Which Way Do You Fall With Your Beliefs?

How Your Beliefs Can Help You or Hurt You

In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb. In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don’t necessarily think everyone’s the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it.
 — Carol Dweck, Stanford University

The benefits of a growth mindset might seem obvious, but most of us are guilty of having a fixed mindset in certain situations. That can be dangerous because a fixed mindset can often prevent important skill development and growth, which could sabotage your health and happiness down the line.

For example, if you say, “I’m not a math person” then that belief acts as an easy excuse to avoid practicing math. The fixed mindset prevents you from failing in the short–run, but in the long–run it hinders your ability to learn, grow, and develop new skills.

Meanwhile, someone with a growth mindset would be willing to try math problems even if they failed at first. They see failure and setbacks as an indication that they should continue developing their skills rather than a signal that indicates, “This is something I’m not good at.”

As a result, people who have a growth mindset are more likely to maximize their potential. They tend to learn from criticism rather than ignoring it, to overcome challenges rather than avoiding them, and to find inspiration in the success of others rather than feeling threatened or inferior.

Are Your Beliefs Holding You Back?Dweck’s research raises an important question about the connection between what you believe and what you do.

If you believe things about yourself like…

• “It’s hard for me to lose weight.”
• “I’m not good with numbers.”
• “I’m not a natural athlete.”
• “I’m not creative.”
• “I’m a procrastinator.”

It’s pretty clear that those fixed mindsets will cause you to avoid experiences where you might feel like a failure. As a result, you don’t learn as much and it’s hard to get better.

What can you do about this? How can you change the things you believe about yourself, eliminate your fixed mindset, and actually achieve your goals?

How Your Actions Change Your BeliefsIn my experience, the only way I know to change the type of person that you believe that you are — to build a new and better identity for yourself — is to do so with small, repeated actions.

I have historically brought emotion to my motions of life. If I move in that direction and spark of creativity arises and gives me hope that I will “survive” and thrive.

Super important to not believe you need all the answers right away, just move confidently in that direction and believe the answers will come.
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Blessings today,
Coach Milton