Who knew a three letter word could be so powerful?
Yet.
Consider its application.
“I don’t get it”
“I don’t understand it”
Your subconscious brain isn’t like your teacher in primary school telling you “yes, correct!” or “no, try again”. It just agrees with you. When we say things like this, either internally or out loud, it sends a message to our brains that “yeah you don’t get it” and “no you don’t understand it” and the more and more you think these thoughts, the more ingrained they become in your mind and the more you believe them to be true.
Now consider those same two statements but with our magical little word tacked onto the end of them…
“I don’t get it… yet”
“I don’t understand it…yet”
This sends an entirely different message to our brains. It sets a challenge. Your brain starts looking for the answers and the solution to the problem.
This concept is a well-documented concept in psychology known as Fixed vs Growth Mindset and it applies to learning.
Someone with a ‘Fixed Mindset’ rewards themselves when they achieve the outcome or goal. Whereas someone with a ‘Growth Mindset’ rewards themselves for the progress they make along the way.
Why is this relevant?
It is SO relevant. Because success and achievement do NOT happen overnight. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Success happens gradually as you make consistently helpful choices that take you towards your goal.
So, if we aren’t rewarding all that hard effort that initially has a seemingly small impact, then we are significantly reducing our chances of success.
Let me tell you a story to illustrate the power of this concept.
I am an absolutely terrible swimmer. Actually no, that’s not totally true. I am badass at breaststroke – I’m like a dolphin I move so effortlessly. But switch breaststroke to freestyle and I almost start moving backwards in the pool. I have no idea what it is about the anatomical make up of my body but my limbs are just not designed for freestyle. I look like a cat in water. Completely unnatural.
When I was about nine years old, I got into the inter-school swimming carnival for breaststroke (because I am badass) and then on the carnival day, one of the other kids got injured and couldn’t compete in the freestyle race, so the teachers subbed me in. I’ve always had an open mind to challenges so I agreed to participate and as I was standing on the swimming block adjusting my goggles and willing myself not to drown, a girl in my year came over with her posse of friends and said “you are going to lose and let our whole team down, you are so bad at freestyle” flicked her hair and waltzed off. “Ignore her” I thought to myself, the horn went, I dove in, I flapped around for a little while in the pool, eventually got to the end exhausted and not surprisingly, had come dead last, by a looonnng mile. As I was dragging myself out of the pool, that same girl was standing there, hands on hips waiting for me with her stupid little posse. “I told you, you would lose, you suck” and waltzed off yet again.
I was devastated. I hated the fact I had let the team down and preceded to find my parents and sulk for the remainder of the day.
About four nights later, after I had told my parents that I would never swim again, Dad got home from work and he and mum walked into my room. Dad had his hands behind his back and mum had this lame looking grin on her face. When I asked them what was going on dad showed me what he was hiding. My beautiful father had gone to the trophy shop and got me a custom trophy made, with a girl on a swimming block and everything! and engraved on the plaque was “Our darling daughter, for trying her best”.
Now at the time, I was absolutely mortified. How bloody embarrassing guys. That’s not a ‘real’ trophy. So I reluctantly said thankyou through a fake smile and bright red cheeks and then preceded to hide it behind all of my ‘real trophies’ so no one could see that it was a ‘fake one’ (stop judging me, I was nine).
It wasn’t until 17 years later when I learnt about the concept of Fixed vs Growth mindset that I realized the significance of that moment in my baby blue, Spice Girls themed bedroom. My parents hadn’t just given me a trophy, they had handed me a ‘growth mindset’. They had shown me that it was about the journey, the process, the progress and not just about the outcome’.
I spent the next eight years actively participating in squad swimming. At certain times, I would get up at 5am to get to the pool for 6am to keep trying to get better at swimming. I did this all through primary and high school.
Now let the record show that I am still, after all these years, absolutely terrible at freestyle. Like horrendously bad. There are some things in life that no matter how hard you work at, you will just always be shit. And I am OK with that. But consider what I could have missed out on? I could have been an Olympic swimmer! I could have brought home gold for our country! But I never would have explored that possibility if I didn’t keep trying.
Looking back, this mindset has served me so well through my career. When I reflect on all the opportunities that have come up along the way, and not dissimilarly to Donald Trump, at the time I was completely unqualified for the task, but I threw my hat into the ring anyway. I looked at it as an opportunity to learn something new, and if I fail, it would simply be an opportunity to fix it and keep trying and get better.
People with a Fixed Mindset look at these same opportunities as a threat, they know they don’t have the skills for it yet, so they just never apply, and if they do and don’t succeed, they point to circumstances and people around them to justify why they failed. They hate the idea of failure and so actively avoid it throughout their lives.
Consider the implications of this for a moment… in our complex, every changing 21st century world, we cannot afford to not love change, challenge and embrace opportunities and it will be those with a Growth Mindset that continue to lead the charge.
So how can you encourage a growth mindset in yourself, in your children and in your team?
Reward the effort, acknowledge the progress they are making, set milestones along the way, and make the journey enjoyable. Because no one is going to become the best overnight. It will take time and like me with my freestyle you may never get there, but you’ll never know unless you try.
If you are dealing with lack of motivation or poor engagement, ACP Consulting offer workshops around Fixed vs Growth Mindset exploring how Leaders can create an environment where their teams are willing to try new things, innovate and genuinely want to achieve the KPIs set by the business.
Get in touch
anna@acpconsultinggroup.com.au
0452 116 550