Self-Growth: How to Develop a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset gives us the chance to keep improving who we are throughout life.   As I think about the word IMPROVING  I realize that I don’t like it. Yet for a long time that is just what I thought. Now I see it as being limiting and contrary to what I believe.  Improving to me means that we are somehow not OK and need to become OK.

Over the years my mindset has shifted. What I now believe is that a growth mindset gives us the opportunity to bring forth our essence.  It is by taking leadership of our life that our view of who we are and what we are capable shifts.

Here is a quote by Walt Disney that I love: “All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.” It is a beautiful example of a growth mindset.  To follow our dreams takes effort and courage.  There is a recognition that by stretching oneself one discovers internal resources and develops character strength that one did not even know were present.

In contrast,  people with a fixed mindset see achievement as being a reflection of their worth. They tend to believe that talent and achievement should be enough and their emotional well being is at risk if they do not do well at some undertaking.  People are only “fixed” in their mindset as long as they do not acknowledge the emotional toll that occurs.  It takes developing trust in oneself to enjoy the possibilities available with a growth mindset.