ML Coaching
Most of us who are at home in the education and sports industry know the difference between a growth mindset (abilities are malleable) and a fixed mindset (abilities are set in stone).
But how can we actually contribute to developing a growth mindset? Which habits and behaviours should we encourage?
What is a growth mindset?
The most important thing to understand about a growth mindset is the difference to a fixed mindset. Either we assume that our abilities and skills are essentially fixed from birth (fixed mindset), or we assume that we're capable of changing and developing our abilities and character traits ourselves.
But how do we actually develop such a growth mindset? The idea is encouraging and liberating, yet somehow it's deeply ingrained in our minds that we're either good at math or we're not, creative or we're not, early risers or we're not... The examples are endless.
The first and most important starting point is that we talk about this at all, and inform and teach others that our brain can change. Accordingly, we should be careful about praising children for their natural talents or intelligence, since that can lead to a fixed mindset.
Especially in young children, studies have found that praising their intelligence can cause them to give up faster after a failure, take less joy in their achieved successes, and even develop the belief that "making an effort" is only for people with "less innate intelligence."
There's still plenty of discussion about the best way to contribute to developing a growth mindset. A recent study suggests that online programs are helpful for mindset interventions that can be deployed nationwide in schools. More and more research is being done on this topic, so we'll be able to identify further effective methods in the coming years that can help.
In the meantime, though, I want to share 6 behaviours with you that will help you on your personal development from a fixed to a growth mindset. I've also described elsewhere how you can achieve ambitious goals and motivate yourself.
How to develop a growth mindset
Effort
When we focus on the processes and efforts that allow people to succeed, we can develop a kind of template we can rely on next time. Praising attempts and effort has a long-lasting effect.
A study of children between 2 and 3 years old found that kids who were praised for their effort were far more likely to have a growth mindset by the time they were 7 to 8 years old. It was also shown that this type of praise tends to increase intrinsic motivation.
Different strategies
Telling children to try harder isn't enough to foster a growth mindset in them. One strategy that can work is advising them to ask metacognitive questions. "What could I do differently?" is a good example. That helps kids avoid working hard while still repeatedly making the same mistakes.
Learning
40 years ago, an American psychologist studied how elementary school students viewed an upcoming exam. Some saw the exam as a chance to test how much they'd learned. Others saw it as a way to compare and measure themselves against their classmates.
Those who focused more on the competition were classified as ego-oriented. Those who focused on the learning itself were more task-oriented. This study became one of the most foundational on the topic.
Task-orientation has since been associated with higher motivation, self-confidence, self-regulation, better academic performance and reduced anxiety. So wherever possible, we should try to foster an attitude focused on learning, development and improvement, not just on measuring performance and comparisons.
Asking for feedback
People with a growth mindset seek out and value feedback more than people with a fixed mindset. One possible reason is that they see new events and developments as an opportunity to learn something new and to develop and challenge themselves. Those with a fixed mindset, on the other hand, see such situations as a test (and, along with it, a judgment/evaluation) of their abilities.
We shouldn't just reward outcomes, but the behaviour of asking for feedback itself. This encourages children (and adults) to keep asking for feedback in the future, regardless of whether the outcome itself was successful or not.
Endurance/perseverance
The ability to withstand and overcome setbacks is considered by many to be one of the most important skills in life. I too, as a fitness model and personal trainer, had to, or rather got to, overcome numerous severe setbacks, as you can read in my bio and my interviews.
Today I'm more than grateful for these challenges, because they made me who I am today. Without these setbacks, I would never have become as successful, and most people who've achieved something in life, professionally or personally, share this opinion.
Science shows that people with a growth mindset persist longer. More and more studies point to the fact that strong perseverance leads to greater success.
Choosing difficult tasks
People with a fixed mindset often confuse making mistakes with low ability. That can lead us to play it safe to avoid looking bad. Over time, however, that leads to worse performance.
Mistakes happen and are unavoidable. When we encourage our environment to tackle difficult tasks and step outside their comfort zone, we help foster a better mindset. This growth mindset can lead to the development of courage and curiosity, both important skills in life that extend far beyond good grades and athletic performance.
Setting high standards
In a fascinating study on the topic of "know your limits," researchers asked participants to ride a bike as fast as they could for 4 kilometres. Later, they were given the same task again, with the difference that this time they raced against an avatar representing their first measured ride.
What they didn't know was that their avatar actually rode faster than they themselves had in the first race. The result? Participants performed noticeably better than they had in the first round, even though they themselves believed they'd given their best the first time. This shows that we can misjudge our own best possible performance, and can exceed our own expectations by a wide margin.
As a personal trainer in Zurich, I regularly help clients develop and strengthen their growth mindset. In my opinion, the most important success factor in my career is my mindset, which I've worked hard on, and still work on every single day.
There's hardly anything more rewarding for me than passing this on to others and contributing to more and more people's success. If you're interested in a coaching conversation, just reach out to me. I'd love to get to know you!