How will traveling change your mind? - Written by Trisha

Kick start your 2020 with a growth mindset!

You would have probably heard the famous phrase "Mind is all that matters". Whether it is in studies, business, or a daily job having the right mindset would walk you through the path for success. Without having a growth mindset you can never taste the essence of success in your life

Who on the earth doesn't want a balanced lifestyle? Balancing career, home, hobbies, side hustle and many more while having a peaceful life is really a dream for many. What can you do to achieve all sorts of success?

Don’t think that you cannot do it or conclude that you are not born with the talent to succeed

Instead, you have to train your mindset so that you can knock down all the hurdles to achieve what you want.

"Everything you don’t know is something you can learn", you have to stop believing that you don’t have the capability even if you have the desire to become someone. IT IS ALL IN BUILDING IT WITHIN YOURSELF! 

Carol Dweck, a renowned psychologist at Stanford University has discovered the power of a growth mindset after decades of her research on mindset. Her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success outlines the differences between having a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. Studies show that once you harness the power of the growth mindset you can grow tremendously in your career.

Fixed mindset vs Growth Mindset

A person with a fixed mindset assumes that the ability, talent, and knowledge he possesses is static. He will never make an effort to learn something new because he has fixed his mindset in believing that he cannot enhance his creative ability. When one cannot improvise his talent and enhance his skills he will for sure be an utter failure in his career.

On the other hand, a person with a growth mindset believes that his abilities and talent can be cultivated through hard work. When you have a  growth mindset you will be searching for opportunities to learn. Learning will become a lifelong process for you.

Studies from Carol Dweck's research show that those with a fixed mindset will be capsuled within their comfort zone whereas ones with a growth mindset will extend themselves to harder tasks to raise their standards.

A person with a growth mindset has the definition of success as becoming smarter whereas those with a fixed mindset will evaluate themselves by proving them over and over again without succeeding.

9 ways to develop a growth mindset:

1. Mistakes are your greatest teacher

       The main key to developing a growth mindset is the tendency to view failure as positive rather than negative.

       Every successful human being ever on earth had overcome setbacks.

       You should have an optimistic eye to look through the negative influence of the mistake. The key is to learn from each mistake and improve your decision-making skills.

       In one Nike advert, the best ever basketball player Michael Jordan says that

"I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeeded". Even Oprah Winfrey was fired from her news anchor position at a TV station before building a world successful daytime talk show.

       As the well-known quotes go by "Failure is the stepping stone of success" unless and until you approach it with a growth mindset.

2. Cultivate curiosity

                  

       Questioning is a powerful method to foster your growth mindset. If you don’t understand anything straight, question it. Always, be curious and develop a beginner's mindset.

       Studies have shown that our brain grows with learning. Only a curious mind will have the thirst for knowledge and will continue to grow.

 3. Extend beyond the comfort zone

      People with a growth mindset always love challenges. They set their standards high and work hard to achieve it.

    

       It is always the easiest to stay cocooned inside your comfort zone. You can always wake up, hurry up, get to work, eat, sleep and live your whole life on loop. Or you can spend your extra time and weekends to start a side hustle or a new business and learn to create something different. To create a side hustle you would have to sacrifice your Saturday nights and Lazy Sundays. You should have early mornings and late nights which will be way beyond your comfort zone. Only and only if you come out of your comfort level you can see a new world else you will always remain a mere spectator of the emerging success stories in the new world.

   Once you start challenging yourself with hard tasks that are out of your comfort zone, you will see how much is available out in the world that you wouldn't even have noticed if you were still inside your safest level.

4. Focus on your development

    When you develop a growth mindset It is good that you should focus only on your growth.

     You should be your only competitor. Compare yourself against you. Evaluate your growth from 5 years before till now. Focus only on your growth. Never ever compare someone's middle with your beginning and be anxious about delayed results.

     Studies show that people who focus on their own development are high in confidence,

     Self-regulation, academic performance, and less anxiety.

5. Embrace the process

    Without the process, there is no outcome. Rather than appreciating the outcome you should embrace the process, strategy, and perseverance that yielded you the outcome.

   Carol Dweck writes about embracing the process in her book as  “Children need to understand that engaging in that process helped them learn.” The same applies to adults.

6. Enjoy your imperfections

   There is no one and nothing in the world that is perfect to the point. A person with a growth mindset will not aim for perfection instead they will view imperfection as an opportunity to learn.

   Beyoncé has sold over 170 million records worldwide and won 20 Grammy awards. When asked for advice she said that "If everything was perfect you would never learn and never grow".

7. Become a lifelong learner

   Some people think that learning ends with academics. Once you graduate from college you stop learning.

   Learning is a lifelong process. The grades that life provides you with success and failure. If you keep on learning throughout your life you will always be successful else a failure. Choose wise and learn something new every day even if it is as simple as "How to write a paragraph". It will be useful someday. Learning will never go in vain.

8. Get frequent feedback

   People who want to grow personally and professionally tend to ask for valuable feedback.

Feedbacks will help you evaluate yourself from others' points of view. This will serve as a room for more improvement.

   Once you understand that you are responsible for your own growth you will not be afraid of criticism or judgment. You will have the confidence to ask for feedback and learn from it.

9. Practice Self-love

   Self-love is essential for all sorts of growth be it in career, relationship or personal life. If you love and appreciate yourself more you will always choose what is best for you even if it takes the hardest of the hardest challenges.

   You are your best support and criticizer. You are the only person in the entire world who knows what is best for you. Only if you fill your cup with love, you can light up others with your love. Happy loving!