Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset: A life-changing difference

When I was around 24, something happened that changed my life for good. Until then, I was going through my days thinking; well, this is what life is, and more importantly, this is who I am. Then because of a series of events (you know, breakups and other kinds of slaps life can generously deliver), I realised that I was just going along through life.

I had a chilling and scary realisation that if I kept going the same way, my future would be pretty upsetting. I remember projecting 10 years ahead and seeing myself having the same kind of job, making the same rubbish money, feeling ashamed about all that and looking at successful people wishing it was me.

Something had to change.
I had to change something.
Maybe I had to change.

 I remember sitting on my bed in the tiny room I shared with someone I barely knew (the room had one window that led into the bathroom. True story.) and I was googling things like “how to be successful, how to be more confident, how to get a better job.”

 Somehow that led me to discover personal development.

I bought my first personal development book:

 How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie.

 It blew my mind because there I realised that I can learn how to be better with people, how to be more valuable, confident, that I can work on my fears and insecurities, that I can change and improve, not in just one area but overall as a person. 

My mind unlocked from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

So let me share with you some of the differences between the two.

Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset

People with a fixed mindset believe that they are who they are and their qualities and things in their life are more or less set in stone.

That’s certainly what I believed before.

 However, people with a growth mindset believe that we’re almost like play dough and we can learn, change, improve and reshape who we are.

I’ve gone through such transformation myself and seen it happen with many of my clients

 One of the worst things about a fixed mindset is how it makes you feel about and see criticism, trying, risk and failure.

 People with a fixed mindset take criticism extremely personally because to them it’s an attack on who they are.

 People with a growth mindset tend to see criticism as feedback and a great opportunity to improve. They are also much less likely to take it personally because they know it’s about their actions not necessarily about who they are.

 People with a fixed mindset tend to avoid difficult tasks and challenges because there is a high chance of failure, and to them, failure is personal, permanent, and makes them feel inadequate.

 People with a growth mindset are much more likely to enjoy and welcome challenges and difficult tasks because it’s a great way to push their comfort zone, learn new things and become better as a result of that.

 People with a fixed mindset are often quick to give up when things get difficult and search for the next shiny thing. They prefer easy tasks that need minimal effort because why trying hard?

If you’re not good enough, you’re not good enough.

 Growth mindset people understand that trying and failing is part of the journey of accomplishing extraordinary things. They know that great things don’t come easy, but they also believe that if they persevere, they will succeed.

 For people with a fixed mindset, it’s usually only the results count.

 But people with a growth mindset know that life is a journey of continual improvement and every challenge and adversity makes us better, stronger and more capable. Growth mindset people love learning

 And finally, people with a fixed mindset tend to take the world around them at face value. It is what it is, not much you can do about it. They adhere to the status quo, traditions, and dogma.

 People with a growth mindset believe that almost anything can change. When you think of all the inventors, revolutionaries, and people who’ve changed the way we do things, they were people with a growth mindset.

 When I shifted from a fixed to a growth mindset, I realised that we create our own reality because we can change the “lens” through which we look at the world. The lens is our perspective and our beliefs.

 You always have the choice of how you look at your situation.

You can see all the limitations and disadvantages, OR you focus on the positives and opportunities in the situation.
It’s all there, it just depends on what questions you ask yourself and where you look.

 The true beauty and power of a growth mindset are that it gives you control over your life and yourself rather than feeling like a hostage or a victim of the situation. Growth mindset opens the world of opportunities and possibilities.

 I believe that one of the main reasons why people reject the growth mindset thinking is because they would have to quit making excuses and take responsibility for who they are, for what’s going on in their life, and that they probably have something to do with it.

That’s not a step everyone is willing to make.

 But a growth mindset is what makes the difference between living the life you want or the one you don’t.

 Check out my Youtube Channel.

If you need the support of a life coach to help you with making a great first impression or with any other areas of your personal development, you’re always welcome to contact me and let’s find out if we’d be the right match.