Mindset
SelfAssessment
A guide to the right mindset for success
The
Growth
Mindset
Nature versus nurture. The age old debate.
When we see people perform at the highest
level we just assume their talent has come
naturally. Probably because they make
everything look effortless. But what we don’t
see is the hours and hours of hard work they
put in behind the scenes.
Take Michael Jordan for example,
we know he became the
greatest basketball player of all
time but how did he get there.
Was he always going to be the
greatest? Well, Michael Jordan
was famously dropped from his
high school basketball team.
Heartbroken, he trained like a
madman to prove his worth. The
following season he was selected
and from then on he never looked
back.
his love and passion for learning
was unshakeable. And this
dedication to learning turned him
into the greatest scientific mind of
all time.
Another example is Albert
Einstein, where it was famously
reported that he didn’t speak until
he was four years old (Einstein’s
learning difficulties are up for
debate). A teacher once told him
he “would never be able to do
anything that would make any
sense in his life.” We all know now
These two people understood
what it takes to become truly
great. They understood what is
takes to become truly talented.
They understood that hard work
and perseverance would pay
off. They understood that effort
counts. They understood the
growth mindset.
So, we know Michael Jordan
wasn’t born the greatest
basketball player of all time, and
we know Albert Einstein wasn’t
born the greatest scientist of all
time but what’s the difference
between them and everyone else?
Natural
talents?
Michael
Jordan
was dropped
from his
high school
basketball
team.
Albert
Einstein
was told he
“would never
be able to do
anything that
would make
any sense...”
What is
the Growth
Mindset?
A simple way to define the growth mindset
is that it is a belief that with effort your mind
can grow. It’s really that simple. Now, I’m not
sure how I am going to drag this out into an
entire article but I’ll give it a try.
The opposite to the growth
mindset is the fixed mindset,
which is the belief ability is fixed,
no matter how hard you try.
The fixed mindset and growth
mindset both create the ‘mental’
world you live in and your mindset
determines how you learn.
If you have a fixed mindset you
believe your abilities are fixed.
And as a result you like to prove
how great you are. This influences
how they view a challenge, which
now becomes a chance for you
to get something wrong, instead
of seeing it as a chance to learn,
develop and grow. If you have
a fixed mindset you believe if
you aren’t good at something
‘naturally’ you’ll never be good at
it. Because of this you’re fixated
on ‘performance’, like getting good
grades, and getting high scores on
test. You are also obsessed with
mistakes or more importantly
obsessed with avoiding mistakes.
As making a mistake is an
indication of your limited ability.
Put simply you have a “getting it
right” mentality.
Whereas the growth mindset is
the complete opposite to all of
that. With a growth mindset you
hold that belief that your ability
can change with a little effort, you
believe you can grow. If you have
a growth mindset you place more
of an emphasis on the process
...instead of having a ‘getting
it right’ mentality you have a
‘learning mentality.’ Meaning
you believe anything can
be learned with enough
determination and effort.
A matter
of
mindset
FIXED
Mindset
Fixated on
performance
Obsessed
with avoiding
mistakes
Believes in
limited ability
GROWTH
Mindset
Focuses on
the process
Sees mistakes
as learning
opportunities
Believes in
ability to learn
anything
rather than performance. Having
this view means you see mistakes
or getting question wrong as
a chance to learn, instead of
highlighting a weakness. You
see scores and marks more of a
reflection of how you are doing
now, instead of a reflection of
your potential. With a growth
mindset instead of having a
“getting it right” mentality you
have a “learning mentality.”
Meaning you believe anything
can be learned with enough
determination and effort.
Now we know about the
fixed mindset and the growth
mindset, the two opposite
ends of the spectrum. We also
know that Michael Jordan and
Albert Einstein’s weren’t just
naturally talented, their genius
was developed over a lifetime
of commitment and hard work.
But what does it all mean? How
can you use this? What are the
benefits? And what is it all about?
The Growth
Mindset is all
about being
flexible.
You may not know
this but the brain is
extremely “flexible.”
Now this isn’t flexible
like a muscle, it’s a
little bit different.
The scientific word
for it is plasticity.
This rewiring of the brain
creates physical changes and
is a perfect example of how
flexible our brain actually is.
How to
teach
an old
dog new
tricks
provide
NEW
EXPERIENCES
Exposing
our dogs (or
ourselves)
to new
experiences
can spark
physical
changes in the
brain.
provide
rewards
The brain
changes in
response to a
change that
our dogs (or
we) view as
important or
rewarding.
The strict definition of plasticity is
the quality of being easily shaped
or moulded. Now saying the mind
is “easily” shaped or moulded is
slightly misleading as well. The
term that specifically talks about
brain flexibility is neuroplasticity or
brain plasticity. This refers to our
brain’s ability to adapt and change
throughout our life. But one thing
is for sure this change our brains go
through isn’t easy.
