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Mindset is simply another word for attitude. It is how we think and how we apply our attitude in our life, relationships, families, exercise, diet and jobs. 

There is some great work by a lady called Dr Carol Dweck. She is a psychologist from Stanford university in America. She studies human motivation and mindset. She has spent most of her days researching why people succeed (or don’t) and looks at what is within our control to foster success.

There are two types of mindset (set of attitudes that is held by a person)

Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset.

Our mindset will change and adapt as we grow.

People with a fixed mindset believe that people are born naturally good at doing certain things, for example: You may be good at sport, maths, art, music etc.)

“It’s alright for her, she was born to be skinny.” 

People with a growth mindset think that anything can be achieved through hard work, commitment and effort all of which are abilities that can be developed through taking action and Making it happen.

Having a growth mindset is essential for success

People with a fixed mindset may look at a colleague or friend who has achieved great things and say something like ‘oh its ok for her she’s good at it or ‘its ok for him he knows what he’s doing.

People with a growth mindset don’t compare themselves to anyone else.  They will look intrinsically and say that they have worked hard to achieve their own success.

Fixed mindset people often compare themselves to others and will avoid failure big time.  They will get to a point where they feel comfortable with what they have may have achieved and someone gave them a little pat on the back and said well done. That’s enough. They won’t go any further and step outside their comfort zone in case they fail.

People with a growth mindset don’t fear failure, they see failing as an opportunity to learn. If they fail, they look at other ways of improving and adapt to make sure they get there.

Michael Jordan was a world-class basketball player, when he was in high school. 

Michael Jordan said:

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, I’ve lost almost 300 games, 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed I’ve failed over and over again in my life and that I why I succeed.”

Life/success isn’t a straight line there are going to be a lot of ups and downs and bumps along the way but it is how we come back that matters. It is important that we learn from our mistakes and challenge ourselves in order to grow.

“If you always do what you have always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.” - (Henry Ford)

If you want something different out of your life you have to put something different into it, or you will keep getting the same results - Exercise, nutrition, life, parenting, jobs.

Fixed mindset people (as I once was) believe that their basic qualities are simply fixed traits they are born with.  We tend to believe that other people are naturally good at doing certain things, for example, presenting, networking, dance, maths, football basically anything a person with a fixed mindset feels they can’t do.

So embrace new challenges, step out of your comfort zone and experience the magic as it happens.

Learn, to grow and fail regularly! It is liberating!