Your mindset plays a big role in your personal growth. Two mindsets that impact how you view challenges and learning are the growth mindset and fixed mindset. Better understanding the differences between these two mindsets makes it easier to achieve personal growth, resilience, and success. So, what is the difference between a growth and fixed mindset?
Table of Contents
Definition and Overview
Growth Mindset
A growth mindset has the core belief that your abilities and intelligence can be improved through dedication, effort, and perseverance. People with a growth mindset embrace challenges, view failures as opportunities to learn, and are resilient when faced with setbacks.
Fixed Mindset
Conversely, a fixed mindset is rooted in the belief that intelligence and abilities are innate, fixed traits. People with a fixed mindset avoid challenges to prevent failure, see effort as fruitless, and easily give up when faced with obstacles. This mindset hinders your personal growth and can eventually lead to mental health problems.
Now that we’ve established a concrete definition of the two mindsets, let’s explore the key differences through several examples.
Difference 1: Approach Towards Challenges
Growth Mindset: Imagine you try to solve a difficult math problem (fun!). Someone with a growth mindset approaches the challenge as an opportunity to learn and enhance their problem-solving skills. They would persistently work on the problem, seeking help, and understanding that struggle is an integral part of the learning process.
Fixed Mindset: In contrast, someone with a fixed mindset perceives the challenging math problem as a direct reflection of their intelligence. Fearing failure, they avoid tackling the problem altogether, convinced that their abilities are fixed and incapable of improvement. Instead of trying, they may resort in procrastinating or seeking distractions.
The difference: The growth mindset embraces challenges and views them as opportunities to learn. Someone with a fixed mindset views these challenges as a threat to their worth and ego.
Difference 2: Perception of Failures
Growth Mindset: Suppose you encounter a setback at work. Someone with a growth mindset views this failure as an opportunity to learn, adapt, and improve. They might reflect on what went wrong, seek feedback, and see it as a stepping stone toward future success.
Fixed Mindset: On the other hand, someone with a fixed mindset perceives the failure as a definitive indication of their incompetence. Rather than using it as a learning experience, they internalize the failure, feel discouraged, and don’t improve. This causes the failure to happen again and again.
The difference: A person with a growth mindset sees failure not as a reflection of themselves, but a reflection of their actions. It means they should learn and improve so they can become better at it. Conversely, with the fixed mindset, a failure is personal and means that you’re incompetent.
Difference 3: View on Effort
Growth Mindset: Imagine you’re trying to master a challenging piece on the piano. You practice every evening, with little progress so far. A growth mindset individual understands that achieving mastery requires consistent effort and practice. They embrace the process, believing that their dedication and hard work leads to improvement over time.
Fixed Mindset: In contrast, someone with a fixed mindset perceives the need for effort as a sign of incompetence. They believe that true talent should come effortlessly, leading them to abandon pursuits that require sustained effort, like practicing the piano, hindering their potential for growth.
The difference: The growth mindset views effort as a way to become a master, while the fixed mindset sees putting in effort as a lack of talent.
Difference 4: Response to Feedback and Success of Others
Growth Mindset: Suppose you receive constructive feedback on a project. This colleague explains that you could improve yourself by speaking clearer. A growth mindset individual would appreciate the feedback, seeing it as an opportunity to refine their skills. Additionally, when witnessing the success of others, they would be inspired and motivated to learn from their achievements.
Fixed Mindset: In contrast, someone with a fixed mindset perceives constructive feedback as a personal attack on their abilities. Similarly, when they witness the success of others, they feel threatened or envious, rather than inspired. This leads to a lack of collaboration and personal growth, and causes a toxic situation when you allow the green-eyed monster to take over your thoughts.
The difference: The growth mindset sees feedback as a valuable opportunity to learn and grow. The fixed mindset sees this feedback as a personal attack and a threat.
How To Transform a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset
Mindfulness and Self-Awareness
To transition from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, you can start with mindfulness and self-awareness. Understanding your thought patterns and challenging limiting beliefs is a crucial first step.
Through this step you may come to the conclusion you have beliefs that stand in the way of your growth. “I need to be perfect,” is a great example of such a limiting belief. Be sure to write them down, as you’re going to work on them in the following steps.
A Challenge? Yes Please!
Actively seek out challenges associated with your limiting beliefs and reframe these challenges as opportunities for growth instead of a danger to your ego. So get out of your comfort zone and view the difficulties you will undoubtedly encounter as a chance to enhance your skills and change your beliefs.
For someone with the limiting belief they need to be perfect, a great example can be to create something willfully imperfect and embrace it.
Failures Are an Opportunity
Instead of viewing failures as a reflection of incompetence, you can choose to see them as an opportunity to learn and grow. Analyze your setbacks and adjust your strategies accordingly.
So, perhaps you find out that there’s as mistake in one of the reports you sent to management. It’s healthy to check how this happened, and then find ways to prevent it from happening again. But do realize that it’s perfectly normal to make a mistake every now and then. We’re all human after all.
It Takes Effort to Become a Master
Embrace the belief that effort is the path to mastery, as this shifts your mindset towards growth. Do recognize that sustained effort and dedication throughout days, weeks, and years leads to improvement and success, and learning becomes a whole lot more fun.
To put this into action, take the effort to learn new things you want to learn. And when progress is slow, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, realize that it does take effort and patience to become good, and even more effort and patience to become great. Just keep going, and enjoy the process.
Gather Feedback
Finally, by learning to appreciate constructive feedback and finding inspiration in the success of others you’ll transition to a growth mindset. Working together with others, sharing successes and failures, and a supportive group of people around you all contribute to your personal growth.
To get started, I can highly recommend asking several colleagues, friends, or family members for feedback. It’s all about asking the right questions, so first prepare yourself by jotting down some questions you’d like to get answered. “In what areas do you feel I can further improve myself?” can be a great question, for example.
Conclusion: Differences Between Growth & Fixed Mindset
So, what’s the difference between a growth and fixed mindset? The difference lies in how you approach challenges, perceive failures, view effort, and respond to feedback and the success of others.
While a fixed mindset limits personal and professional growth, a growth mindset opens doors to learning, resilience, and success.
So, if you recognize the fixed mindset in how you think, take action through the tips in this article and transform it into a growth mindset!