To look at how remarkably flexible
our brain is we can look at examples
of how the brain recovers from
injury. When we suffer a brain
injury our brain isn’t a simply the
same machine with a broken part,
our brain doesn’t just have a hole
in it. The system reboots itself,
uninjured parts of the brain can
“pick up the slack” by making new
connections and acting like the
injured or lost parts of the brain.
This rewiring of the brain creates
physical changes and is a perfect
example of how flexible our brain
actually is.
Now we don’t have to go through
a horrific brain injury for our brain
to change. Our brain grows and
changes constantly throughout our
life. And this rate of change differs
depending on the time in our lives
and other environmental examples.
For example our brain undergoes
rapid change in the early years of
our lives. Then the so called “adult
brain” is formed. Which happens
just after early childhood. Now this
adult brain can still change but it’s
a little harder. What’s important
to know about our adult brain, is
that it only changes in response to
a change that we view as important
or rewarding.
So it seems, you can teach an old
dog new tricks. The trick is the
dog needs to want to learn this
new trick and the dog needs to
see the trick as important and
rewarding. And it has been shown
that exposing ourselves or our dogs
for that matter to new experiences
can actually spark physical changes
in our brain. Again highlighting the
amazing flexibility of the brain.
Understanding the flexibility of
the brain, neuroplasticity, or brain
plasticity whatever you want to call
it, is fundamental to understanding
the growth mindset. Now we don’t
want to subject ourselves to horrific
brain injury just to highlight the fact
that our brain can change over time.
As long as we meaningfully connect
with our new experiences this is
enough to strengthen the changes
our brain is going through. And yes,
you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Having a
Growth
Mindset
bridges
the gap.
Bridging the gap is like
the unreachable star in
teaching and education.
How do we improve those
students who have been
left behind. Now there is
definitely no silver bullet
for this, but one tool in
the toolbox to improve
student performance is
teaching them about the
growth mindset.
This is another holy grail of education, ‘how do we
improve the performance of these groups who
consistently underperform?’
Now, I am sure we all familiar
with the idea that boys are
better at maths than girls. This
is probably more of a self filling
prophecy. Whether boys are
actually better than girls at
maths doesn’t actually matter. As
according to the research, girls
who have received training to
help them understand the growth
mindset, actually closed the
maths gap between themselves
and boys of the same age. So
what has probably happened
for generations is that girls have
thought they were worse than
boys at maths and because of this
mindset they were (apologies for
the massive generalisation). But
with a little bit of training about
the mind and how it works, and
with a little bit of training on the
growth mindset, girls have been
able to begin to bridge this gap.
The same goes for the racial
achievement gap. The research
has shown that those racial
groups who “stereotypically”
underperform at school are able
to bridge the gap when taught
about the growth mindset. This is
another holy grail of education,
“how do we improve the
performance of these groups who
consistently underperform?”
And again there’s no quick fix or
no one size fits all answer to this.
But teaching kids about how the
mind works and about having a
growth mindset does appear to
help us cross bridges we haven’t
been able to cross.
It also helps with achievement
and motivation as well. A group
of kids who had growth mindset
training showed significant
increase in engagement and
motivation in class, compared to
other students who did not get
the training. In this particular
study it also showed that the
students who received the
training continued to show
improvement in their grades
while students who were give
another type of training, their
grades actually began to show
some decline.
Bridging
the gaps
in maths
Girls closed
the maths
gap between
themselves
and boys of
the same age,
after receiving
training in
the growth
mindset.
in RACIAL
achievement
Racial
groups who
“stereotypically”
underperform
at school are
able to bridge
the gap when
taught about
the growth
mindset.
With the
Growth
Mindset,
believing
is being…
kind of.
If I am honest I am a big believer in
the idea that “if you BELIEVE, you
can ACHIEVE!” Or something like
that. Henry Ford summed it up nicely,
“whether you think you can, or you
think you can’t you’re usually right.”
Now I completely understand
the counter argument to this.
There are some limitations to this
idea, they might be physical,
mental or logistical, it wouldn’t be
hard to find an example to prove
this idea wrong. However having
the idea that “if you believe, you
can achieve” is a brilliant place
to start, philosophically. And the
research from the growth mindset
kind of agrees.
There is a brilliant TED talk my
Carol Dweck called “The Power
Of Believing You Can Improve.”
And in this TED talk she talked
about how students with a fixed
mindset react to challenges and
more importantly failure. These
students openly admitted that in
future when faced with a challenge
they would cheat or find a shortcut
around the problem. Now, those
with a growth mindset were the
exact opposite. They embraced a
challenge, they viewed failure as a
chance to learn new things.
