How to Develop a Growth Mindset: 6 Strategies to Success

A growth mindset is a way of thinking about your abilities and potential. It’s about knowing that you can learn and grow if you try, rather than viewing yourself as fixed in who you are. Developing this mindset has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to reach your goals and achieve success. But what does it mean to have a growth mindset? And how do you develop one?

This article explains both questions with six strategies for developing a growth mindset—and shows how each can help you improve yourself and your life.

What Is Growth Mindset?

Growth mindset is the belief that intelligence and ability can be developed, which is the opposite of a fixed mindset. People with a growth mindset believe that effort, strategies, and persistence can help them succeed in life and work. In contrast, those with a fixed mindset believe their abilities are innate and don’t change over time—no matter what they do or how much hard work they put in.

Growth mindsets are flexible; they’re not about being perfect or even the best at something. Rather, they empower people to try new things without worrying about failing (which actually gives us an advantage). We tend to learn more from our mistakes than our successes because we get insights into where we can improve next time around instead of becoming complacent when things go well for us right away (which rarely happens anyway).

Do You Have A Growth Mindset?

If not, then it’s time to start changing your way of thinking.

To begin with, if you’re wondering whether or not you have this type of mindset, ask yourself the following questions:

Do I believe that intelligence is something that can be developed over time?
Do I believe that effort and practice are necessary for improvement?

If the answers to these two questions are yes (and they should be), then congratulations! You’re already halfway there toward developing a growth mindset. But there are ways to further develop it even more and capitalize on its benefits for reaching your goals.

Why Does Growth Mindset Matter?

There are many benefits of embracing a growth mindset. You will be more likely to take on challenges and learn from them, which will help you grow as a person. You’ll also be more likely to feel confident in your ability to learn new things, which can make learning easier and more enjoyable.

Take it one step further: Make sure that you’re setting up your environment for success. A good example is keeping all of your work supplies organized so that when you need them, they’re right where you left them (or better yet, ready for you!).

This way when something does go wrong with one assignment or another assignment doesn’t exactly turn out like it should’ve been done (which happens), then there’s less risk involved because now there is always another option available instead of just doing nothing until all hope seems lost!

Try one new thing every day

You may think that you’ve already tried everything, but there are so many new things to discover. You can try a new food, hobby, sport, language or form of exercise. Try a new form of meditation or relaxation technique and see how much more relaxed you feel afterwards. If you’re more adventurous than me (and I hope you are), why not try out bungee jumping or skydiving?

You can also learn more about yourself through these experiences: do they bring out the best in you? Or do they make your life better in surprising ways?

Acknowledge and embrace imperfections

One of the most important things you can do is to accept that you will make mistakes. This may seem obvious, but it’s easy to forget that everyone makes mistakes and that perfectionism doesn’t lead to success. It only leads to more stress and frustration when things don’t go perfectly. So instead of trying to be perfect all the time, focus your energy on making progress toward your goals instead!

Another way you can embrace imperfection is by acknowledging that there are some things in life we won’t know everything about right away—and that’s okay! You don’t need to know everything about something before starting; in fact, it’s often better not knowing too much because then you are more open-minded about learning new things (and accepting feedback from others). Acknowledging this will help reduce any fear or anxiety around learning something new as well as make it easier for others around us who may be able to help us out!

Cultivate a sense of purpose

Purpose is the reason you get up in the morning. It’s what motivates you to work hard and be a better person, because it helps you to recognise that there is meaning behind everything you do. Purpose is what drives leaders, parents, and people everywhere to do their best work.
The more purposeful you are in life—and at work—the greater your chances of success will be. As we’ve seen from countless studies on happiness and well-being over the last few decades, when people are motivated by something bigger than themselves (such as making a difference), they’re happier overall than those who aren’t driven by anything beyond their own needs and desires.*

Have faith in your own ability

To develop a growth mindset, you need to have faith in your own ability. This means giving yourself permission to fail and trying new things without fear of embarrassment or criticism.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can do this:

Don’t be afraid to try new things. Everyone has a talent, even if they don’t know it yet. If someone tells you that something is impossible, don’t believe them! Everyone starts from somewhere; there is always room for improvement and learning in any skill.* Don’t compare yourself to others.* Don’t listen when somebody says something is impossible for you because of whatever reason—because it will only make them right! Everybody has different strengths and weaknesses; some people are great at math but terrible at spelling while others might be good at both but struggle with fractions (and so on). The point is that we all have our own set of skills—so embrace yours!
Don’t be afraid of failure. It’s inevitable that some things won’t work out, but you can learn from those failures and use them to make improvements. Failure is just a part of life—so don’t let it stop you from reaching your goals!

Emphasise growth over speed

In order to develop your growth mindset, you need to focus on the journey and not the destination. Many people who adopt a fixed mindset believe that being smart or intelligent is something that can be easily measured. They think intelligence is something you either have or don’t have, so if they don’t get the results they want when they try something new it means their intelligence level isn’t high enough.

However, people with a growth mindset understand that success in learning comes from working hard at it – no matter what age or ability level. As Carol Dweck says: “Many people think intelligence is static – you’ve got it or you don’t.” But research shows otherwise: if we work hard enough at something we can improve ourselves!

Focus on the experience, not the end result

Don’t focus on the end result.
Focus on the journey, not the destination.
Think about what you can learn from each experience and how it will help you grow as a person.

It’s easy to get caught up in the results of our actions. But when we do that, it can be hard to see anything beyond our own perspective. When we focus on what we’re doing and experiencing, rather than just trying to achieve something specific or reach a certain goal, we are much more likely to find satisfaction no matter what happens.

Conclusion

By focusing on the process of learning and improvement, you can develop a growth mindset. While it’s tempting to focus on results only—especially if you’re trying to achieve something quickly—it’s important to remember that progress is often incremental and doesn’t happen overnight. Take time each day for reflection on how well you understand what needs improvement in your life or work, and make sure you have a personal plan of action for those areas where you need growth. For example, if your goal is better health but exercise makes you feel uncomfortable or exhausted by itself then try starting small with yoga classes twice per week!

Alex Bilchenko

Hi, I'm Alex - a Certified Holistic Health Coach and Nutritionist.
I'm here to help you find your happy place with food and diet!

I have a bachelor's degree in psychology and am passionate about nutrition, cooking, meditation, and all things wellbeing — anything that helps me feel more balanced and focused in life.