find that challenge or scenario difficult?
What did you do to resolve the challenge
Why does it feel easier now and perhaps without that fear of dread you experienced first time around?
What did you do to bring about your mindset change?
Practice makes perfect and exposure to the same scenario repeatedly builds a tolerance and minimising of impact to us.
It’s not just the fun stuff. We can always find the resource and time to plan a great vacation, but how about applying the same principles to our finances or a wealth plan? What about checking passive income opportunities or our health and diet to be successful?
The more we carry out these exercises in areas of our lives we begin to swing the pendulum in favour of developing a growth mindset for success.
Let me know in the comments below what works for you in tackling challenges head on. What past experience did you draw on and have you had negative family or friends challenge what you were trying to achieve?
Other Articles to help You
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Balancing Work Life Stress. Achieving Great Work Life Balance In The Modern World Read Here
Best Regards
Del