Psychologist Carol Dweck has spent her career studying attitude and performance. Her latest study shows that your attitude is a better predictor of your success than your IQ.

Dweck determined that people's basic attitudes can be divided into two categories: people with a fixed mindset or people with a growth mindset.

People with a fixed mindset think that you are just the way you are and that you cannot change. This leads to problems when you start to be challenged, because everything seems to be more than you can handle, leaving you feeling hopeless and overwhelmed.

People with a growth mindset believe that they can improve if they make an effort. They can outperform those with a fixed mindset, even if they have a lower IQ. This has to do with the fact that they actually enjoy challenges and see it as an opportunity to learn something new.

The deciding factor in life is how you deal with setbacks and challenges. People with a growth mindset welcome setbacks with open arms.

According to Dweck, being successful in life is all about how you deal with failure. She describes the approach to “failure” of people with a growth mindset this way;

“Failure is information – we label it as failure, but it's more like, 'This didn't work, I'm going to solve it another way. I'll try something else until it works ".

No matter which side of the chart you fall on, you can make changes and develop a growth mindset. Below are a number of strategies that will fine-tune your mindset so that you can align it with your way of thinking and help you make growth possible.

Don't remain helpless

We all have moments when we feel helpless. The most important test is how we respond to that feeling. We can learn from it and move forward or we can let ourselves be carried away by it and end up in a negative spiral.

There are countless successful people who would never have achieved what they have achieved if they had succumbed to the feeling of hopelessness: Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star, because he had too little imagination and no good ideas. Oprah Winfrey was fired as a TV presenter because she was too emotional and involved in the stories she presented. Henry Ford had two failed car companies prior to the success with Ford. Steven Spielberg was rejected by USC Cinematic Arts School several times. Thomas Edison had no fewer than 10.000 failed designs before the light bulb we know today was created. JK Rowling had a lot of trouble finding a publisher for her Harry Potter books when she was a single mother.

Imagine what would have happened if any of these people had a fixed mindset. They had given up hope! People with a growth mindset do not feel helpless. They know that if you want to be successful you have to be willing to fall hard and then get back up and try again.

Be passionate

People with a growth mindset have a relentless passion. There will always be someone who has more natural talent than you, but what you lack in talent you can more than make up for with your passion. Passion is what drives them.

According to Warren Buffet, you can discover your true passion using what he calls the 5/25 technique: Write down 25 things you care about most. Then cross out the last 20. The other five are your true passions. Everything else is just a distraction.

Take action

It's not that people with a growth mindset are able to overcome their fears because they're braver than the rest of us. It's simply because they know that fear and anxiety are crippling emotions and the best way to overcome them is to take action. People with a growth mindset are confident, and confident people know that there is no such thing as a truly perfect time to take action. So why wait for such a moment? Taking immediate action turns all your worries and concerns about failure into positive and focused energy.

Take that extra step (or two)

People with a growth mindset always give their all, even on their worst days. They are always trying to go the extra mile. If you always set limits on what you can do, physically or otherwise, that will be your attitude for the rest of your life. It affects you in your work, in your own morals, in your whole person and in your whole life! There are no boundaries. There are steps, but you don't have to stay there. You have to go beyond the step you are on now. A person must constantly work to get to that other level.

If you don't get a little better every day, chances are things are going to get worse and what kind of life is that?

Expected result

People with a growth mindset know that sometimes things don't go well and can therefore fail, but they never lose sight of the result that needs to be achieved. Setting goals and measuring results keeps you motivated and strengthens self-confidence. And let's face it, if you already think it won't work, why would you do it?

To be flexible

Everyone faces unexpected setbacks. Take, for example, the COVID crisis we have been in for almost a year now. People with a growth mindset embrace adversity as a means of improvement or change and not something that will hold them back. When an unexpected situation arises, they bend over backwards until they get the desired results. In recent months, many creative new initiatives have emerged by entrepreneurs and people with a growth mindset.

Don't complain when things don't go your way

Complaining is a clear sign of a fixed mindset. A growth mindset looks for opportunity everywhere, in everything, so there is no room for complaining.

Bringing it all together

By keeping track of how you respond to different situations, you can work every day to keep yourself on the right side of the image above.

Success!

Hylke ter Beest

Source: Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Dr.Travis Bradberry