Ever wonder what it would be like to be so determined, dedicated, and driven toward a cause that you would stop at nothing to get it? What is inside some unique individuals that allows them to achieve the impossible? Sure, determination, dedication, and drive are all nouns that could be used to describe these individuals, but what sets them apart is their mindset or a growth mindset.

The mind is a powerful tool (or organ) that can enable people to accomplish incredible things or disable them and keep them from reaching their goals. So, how do we know if our mindsets enable or disable us? Well, it’s quite simple: Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?

To determine whether you have a growth or a fixed mindset, ask yourself these 3 questions:

• Do I welcome challenges or run from them?
• Do I take calculated risks or avoid them?
• Does change excite me or scare me?

How did you respond to these questions? If you’re someone who welcomes challenges, takes calculated risks, and gets excited by change you are likely to have a growth mindset. That mindset may be your natural system of beliefs and thought processes at work, or it might be something you have had to develop and consciously shape.

Notice how we didn’t use “like” to describe your feelings about the three questions. That’s because a growth mindset doesn’t mean you like challenges, risks, or changes, it just means you see the value they can offer, and that value is something that you seek.

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is the belief that you will constantly improve regardless of your circumstances through perseverance, learning, and hard work – grit. Those with a growth mindset understand that it’s not about luck or talent, it’s about continuing to pursue the goal.

This belief allows individuals to learn from mistakes, grow from challenges, and always fail forward. Once you understand that success is not something we are innately privileged to, but rather something we must constantly strive for, you begin to view the world differently – and perhaps your own circumstances differently because you understand that you have the power to change them.

In a study, by Blanka Kondratowicz and Werner Godlewska (2022), they researched the relationship between a growth mindset and life and job satisfaction and found a substantial relationship. When stress was introduced in the study, the relationship weakened but remained significant suggesting that a growth mindset positively correlates to life and job satisfaction and is especially important during hard or stressful times.

Fixed Mindset

A fixed mindset is a belief that our abilities can’t be improved beyond what we are born with. It is a belief that intelligence level and skillset are static and cannot be influenced by experiences. People with a fixed mindset might avoid challenges and fear failure, which often limits personal growth.

This mindset can lead individuals to define themselves by their successes and failures and attribute both to uncontrollable factors. People with a fixed mindset will frequently feel threatened by others they perceive as being more successful than them and they may seek perfection in their work to avoid criticism or failure.

It’s not hard to see why this mindset might be detrimental to both personal and professional growth. In the workplace, this belief system can manifest itself as an employee unwilling to take on new projects or assignments for fear their abilities and skills will not be adequate.

Not only will these employees stifle their own growth, but they may struggle with lifting up and praising others around them. An employee with this mindset can also pose unique challenges to a manager when it comes to giving feedback or attempting to coach them up as they may resist it or refuse to take accountability.

Worse yet, a manager with a fixed mindset can stifle their team’s growth and may not be as equipped to foster a learning and innovative work environment. A study on mindsets at work found that managers with a fixed mindset were more likely to stick with their first impression of a direct report and less able to recognize improvements in their performance (Wingen, S., Graczyk, Wingen, T., & Dohle, 2024).

Managers with a growth mindset are more likely to seek to educate their employees when issues arise versus managers with a fixed mindset who might seek to punish. Leaders with a growth mindset cultivate strong work cultures where employees feel safe to express their thoughts, make mistakes, and pursue growth opportunities.

How to Change Your Mindset

If you have realized you have a fixed mindset as you’re reading this, know this, you have the power to change your mind, literally. It will require you to make some adjustments to how you approach life, how you perceive things that happen to you, and how you react to those happenings.

Our mindsets are rapidly developed in our youth through our experiences and environments. Our internal response system is often conditioned by what we’re told, what we observe, and what we endure during childhood and adolescence. If you have a growth mindset, chances are you were surrounded by individuals like your parents or teachers who helped shape it.  

Now, while your brain may have experienced its most significant structural development during your youth, the brain is complex and continues developing even in adulthood. Our ability to learn and adapt continues throughout our entire lives.

How our brains evolve throughout our lives depends greatly on how we interact with the world. Neuroplasticity is a scientific term used to explain the brain’s ability to change and continue growing in response to life experiences. Learning a new language in adulthood is an example of neuroplasticity.

While there are limitations to our brain’s neuroplasticity, much of that is dictated by our decision-making. If we choose to start making changes to how we approach life and our experiences, we can begin to mold our mindset from a fixed to a growth one. In the workplace, those changes can be things like taking on a new project, seeking feedback, or getting out of your comfort zone.

Carol Dweck, the psychologist who researched mindsets and developed the theory of a growth mindset leading to more success than a fixed mindset, found evidence to suggest that mindsets can be changed through interventions focused on celebrating effort over innate ability.

By developing strategies using the growth mindset concept as the lens from which we view challenges and setbacks, our perspectives will begin shaping our outcomes. Through this lens, you can start to view your perceived weaknesses as challenges to overcome. You can even have fun in your pursuit of bettering yourself in the process.