Limitless

Happy March! It’s definitely been a while since I’ve posted anything, so I figured it was about time I did again. I hope you chose to make the most of February and are ready to take on March! I’ve recently been talking to people, students and adults, who’ve told me about some of their big goals in life. It’s always great to hear from others who have big things their working towards. Sadly, there’s usually a common idea that comes from each of them at the end of their stories: “If I can do it.”, “If I am smart enough.”, “If I am strong enough.”, etc. These thoughts are the only things actually limiting you and your potential.

The idea that we are only so smart, so intelligent, so creative, so capable is the definition of a fixed mindset. Believing that our intelligence or ability is a fixed amount and no matter what we do or how much we learn, it can’t change. One with a fixed mindset typically believes that our successes and our failures define us. Someone with a fixed mindset believes that if they fail, they ARE a failure.

On the other hand, we have the growth mindset. Someone with a growth mindset believes that their intelligence and ability can always grow. They believe that failure is part of growing and learning, not defining who they are as a person. This person understands that the only limit to what they can do and learn is themselves. People with the growth mindset will go after a goal knowing full well that they will probably fail at some point, and that makes them want to go for it even more. They like that challenge and the victory at the end.

So, which type of mind set do you have? Well, here’s a few statement from the book Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. to help you figure it out. Choose which of the statements you agree with most.

1. Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.
2. You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.
3. No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.
4. You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.

If you agree with statements 1 and 2 you probably have a fixed mindset. Statements 3 and 4 are growth mindset statements, so if you agreed with those you probably have a growth mindset. It’s not only intelligence that these can refer to. You can insert the word ability in place of intelligence and it would work the same. Also, you can have a fixed mindset about one aspect and a growth mind about another.

Here are a few more statements about personal qualities, also from the book Mindsets.

1. You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.
2. No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.
3. You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed.
4. You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.

Here statements 1 and 3 are the fixed mindset statements, while 2 and 4 are the growth mindset ones. Something I want to add to this is we can change the kind of person we are, but we can’t change other people and it’s not good to try. We can only change ourselves and only we can make ourselves happy. The fixed mindset makes us worried about being judged, whereas the growth mindset only makes us want to improve.

We choose to have the mindset we have. In western culture, the fixed mindset is ingrained in us from the beginning, so it is definitely difficult for us to learn to change our thinking. However, we absolutely can. We choose how we look at things. Choose to not limit yourself. If you want to achieve a goal, know you are probably going to fail along the way but that’s just a way of learning. Challenge yourself to grow and always better yourself. So, how are you limiting yourself?

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, week, and month! Choose to challenge yourself this month. Maybe you start by creating a new habit of journaling Find the Positive. As always, if you have questions, comments, concerns, or just need to talk please leave a comment or email me. Now, here’s my Find the Positive!

1. I’m grateful for friends who randomly give me a call just to talk. It’s nice to visit and catch up! My friendships are very important to me, so it makes me feel good when they think of me.
2. I’m grateful to have ran into an old student of mine today. They recognized me out and about and were thoughtful enough to say hi. It was really nice to visit with them and find out how they’re doing. I’m grateful to have made that relationship so long ago, and it still continues.
3. I’m grateful people are willing to help me grow my business. I have so many people who are always to do favors for me, assist me where I need it, and allow me to bounce ideas off them. It means a lot that people are so generous with their time to help me better what I’m doing.