By: Shiyara Dassanayake
You may have heard of ‘fixed’ and ‘growth’ mindsets.
The mindset that we hold for ourselves is often created through the assumptions and expectations that we set for ourselves based on the lens that we use to filter the world around us.
The human brain is said to be composed of approximately 100 billion neurons and research has revealed that the brain’s neuroplasticity allows it to reorganize neural pathways, adapt grow and change throughout one’s lifetime. By challenging yourself along with new experiences and perspectives you would effectively be changing your mindset -developing new neural connections.
Renowned Standford University professor Dr. Carol Dwek in her book, ‘Mindset’ speaks about how a ‘fixed mindset’ can hold you back and how a ‘growth mindset’ can help you reach your desired goals.
Dr Dweck writes in ‘Mindset’:
“…as you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another — how a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to a host of thoughts and actions, and how a belief that your qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.”
Thus, adopting a growth mindset will lead to a host of different thoughts and actions which would allow you the opportunity of becoming more resilient and self-confident. The shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset will enable you change your perspective to look at failure as feedback. You will then be able to look at the fixed messages that you tell yourself, dispute and challenge such fixed messages and hold yourself accountable to the action steps that you would then be able to design to become a better version of yourself.
The link shared below opens to an article titled, ‘Opening the door to opportunity by adopting a growth mindset’ by Patricia Haddock published on 7th September 2020 in ‘The Development Magazine’ for you to explore more on this topic.
https://peopledevelopmentmagazine.com/2020/09/07/adopting-a-growth-mindset/
