If at first you don’t succeed, then dust yourself off and try again. Not just a great Aaliyah song, but also some solid advice.
In a rapidly evolving world, with new technologies and tools popping up every other week, the ability to try new things and pick yourself back up when they don’t work out is more important than ever.
When it comes to your career growth, while many of us are focused on where we want to go, it’s also important to focus on how we’re actually going to get there.
There is where having a growth mindset comes in handy.
So, what is a growth mindset?
A growth mindset is when a person believes they are not limited by their current traits or abilities, but that they have the capacity to be able to learn, improve and grow.
It’s all about keeping your eyes open to opportunity, being willing to develop and expand your skills and always looking for the positive, even in the most stressful or challenging of times.
On the other end of the scale we have a fixed mindset. This is when a person believes they cannot change or grow from the current traits or abilities they have.
As you probably guessed, we want to steer clear of this one.
Four steps to success
So you’re ready to level up your career and want to get on the growth mindset train, but how do you get there?
Here are some steps you can take to get yourself on board.
Less Output More Learning
Often when we evaluate how successful we are, we tend to focus on our output – how much have you sold or how many projects have you completed? This is often done by comparing ourselves to others. If you want to shift gears into a growth mindset, this traditional evaluation needs to go. Instead, start focusing on how much you’ve grown and developed since starting out. Instead of sales goals, give yourself skills goals.
Celebrate Success & Failure
Failing is often the ultimate no-no in our minds, but it’s time to take away this stigma. If you don’t quite hit the mark, instead of shaming yourself for it, treat it as a learning experience. Reflect on what worked and didn’t work.
Encourage Ideas
Growing is all about trying new ideas, and ideas often come from the most unexpected places. Whether you’re brainstorming a creative concept or trying to solve a problem, be open to hearing the ideas of those around you, even if they might challenge your own.
Invest in Upskilling & Reskilling
With technology rapidly evolving, so should our skill sets. Not all of us enjoy change, but sometimes we need to embrace it to avoid getting left behind. Invest in yourself. Take some time every now and then to focus on upskilling and reskilling to keep yourself at the forefront.
Benefits of a growth mindset
A growth mindset sounds good and all, but what’s all the fuss about? What kind of benefits can it actually have?
Increased Trust
When you have more of a fixed mindset, you’ll more likely see everyone around you as competition. Instead of wanting to collaborate, you’ll feel pitted against everyone. While a little friendly competition can be good, constantly feeling like you’re battling against the world can cause you to lose trust and loyalty in those around you. You’ll lose the ability to work effectively with others. We can’t always do everything on our own, sometimes we need to let other people in to get the job done and reach that goal we’re aiming for.
Improved Morale
When you encourage yourself to have more of a growth mindset, you learn to focus on the effort and creativity you put into something, rather than simply the success of your output. You stop fearing asking questions or trying new ideas. You start having more faith and trust in yourself. This gives you a major confidence boost, which gives you more courage to try new things. Those new things just might get you to where you want to be.
Innovation & Risk-Taking
Most of the time reaching our goals means we need to evolve, we need to be more innovative and think out of the box. A growth mindset is the key to getting you there. Stop focusing on trying to avoid every single possible risk. Trust yourself to take on something new and don’t be afraid of failure. We’re all human, we all make mistakes and fail. It’s all about what we choose to do next.
Learn more about mindset
Read – Mindset: Changing The Way You Think To Fulfil Your Potential
Listen – The Positive Mindset Podcast
Watch – TED: To overcome challenges, stop comparing yourself to others with Dean Furness
