Series How to Be Resilient: Good Habits for Changemakers — Develop the Growth Mindset Habit
When deciding what new habit to pursue, it’s easy to look at all the things we shouldn’t do as a place to begin. We want to stop smoking or stress eating. We want to learn how to say ‘no’ or to quit spending so much time on social media.
Have you ever considered the flipside of all that by building a habit that’s positive? What if the habit you formed was one of growth and personal development?
Having a growth mindset positively impacts your life in multiple ways, so it’s a great healthy habit to build into your life. I found this particular habit to be one of the key perspectives in shifting my mindset and changing much of what I thought and felt about what was happening around me.
What are the benefits of developing a growth mindset?
1. You keep learning. Learning is important as you not only discover new ways to do things, but by making a practice of constantly learning, you develop new ways of thinking, and new ideas. Learning connects you with more of the world and helps you see things with a deeper significance than you ever thought possible. But more than that, people who stop learning very quickly stagnate.
An added bonus is that studies have shown that the practice of learning new things when you are older helps ward off problems related to dementia. In short, learning is good for your brain!
2. You learn perseverance. As we learn new things, we adapt and change how we think. That gives us the ability to see other solutions to problems that would have frustrated us in the past. By challenging yourself to grow, you learn how to push through obstacles and find new paths.
In fact often it isnt even a a push — you will find new ideas starting to come far more easily as the growth mindset seems to liberate creativity as it develops.
3. You learn how to embrace challenges. Growth can be challenging. But by pushing yourself to grow, that means you’re also pushing yourself to look at challenges differently. An obstacle now becomes an opportunity to learn something new and to do things in a way you haven’t before.
It has really helped me to get to the point where I almost literally run my hands with glee when I hit a challenge because I know the stretch to solve it will take me out of my comfort zone and expand my learning and growth zones.
4. You learn how to embrace failure. When you’re interested in growing as an individual, you start to see failure differently. Everything becomes a potential lesson and that is exciting and liberating since the whole concept of failure disappears!
5. You become more open to criticism. By being willing to grow, you start to see that the input of other people has significance. You see their words not so much as something negative, but something you can use to develop as a person and learn something about yourself. You might not always like the lesson, but that’s part of growing too.
By embracing personal growth, you find the best version of yourself. You’re able to become more than you ever thought possible, and then you turn that around by finding out that you can become more still. You’ll find that the furthest edges of yourself are far beyond what you thought you ever could be.
It is the most exciting journey I have ever found. Enjoy!
This article is part of my July series on Good Habits For Changemakers: How To Develop A Resilient Mindset … so watch this space for more ideas and support.
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