How do you respond to (unexpected) events? What is your commitment on achieving your goals? And how do you deal with the many challenges and setbacks you encounter in life? Your mindset plays an important role.
Your mindset creates your reality
What is the difference between someone who give up after a failed attempt and someone who takes it a step further? We find an answer in the mindset: the way we think and how we look at ourselves.
Your mindset determines how you think about learning, about your qualities and how you react to situations and events in everyday life. With your mindset you create your own reality through the meaning you give to the things you see, hear, feel and think.
Difference in mindset means that one can see criticism as constructive, while the other experiences it as rejection.
Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck completed decades of research into the relationship between motivation and performance. She discovered the power of our mindset and distinguishes the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.
Fixed mindset
People with a fixed mindset believe that capacities are fixed. You have it or you don’t have it. It is a given: some people are naturally good at things, while others are not. Belief in a fixed mindset makes you feel that you have no control over your development.
Growth mindset
Other people have a growth mindset. They are convinced that you can develop your capabilities. People who are good at something , because they become good at it.
Believing in a growth mindset makes you confident in the positive influence you have on your development. Where a fixed mindset stands in the way of growth, a growth mindset offers a good basis for continuous learning and development.
Influence on others
Your mindset also influences the mindset you evoke in others. If you compliment another with a trait, such as ‘you are good at grammar or ‘you are really creative’. Then you evoke a fixed mindset within the other person.
By praising the other person for his or her effort, perseverance or approach (you have handled it well or you kept up the good work), you stimulate the growth mindset. You bring him or her further in the learning process, you strengthen self-knowledge and confidence and motivate the other person to take on new challenges.
Be aware of your mindset
By becoming aware of your mindset you learn more about your view of yourself and your world. By changing your mindset, you change the meaning you give to what you see, hear, feel and think.
You change what happens in your life, and you change the mindset you evoke in others.
