How to be motivated: Part 2 – Have a growth mindset
Motivation naturally ebbs and flows and everyone finds motivation in their own way. But when you’re trying to reach a goal, it’s easy to lose motivation when things get tough.
There’s a way to fight this loss of motivation. It’s called having a growth mindset.
To refresh your memory, there are five important things you need to be motivated to reach your goal:
- belief in your ability to accomplish the goal and a kind attitude towards yourself
- a growth mindset
- intrinsic motivation
- good goals and deadlines
- good rewards
This guide talks about the second step in reaching your goal.
A growth mindset is an essential tool
One of my favourite idioms is “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. This idiom means that big things take time. Carol Dweck, a psychologist with 30 years of experience, explains this idea through the terms “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset”. A growth mindset believes that you can get better if you work at it. A fixed mindset thinks that your abilities can’t change.
In this video, Dr. Dweck explains the effect a growth mindset has on learning:
Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck, Stanford Alumni
Dr. Dweck acknowledges that everyone is unique, but her extensive research shows that having a growth mindset helps everyone get better. For example, in one study, students who believed they could get better improved a lot. In this graph we see that students at the same level of ability showed significant improvement because they had a growth mindset.
In short, people who believe they can improve by trying hard do better than those who think they can’t change. Behaviors that show a growth mindset include admitting mistakes, seeing challenges as chances to learn, and asking others for feedback.
Dr. Dweck emphasizes that you need to change “a failure” into “a chance to learn”. Also, don’t be concerned about what other people think of you – chances are they aren’t even paying attention to your performance.
When we fail or face tough times, we might get upset because we feel like we’re being criticized. It’s normal to feel this way. If you do, try to understand your feelings and change how you think about them. You can see an example of this in the guide about step one (How to be motivated: Part 1 – Be kind to yourself).
In short, people who believe they can improve by trying hard do better than those who think they can’t change. Behaviors that show a growth mindset include admitting mistakes, seeing challenges as chances to learn, and asking others for feedback.
Tip: When you face a problem in reaching your goal, give yourself positive feedback. Then, decide how you can use what you’ve learnt from the problem in the future.
Example:
You want to get your driver’s license but you failed the written test.
- Give yourself positive feedback. For example, “I studied hard for the test and I’m committed to getting my license.”
- Think about what you learnt. For example, you weren’t as confident about the highway driving signs as you wanted to be.
- Make a plan based on what you’ve learnt: “I will study the highway signs more before I take the test again.”
By Nastashya Wall
Sources : How to build authentic motivation, Steven C. Hayes Ph.D., Psychology Today; How to increase self-motivation, Arash Emamzadeh, Psychology Today; What Separates Goals We Achieve from Goals We Don’t, Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach, Harvard Business Review; What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means, Carol Dweck, Harvard Business Review; What is a growth mindset? 8 steps to develop one, Western Governors University; and Dr. Dweck’s research into growth mindset changed education forever, Mindset Works. Accessed September 7, 2023.