Saad Gul
Intelligence, appetite for risk, hard work or even creativity are all
intuitive-sounding suggestions for success but that’s not what science has discovered.
Landmark work on the subject by pioneering Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and others tells us that the best predictor of success in life is your mindset.
Most people can be found in either of two mindsets: 1) Fixed or 2) Growth-oriented
In a fixed mindset, your brain will always work against you – looking for evidence – intuitive pretexts – throughout the day to prove that nothing is going to work for you. If you find yourself avoiding challenges, being highly self-critical, giving up too easily, taking criticism personally, seeing effort as pointless or resenting others’ success, you are most likely in a fixed mindset.
Contrarily, if you embrace challenges, refuse to give up, practice compassion, see effort as a journey or process, stay open to criticism, are inspired by those who achieve great things and generally believe that you can grow as a person, congratulations! You’re in a growth mindset and your brain will keep looking for evidence to prove that everything is happening for you and not to you.
Having made a transition from a fixed mindset, or scarce state of being to a growth or abundant state of being, I can assure you can do it. I did it, so can you too; I just had to start accepting that the choices I make, make or break me. Personal choices, I realized, lead you up or downhill.
Finally, believing that my past doesn’t define my future. I take full ownership and responsibility of wherever I am in life right now so that I can go where I want to!
Personality traits and labels like lazy, inconsistent or stupid are given to us by the society i.e. our parents, teachers, bosses, coworkers or friends. This is not always ill-intended for sure. These labels flow from an inherent goodwill but these are people aren’t humble enough to accept that they’re inadvertently causing harm to others at some level, or perhaps unfamiliar with how to positively sensitize an individual on his or her shortcoming. Many of these people and friends around you may also not have a genuine burning desire to be excellent themselves or may not be truly happy or contended themselves.
So they end up projecting their own fears, insecurities, doubts, and limiting beliefs onto us. These are people who are frustrated in their attempts to realize their dreams so they tend to slip into a “fixed mindset.
We all have parts of us that are lazy, uninspired, destructive and unhealthy – particularly when we’re in a fixed mindset. These are usually things that hold us back from achieving our goals. These factors can also become the cause why we remain stuck in certain counter-productive patterns that can stymie our growth.
Then there are parts of us that are hungry, driven, ambitious, curious and creative – more lit up areas of our psyche that are passionate, crave for growth, seek meaning, chase fulfillment and happiness. In a growth mindset it’s easy to tap into these areas.
But bringing the dark areas into awareness is the beginning of the transition towards a growth mindset. Once we are humble enough to accept that we are imperfect and not free of shortcomings just as everyone around us, we can begin to change our paradigms. This shift in perspective turns past failures, emotional blockages and adversity into fuel for creative expression.
If you’re still reading this, I bet you are wondering how the hell do I start transitioning from a fixed to a growth mindset!
It is not easy but not impossible. It’s possible to do it in your mental gym – you have to put in the work daily and consistently. Doing anything worthwhile requires cultivating discipline as well as courage to face our inadequacies. Scared to accept we are not good enough, we end up lying to ourselves, employing ego defense mechanisms in order to rationalise, justify or theoretise unhealthy thoughts – at times even indefensible actions and habits that hardly contribute towards our growth.
So put your ego aside, open your mind and be humble enough to accept that if the choices you have been making in the past consigned you a fixed mindset. You owe your present state to your past choices. But your past doesn’t define your future and you can start taking responsibility for your actions if you commit yourself to a different thought path in this very moment!
You can literally do anything you set your mind to as long as you are humble, and have a burning desire to be better. If you are willing to suffer for a long time by paying the price for greatness then you are set to go. All you need to do is work hard and be consistent – even when no results are evident or visible.
