Optimism and the Growth Mindset
The view you adopt for and of yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.
Those with a ‘Fixed’ mindset believe the thinking behind their ability to solve problems, accomplish goals and complete projects is locked in. That is, their mindset is pretty much unchangeable. The ‘Growth’ mindset recognises that, through focused application and practise and despite
differences in talents, interests and styles, everyone can change and grow.
How you believe you are, you are
Carol S Dweck, in her breakthrough book, MINDSET, wrote this:
The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects how you lead your life.
Our potential is unknown until we start exploring and pursuing it. Our mindset determines how bold we’re prepared to be in the pursuit of our potential and its rewards. Or if we even start at all!
Mindset is what determines how we respond at various times, such as when we are challenged, receive criticism, or even when offered help.
Our mindset shifts on a scale
At one end is the FIXED Mindset, a belief that your abilities are fixed and unchangeable. Who you are is not negotiable, so get used to it.
At the other end is the GROWTH Mindset, the understanding that you can change your basic abilities by working in effective ways.
Who you are is a result of your efforts, so get on with it. Between the two is a spectrum of degree, along which our mindset can operate at different times, depending on a range of influencing factors.
You can develop a growth and optimistic mindset
The Mindsetting program explores the Mindset Spectrum in depth, learning to recognise its influence in our most common situations.
It unravels how we can adapt our thinking and behaviour to ensure we remain active at the growth end of the spectrum.
The Optimistic Mindset program explores the triggers and beliefs which cause us to respond either with pessimism or optimism, especially when facing adversity. It drills down into recognising the cues and personal symptoms that arise, then teaches how to decatastrophise and disable the pessimistic response. We can then build stronger habits for becoming more productively optimistic.
Sessions involve engaging discussion, individual and group exercises and direct education. Learners will leave with enhanced knowledge and practical tools to build the best growth mindset and know that adversity an optimistic chance to grow and become better.
Want to know what a great mindset looks like? Check the video below.