House Call: Nurturing a growth mindset

You may have heard about the benefits of having a growth mindset at work or in the media and wondered what it means. It is a concept put forth by psychologist Carol S. Dweck in 2007 that has been gaining traction throughout the nation, especially in business and parenting circles.

Having a growth mindset can lead to greater success, personal growth and happiness in life over time. A growth mindset is essentially the belief that intelligence can be developed and improved over time with hard work and perseverance. The alternative view is that of a fixed mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is innate and cannot really be improved.

No one is exclusively one mindset or the other, and part of developing a mostly growth mindset includes accepting that you are a blend of the two. Some things people might misconstrue about developing a growth mindset is that it’s just about encouraging and praising effort and not about outcomes.

Learning, improvement, overcoming setbacks and progress are just as important and to be encouraged and praised, as well. Having, developing and maintaining a growth mindset requires effort consistently and repeatedly.

We used to think that when a person got to a certain age, the brain settled in and didn’t change much for the rest of a person’s life. Over the past decade or so, researchers have actually discovered that the brain retains plasticity (the ability to change and adapt) over time. The process might get a bit slower as we age, but it’s still there.

Here is an example that’s pretty simple and perhaps a little silly. I was a biology major in college. It required a lot of study and memorization and didn’t require me to write many term papers, so I never learned to type. Having kind of clunky fine motor skills, typing intimidated me.

When I was about 50, the electronic medical record came along. It seemed that if I didn’t learn to type, I was going to have a difficult time adapting. I took an online course and learned. When I first started, it was a slog, but over time it became easier and second nature. When I first found myself typing without looking or thinking about the keyboard, words would magically appear on the screen and freak me out a little.

So why not take advantage of your brain’s plasticity throughout your lifetime? Take up music, reading, doing math without a calculator, birdwatching, a new language, something. Stretching your brain is good for your brain.

There are many things you can do to nurture a growth mindset in yourself and in your children as they grow up. Admittedly, some will seem easier than others, but I encourage you to work at it. If learning something new is difficult, stay with it and apply it to your situation or task. Acknowledge your imperfections, and find ways to overcome or get around them.

Just don’t let them stop you from achieving a goal. Think realistically about time and effort. Learning or doing something well takes time and energy. Make “yet” your favorite new word. You haven’t mastered that skill yet. We haven’t achieved our goal yet. I haven’t learned how to do that yet.

Pause every day, take a breath, and reflect on what you have learned. Go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back for whatever it is you have learned and achieved that day. Maybe I’ll try taking piano lessons again. It might take 10 years to get decent at it, but I’ll get there.