In one study scientist looked at
students who had either a fixed
mindset or a growth mindset,
The idea of finding a
shortcoming in their abilities
really excited them. They
were excited about the idea
of learning what they did
wrong and fixing it.
and measured their brain activity
when students were confronted
with an error they have made.
The students with a fixed mindset
showed hardly any brain activity
at all. The students would shy
away from a mistake. On the other
hand the students with a growth
mindset showed a lot of brain
activity “...their brain was on fire…”
The idea of finding a shortcoming
in their abilities really excited
them. They were excited about
the idea of learning what they did
wrong and fixing it.
It appears with the growth
mindset, if you believe in growth
mindset you will have a growth
mindset. And increase brain
activity as well.
“The Power of believing you can improve”
Click on the button to watch the TED talk by Carol Dweck on how
students with a fixed mindset react to challenges and failure.
Now what
does this
mean for
you?
Clearly teaching our kids about
the brain, and the growth mindset
is super important (just to add
another so called “important” thing
to teach our kids).
But it’s bigger than just teaching
them about the growth mindset,
it’s teaching them about the brain,
neuroplasticity, brain plasticity,
and how the brain works. How the
brain builds new connections and
how this continues throughout
our lives. If we teach our kids
these key ideas they are more
likely to embrace challenge.
They will understand that their
intelligence isn’t fixed and that
their intelligence grows as they do.
They will understand that trying
new things and failing, and getting
things wrong isn’t a sign of a lack of
intelligence but are opportunities
for more learning.
And as we move into this crazy
new digital 21st century world
we will all be living in, having this
mindset that makes you resilient to
change and failure will be an asset
that is infinitely valuable.
Now take the time to complete
the mindset self-assessment
questionnaire.
Take the
Mindset
Self-assessment
questionnaire
now
Answer the questions openly and honestly, even complete the question a number of times
as you are likely to come up with different answers and discover your mindset.
Use the scale to indicate how much you agree, disagree or otherwise with the
following statements.
1 = strongly disagree, 5= neither agree or disagree, 10 = strongly agree
Q1 To truly master a skill, in any area, is something that can be done by anyone.
1
2
3
4
strongly
disagree
5
6
7
8
9
10
strongly
agree
neither
agree/disagree
Q2 Rules are meant to be broken.
1
2
3
4
strongly
disagree
5
6
7
8
9
10
strongly
agree
neither
agree/disagree
Q3 You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
1
strongly
disagree
2
3
4
5
neither
agree/disagree
6
7
8
9
10
strongly
agree
Q4 Failure is something to be celebrated.
1
2
3
4
strongly
disagree
5
6
7
8
9
neither
agree/disagree
10
strongly
agree
Q5 Risks are something absolutely essential to achieving in teaching and learning.
1
2
3
4
strongly
disagree
5
6
7
8
9
neither
agree/disagree
10
strongly
agree
Q6 Intelligence, even to genius level, is something that can be developed overtime.
1
2
3
4
strongly
disagree
5
6
7
8
9
neither
agree/disagree
10
strongly
agree
Q7 Traditional test and exams are a terrible way to assess knowledge
and intelligence.
1
strongly
disagree
2
3
4
5
neither
agree/disagree
6
7
8
9
10
strongly
agree
Q8 You can achieve greatness at anything with hard work, determination
and perseverance.
1
2
3
4
strongly
disagree
5
6
7
8
9
neither
agree/disagree
10
strongly
agree
Q9 Einstein wasn’t born a genius mathematician, he developed his skills
over time.
1
2
3
4
strongly
disagree
5
6
7
8
9
neither
agree/disagree
10
strongly
agree
Q10 All obstacles are psychological.
1
strongly
disagree
2
3
4
5
neither
agree/disagree
6
7
8
9
10
strongly
agree
Now that you have completed the questionnaire, total up your answers to all ten questions
and discover which mindset you currently possess on the next page.
FIXED
MINDSET
GROWTH
MINDSET
No-limits
MINDSET
total score
total score
total score
This is the
mindset of
most people.
If you weren’t
good at
something
(maths for
example)
you will never
be good at it,
you think your
ability is fixed.
Congratulations,
having a growth
mindset is
the first step
to success
and lifelong
learning.
You understand
that you can
develop a skill or
ability no matter
how challenging
or difficult.
Wow, this is the
true mindset of
champions, these
people can do
anything, they can
create the largest
company in the
world from their
parents garage,
they can put a man
on the moon and
forever change
the world.
0-60
60-90
90-100
Congratulations on discovering your mindset. No matter what your score, with
a simple change in mindset you can dramatically change the way you see and
approach problems, challenges and even the world.
To learn more feel free to contact me directly [email protected]
http://elitementoring.co
facebook.com/
elitementoring.co
@ Elite_mentoring
© 2016. Elite Mentoring. All rights reserved.
pinterest.com/
elitementoring