One of the most powerful things about humans is that we stumble a lot into obstacles. When we go through them, it seems like we cannot escape them. But sooner or later, we eventually overcome them—and what is striking about that is that sometimes, our perception of challenges may be our greatest adversity. This perception has something to do with a fixed mindset.
When we understand and face our fixed mindset head-on, it becomes easier to overcome it! This article explores some concepts and provides tips to help people overcome their fixed mindsets.
Neuroplasticity
A mature adult brain is plastic. In a nutshell, neuroplasticity is the brain’s power and ability to constantly change throughout your life. Over time, some of your brain’s synapses get slow or might even work better than usual because of the activities that you do. What’s wonderful about it is that changes in the brain can be actually observed from all levels – from the most microscopic ones to large-scale ones. The latter is associated with a response to injuries.
Throughout your life, your brain will change with you. It doesn’t stop at childhood and depends on what functions are used. The brain is either becoming weaker or stronger. Every time you repeat a thought or feel an emotion, neutral pathways may become reinforced,d and with the more reinforcement they have, they can change how your brain works.
This means, as a fact, that your skills, cognitive abilities, and thinking are scientifically capable of change and evolution. You have the power to learn new skills and things, take on new challenges, and even have you step out of your comfort zone.
Challenges? Growth? That’s what we’re talking about with a growth mindset – the mindset that’s associated with success professionally.
Tips In Overcoming Fixed Mindset
Self-Assessment
Identifying and saying that you need to change/have a problem is the first step to solving your problem. If you identify with having a fixed mindset, then you may have to dig deeper and do a lot of self-reflection.
Some things you can do are:
- Journaling about how you react to setbacks and challenges
- How do you talk to yourself during challenges
- How do you react when other people around you succeed
Identify Your Triggers
When one has a fixed mindset, we might treat ourselves badly and like pba odds: go all or nothing or play safe. Internal review of how we react and think can go a long way, and that’s where identifying our triggers can be handy.
Usually, triggers happen during setbacks, but statements can also trigger us, such as the ff:
- “You can never change”
- “You’re weak”
- “I was born this way.”
- “I can’t”
Seek Growth
Fortunately, we can always make the decision for ourselves. When we seek growth, we can do it at our personal life or even professional level: try out new experiences, set goals that go out of our comfort zone, and celebrate the effort in difficult tasks, regardless of the outcome.
If you view mistakes as marks that will tarnish you, look at it as a learning experience that can lead to you becoming better.
A Paradigm Shift
Fortunately, having a fixed mindset isn’t fully set in stone; even simply thinking and believing that you can grow over time can make a big difference.
This is also the basis of cognitive therapy! Hence, this is also why a lot of people who have dealt with fixed mindsets go to CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy).
Spend Time With People Who Also Want Growth
Of course, lastly, you might want to talk with people who want to grow, too. People who also want to grow can rub off on you; you might even want to take a friend with a growth mindset as your accountability partner for endeavors that you want to do.
Wrapping Up
A fixed mindset isn’t the only factor that can affect an individual’s success and happiness. One external factor can be their current environment; the mindset is part of it. Fortunately, it’s possible to power through a growth mindset. It’s not gonna last forever!
