Cultivate A Growth Mindset To Unlock Your Potential

“Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” - Joshua J. Marine

In life, there are many instances where it’s easier to blame genetics, our childhood, being unlucky, or our innate intelligence than it is to challenge ourselves.

When a particularly difficult situation arises that will test our grit and resolve it becomes easy to throw in the towel before we even get started.

Quitting, or failing to start will allow us to stay in our self-imposed comfort zone for fear of failure, or feeling foolish for even trying.

We have an instinctual desire to fit in and connect with our community and peers because we all want to be accepted as a member of the tribe.

In the past, our survival depended on being a part of a larger group where exile meant certain death. By not trying we can take the blame off ourselves and put it on uncontrollable circumstances we say we have no power over to remain in safety.

However, this fear is only real when we perceive it as something that holds power over us.

If someone believes that failure means they are less intelligent, unskilled, or lacking natural talents and abilities then it’s only natural to avoid any challenges that carry a high risk of failure. This way we never take on the risk of being an outsider.

“No one is perfect” is a phrase we’ve all said but it still hurts to think we may be looked at as less than perfect or possibly worse, incapable.

The beauty in these natural fears is they are what make us human.

“Please don’t ever be perfect, you’ll have no one to relate to.” -Peter Crone

No matter what you are striving for in life having the right attitude will make the difference when it comes to achieving your goals, stopping short, or even worse never starting.

Whether it’s improving our fitness, business, relationships, or education our perceptions of the obstacles in front of us play a vital role in motivation and will provide the confidence when results are slow or nonexistent to keep going.

“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” - Rodger Crawford

The Identity of a fixed mindset

One of the easiest fixed mindset traps to fall into is believing that we either have it or we don’t.

The things that we are good at and the people we see who are skilled in one thing or another have gotten to that point by being blessed at birth.

Classmates who get the best grades are born with a high-functioning brain and therefore don’t even have to try because they are naturally gifted.

With a fixed mindset skills are not something that should have to be developed because they would already be possessed if it was meant to be.

Challenges do not invoke a sense of development and positive stress, instead, they are viewed as evidence of incompetence and low self-efficacy.

It’s often easier to shy away from things that are difficult so that they don’t interfere with a high self-image, so it’s much better not to try than it is to be challenged to the point of failure or near failure.

In a fixed mindset failure and even challenge itself means that we are not naturally gifted or smart because it should all be effortless.

By removing oneself from any situation in which effort is required the possibility of failing or forming a negative self-perception is no longer present.

Holding on to the belief that it’s just not meant to be is the better alternative to working hard for something that doesn’t come naturally.

The difference of a growth mindset

There’s an idea in sports psychology that separates a skilled athlete from a talented one.

Talents are traits and abilities that come naturally while skills are developed through hours of dedicated practice.

A very skilled athlete may not have been the most talented from the start, while a very talented athlete may be coasting off their natural abilities without having to put in as much work as others.

The players who maximize skills along with their talents are the Micheal Jordans of the world, the extremely rare ones.

On the other hand, some people refer to Tom Brady as the best quarterback to play the game, he’s been to the Super Bowl nine times and won seven of them.

He’s not the biggest, definitely not the fastest, and was picked 199 in the NFL draft due to his natural “talents.” However, he never stopped developing himself and took advantage of all his opportunities.

As he has said “If they ever put me on the field they’ll never take me off,” and they never did.

The fear of failure did not exist in his mind.

Most people will never have the advantage of hitting the genetic lottery but growth-minded individuals look at the hand they’ve been dealt as the start, not the end.

They look at each challenging situation that arises as something positive and stimulating. Difficult circumstances are not meant to show them how dumb or inexperienced they may be.

It’s life’s way of providing some of the most valuable lessons they can learn because they are the best moments to push them forward and force them to evolve.

They look forward to the next challenge that will create the same cycle of stress and adaptation inevitably upgrading them into a stronger, smarter, and more experienced version of themselves.

It’s not about trying to hide inadequacies but instead, bringing them to the surface where they can be transformed.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.” -Seneca

What does this mean for you?

One of the most inspiring ideas is that no matter how smart or capable you are at this point, you can be better. Whatever the circumstances are right now doesn’t have to be true in six months or a year.

Being smart is not something you are just born with, some people have greater processing abilities than others naturally, however, real intelligence is gained through effort.

In graduate school, the “smartest” students are the ones who spend the most time studying. Continuously putting themselves in positions where they are not succeding and doing it over and over until they do.

As the difficulty in coursework and material increased so did the separation of grades. When a lesson is first given no one is knowledgeable on the topic, it takes time to fully grasp the material.

Students who stop early because it is too hard and time-consuming get the lowest grades while those who persist through the difficulty often get the best grades.

This same concept can be applied to anything in life, whether it be mental or physical. Don’t let temporary setbacks stop you.

Allow obstacles to stimulate your motivation and drive to figure out how to accomplish the desired task rather than giving up and choosing failure.

A growth mindset is unphased by the possibility of failing because it doesn’t exist.

“Defeat is not a defeat unless it is accepted as reality in your own mind.” -Bruce Lee

This is an important aspect of success because often people are not successful because they have given up too soon.

With a little more time and effort a breakthrough may have taken place, twenty more pounds would have been lost, and that passing grade would have been earned.

In the words of Think and Grow Rich, we can’t stop digging when we are only four feet from gold.

No matter what happens externally if we’re better today than we were yesterday then we are successful.

When you desire something strongly have faith to persist because your spirit already knows what your eyes can’t yet see.

Achievements or not, it will always lead you to a better you. What could be better than that?

• Summary of main points

  1. Genetics are easy to blame for failure but they are not responsible for your success either.
  2. It’s easy to look at challenges as the reason we are not gifted but it only means we’re human and challenges are necessary for development.
  3. A fixed mindset sees challenges as the reason why we’re not meant for that sport, hobby, etc.
  4. A growth mindset sees challenges as the opportunities they are, we become better through the trials. Micheal Jordan and Tom Brady are perfect examples for different reasons.
  5. Allow obstacles to stimulate your motivation and drive to figure out how to accomplish the desired task rather than giving up and choosing failure.

• Call to action

Look at challenges as the opportunities that they are. The next time you are facing a difficult situation think about how it will change you for the better simply by viewing it as beneficial.

What doesn’t kill us will eventually make us stronger. This is true for both our immune system and mental toughness.

Life is not meant to be frictionless, so embrace the bumps as necessary parts of the journey.

They are not supposed to stop you although they might slow you down and that’s okay because it will take a lot more to slow you down the next time.

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