The theory of mindset had been developed by American psychologist Carol S. Dweck, PH.D. in Stanford. Her primary research interest is in motivation, personality and development. Her theory shows which impact a persons´ beliefs in respect to their intelligence and other personality traits has on their learning.

She described people with a fixed mindset and people with a growth mindset.

People with a fixed mindset think that intelligence and other personality traits are innate and can´t be changed whereas people with a growth mindset say that they can be changed through learning, effort, and training.

People with a fixed mindset are only interested in feedback which does confirm their skills. They do not use feedback in order to learn as they do not belief that their success depends on their effort. They avoid challenges, fear failure, give up fast, do not perceive perseverance and  as something leading to success. They refuse constructive feedback and want to appear competent to the outside world.

People with a growth mindset are convinced that competences and even intelligence can develop positively through learning, trial and error and challenges and that this learning sustains their development. Success is a result of learning, not of predisposition. This is why they manage failure more easy. They are convinced that they can learn skills and develop. They do not perceive failure as something negative but as a chance.

Dwell showed that the growth mindset idea empowers learning and thus results. She found out that this setting can be influenced by education through childhood. Instead of praising skills we should focus on effort and exercise. With practice, training and method we can increase our attention, our memory, judgment and so become more intelligent. Expertise can be gained by purposeful engagement.

The two mindsets belong to two different worlds:

In the fixed mindset world, a world of fixed traits you have to validate yourself, proof and show your success. You are judged by the outcome and  there are only two options, success or not. With a fixed mindset you are not a learner as you do not believe in growth. You reject learning, you do not ask questions. You look for validation, you do not look out of the box, you stay in the loop.

In a growth mindset world, a world with the possibility of changing it is about making an effort and trying to learn something new, developing. Failure does not exist, the process is dynamic and always moving. You walk, you fall, you get up and you go on. Growth mind setters ask and look for a challenge to get better, to develop. Failure is hard also when you have a growth mindset but you see it in a different way. It is a problem to face, to deal with and to learn from, it is a dynamic process and progress.

The good news is: you have the choice. You can become aware and choose which mindset you want to set up and cultivate.

People generally are born with a love for learning, but a fixed mindset, conditioning and education can undo this natural ability. You may start learning something new like playing tennis. After a couple of lessons it becomes harder to learn and you feel like wanting to quit. This exactly is the fixed mindset. You want to quit because you measure the outcome and don’t consider the process itself. Our society has imposed this model. Business and economics with KPI’s and GDP sustains it. Focusing on purpose and the Why as described in Simon Sineks TedTalk 2014 the growth mindset makes more sense and finally leads to success, aligning with the the world’s development.

A growth mindset is about change and maintaining change. Understand you objective, set goals and make a plan. When setbacks come, use them in a positive way, in a way that makes you keep going. When you achieve something keep on setting goals and moving forward, the world does move too.

A growth mindset is a positive, proactive approach. It gives you the power to decide, to do and to become more complex and aware.

“In a world of change, the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned shall find themselves perfectly suited for a world that no longer exists”

Eric Hoffer, philospher