The term ‘growth mindset’ gets tossed around a lot…to the point where it’s lost some of its meaning.
But today I challenge you to see it as more than just a motivational catchphrase. Because, on a deeper level, the term growth mindset speaks to the science that goes into rewiring your brain after reaching adulthood.
How?
As a child, your brain forms new neural connections without any conscious effort. For better or worse, neural pathways form simply through exposure to the surrounding environment and information.
But as an adult, that changes. From about 25 onward, your brain still has plenty of potential to grow and change. But, it can only happen through “active pursuit of information to rewire neural pathways.”
It takes work.
This is where you get to make a choice: between a ‘fixed mindset’ or ‘growth mindset.’
You can sit back and say “I can’t change.”
Or you can decide, “It’s never too late!”
Growth Mindset and Learning Italian
As a college student, I lived in Italy and stayed long enough to become fluent in Italian.
But after college I had few opportunities to keep practicing the language. And that fluency slipped away.
Decades later I found myself thinking, “I really wish I’d kept up with Italian.”
That desire became a strong “want.” And I had to make a choice.
I could have said, “Oh well, it’s too late for me to start again.” Instead, I decided to reconnect with the language by taking online lessons.
Why?
Because having a growth mindset means I’m not focused on success or failure. Instead, all I’m focused on is moving the needle forward.
In these lessons, my instructor speaks only Italian for the entire hour. It’s extremely challenging and in the first few lessons I struggled mightily. But after several weeks, it has started to become a little easier each time.
A fixed mindset sees a challenge and says, “This is too hard.”
A growth mindset sees a challenge and says, “This may be hard and slow, but I can do this.”
Breaking Out of a Fixed Mindset
The reason why it’s so hard to break out of a fixed mindset is because many of us have bought into fear-based fictional narratives.
We believe we’re not smart enough. Not young enough. Not bold enough. Not capable enough.
Above all, we fear that we will fail.
The more we tell ourselves these lies, the larger the mental roadblocks become. It feels easier to give up right at the beginning, rather than try and fail.
But those lies keep us from the outcomes we really want.
If you’re finding it difficult to break out of a fixed mindset, try this simple exercise:
- Write down several fear-based thoughts that are keeping you stuck at the moment.
- Reword those thoughts into “wants” (not wishes).
- Read the “wants” aloud and notice the difference in your body when you speak them compared to how you feel speaking the “fears”.
- Practice speaking the wants often and take one small action to pursue each one.
When your perspective is constricted by fear, you have a small view of what’s possible. But each time you overwrite those fears, your view of what’s possible starts to widen.
Each time you do this exercise, you’re expanding your idea of what is possible.
And that’s powerful.
Every thought is a possibility.
