Do you ever tell yourself you can’t do something because somebody once pointed out a gap in your knowledge or skillset?
Throwaway comments from your school days can derail your business decisions many years later. Understanding how your mindset plays an important role in your motivation, success, and advancement is the first step to releasing negativity and stagnant thinking and stepping into your personal power.
A fixed mindset prevents you from seeing your true value. It means you see your talents and skills as unchangeable. Having a growth mindset, however, allows you to develop with determination and drive.
What does a fixed mindset look like?
Can you recognise yourself in any of these scenarios?
- I’m not confident so couldn’t possibly stand up and talk at an event.
- They don’t like my work.
- I know everything there is to know about LinkedIn.
- I’m not good at writing.
- She’s so lucky, everything she does is a success!
These types of comments reveal a fixed mindset. You either shy away from situations due to fear, or you believe you can’t improve because you’ve reached the top level of your knowledge bank.
A fixed mindset is limiting to you and your business. You may avoid situations or challenges believing them to be out of your reach. Or you might try but give up at the first hurdle. Comparing yourself to others and feeling threatened by their success also points to a limited and fixed mindset.
The way you think about yourself has a direct impact on your emotions, well-being, and your achievements. Wouldn’t it be better to nurture your personal and professional development and be open to a growth mindset?
What does a growth mindset look like?
Where a fixed mindset represents limiting yourself, a growth mindset represents freedom.
You understand that new skills and abilities require dedication and effort. You are open to challenges and prepared to pick yourself up and try again if you fail, and you support and find inspiration in the success of your community.
Taking the scenarios above, somebody with a growth mindset is more likely to say:
- Speaking in public is challenging but I’m prepared to build my confidence.
- Feedback of any kind is helpful for my business.
- There’s always something new to learn.
- I know I can improve with support from mentors.
- I’m so inspired by what she has achieved and it’s motivated me to push myself.
What a difference! With a small shift in mindset, the negative scenarios become positive areas to grow, learn, and achieve.
As a woman in business, it can be hard to see yourself as others see you. All you notice are your flaws, lack of confidence, or gaps in your knowledge. By nurturing a growth mindset you will start to see the magic that your family, friends, and network see every day.
Think about something you are proud of that you’ve achieved. Or if you’re still struggling with a fixed mindset think about someone else’s success. To the outside world, it might look like a ‘quick win’ or a ‘lucky break’, but what other people don’t see are the rejections, failed attempts, rewrites, blooper reels, tears, late nights, and digging deep to find the determination to keep going.
As Diane Young’s TEDx Talk discussed, it takes 25 years to be an overnight success.
It was psychologist and author of Mindset: The new psychology of success, Dr.Carol Dweck who first used the phrase ‘growth mindset’ with her students.
“My work is part of a tradition in psychology that shows the power of people’s beliefs. These may be beliefs we’re aware of or unaware of, but they strongly affect what we want and whether we succeed in getting it.”
How to nurture a growth mindset
In business, you need to embrace all the challenges that come your way. Create the right mindset for the task at hand by seeing everything as an opportunity.
Any failures or setbacks become tools for learning and stepping stones for business growth. As Albert Einstein said, “Failure is success in progress.”
Pushing yourself a little more each day allows you to grow, thrive, and realise your full potential, but how can you make these changes to nurture your growth mindset?
- Affirmations are an easy way to start. Write out a few positive sayings on a post-it note and put them in full view so you see them (and say them) every day.
“I don’t give up easily”
“I am confident in my abilities”
“My drive and ambition allow me to achieve my goals”
- Encouraging and supporting others allows you to build a better relationship with your self-esteem. Comparing yourself to others, or feeling jealous of other people’s success is a sure sign you are full of self-doubt. By lifting other people, supporting and inspiring them, you will become more motivated to succeed in your own right.
- Turn any negativity into a positive tool for growth. Feedback of any kind is valuable for your business, but instead of feeling despondent about unfavourable feedback, brainstorm how you can use it to set yourself a challenge and grow.
“Remember, you can be anything you want to be.
Sometimes you just need to stop and take a look at what you have achieved so far.
Life is not a rehearsal, so don’t be afraid to take every opportunity that comes your way. You may not get another chance.” –
Sandra Garlick MBE, Founder of Woman Who
What next?
Each month Woman Who hosts the Woman Who Inspires Online Network, and our December event is on Zoom.
As usual with Woman Who events, there will be networking, inspirational speakers, and learning with this month’s theme; Mindset. Let’s make sure that we enter 2022 in the right frame of mind.
