by Tchiki Davis

Want to increase your chances of success? Then develop your growth mindset.

“The hand you are dealt is just the starting point for development.” —Carol Dweck

Why Growth Mindset Matters

Only 10 years ago, I stood behind an old brown cash register at a local retail store, sliding customers' purchases across a crisscross red scanner for $7.25 an hour (minimum wage at the time). If you had told me then that 10 years later I'd have a Ph.D. from Berkeley, write a blog for Psychology Today, or be the author of a book on how to generate happiness in the technology age, I would have thought you were absolutely bonkers! I had no connections, no money, no information on how to get me from where I was then to where I am now. But I did have one thing ... I had a growth mindset.

What Is Growth Mindset?

There are a variety of mindsets, each of which can help or hurt our well-being. A growth mindset is simply the belief that our basic abilities can be developed and improved through dedication and hard work. It's not so much that this belief is some kind of magic. It's just that without a growth mindset, we don't exert the required effort and so we remain perpetually stuck.

But with a growth mindset, we can break through the stuck-ness and achieve the long-term goals we desire, whether that be at work, in our relationships, or in other aspects of our lives

Do You Have A Growth Mindset?

Do you believe that you were born and raised with a fixed set of skills and abilities—such as your IQ—that you had from birth and will stay with you your entire life? Or do you believe that your ideas and beliefs are ever-evolving, that you can learn new skills if you work at it, and that your wisdom and intelligence grow with each new experience? If you said “yes” to the first question, you have what is referred to as a “fixed mindset.” If you said “yes” to the second question, you probably have what Stanford professor Carol Dweck calls a “growth mindset."

Don't worry if you currently have more of a fixed mindset—you can develop a growth mindset.

Why Does Growth Mindset Matter?

If we have a “fixed mindset,” we may shy away from challenges because we do not want to feel embarrassed or humiliated in front of others—who does, right?! But this can be problematic because our fear of making mistakes can lead us to avoid challenges and new experiences—experiences that would help us grow, improve ourselves in important ways, and create the life we desire.

If we have a “growth mindset,” we enjoy challenges, despite the risk, usually because we value learning and growth more than others thinking we know what we’re doing. And because we’re always trying new things, we often don’t know what we’re doing. Still, those of us with a growth mindset often build new skills and manifest something more easily because we believe we can and so we really work at it.

Developing a growth mindset could contribute to a fuller, more meaningful life because the range of experiences that such a life encompasses will be considerably broader.