1.2: Developing a Growth Mindset

Your mindset can support a healthy career journey, or your mindset can sabotage your efforts for success. Dr. Carol Dweck, a world-renowned Stanford University psychologist, conducted a research study with junior high students and presented them with puzzles to solve, ranging from easy to hard. She observed different attitudes in the students. Some gave up more easily and did not believe in themselves. Others continued to work hard despite mistakes and did not give up. After additional research with many different age groups, Dr. Dweck discovered that some people view their intelligence and abilities as fixed meaning at a certain static level without the potential to increase. Others viewed intelligence and abilities, however, as being areas of potential growth (Martinez & Shaker, 2021). In Dr. Carol Dweck's book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006), she states:

“In one world- the world of fixed traits- success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other - the world of changing qualities- it is about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you are not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for things you value. It means you are not fulfilling your potential . . . In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you are not smart or talented. If you were, you would not need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.” (pp. 15-16)

The following illustration explains the two mindsets. The fixed mindset views intelligence as static. The growth mindset views intelligence as something that can be developed. Review the illustration and ask yourself "which mindset do I generally practice in my everyday life?"

Image Credit: Growth Mindset (EmployID Academy licensed under CC0)

Growing Your Career Mindset and “The Power Of Yet” By Carol Dweck

Fixed and growth mindsets can be applied to your career exploration as well as your intelligence and abilities. If you have a growth mindset, you will be open to exploring careers that intrigue you but might seem challenging or difficult. Also, if you have a growth mindset, you will remain open to options and possibilities that appear throughout your professional life. A well-regarded career development theory of “planned happenstance” posits that we may have a career path planned out but then learn about a new career for which we hadn’t planned. If we have a growth mindset, we probably will be more inclined to explore that new career. If we have a fixed mindset, we might not even consider that unplanned opportunity with which we’re presented. People with fixed mindsets might think “I’m interested in that career, but I don’t think I can do what is required” or maybe “I can’t get through all the schooling required for that career.”

A way to think about career possibilities that may seem challenging or beyond your reach is “not yet.” The thought is “I’m interested in that career, but I don’t have the skills and abilities yet to perform that occupation.” Dr. Dweck learned about this concept of “not yet” in her research. The following link is a TEDxTAlk by Dr. Dweck about “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.” Although she speaks about children in this talk, Dr. Dweck’s research has expanded, and she has found the same patterns and results of growth and fixed mindsets among people of all ages. Please click on the link below to listen to her explanation of how effort, persistence and being resilient are much more powerful than fixed beliefs about intelligence and talent.

Dweck The Power of Believing TED Talk [www.ted.com]

Activity 1.1

Which mindset do you generally practice in your everyday life? Fixed or Growth? What impacts if you practice a fixed or growth mindset? Think about the way you deal with:

• Challenges
• Obstacles
• Tasks requiring effort
• Criticism
• Success of others