Did you know that you and/or your team’s behavior is often influenced by your mindsets, even if you aren't aware of it? That’s how powerful mindsets are! In this blog post, I’ll talk about the importance of two mindsets that specifically fuel how we learn things, including tips on developing them.
Unlocking the Mindsets of Growth and Curiosity
Growth and curiosity are two important mindsets that everyone can adjust to unlock intentionality in their lives. First, let’s talk about the growth mindset.
Growth Mindset
A growth mindset means that you can grow, expand, adapt, and change. This mindset is essential for those who desire to invest in learning and improvement. It releases you from perfection and allows you to appreciate the journey even if the outcome isn't what you expected.
Several decades ago, Carol Dweck, an academic and psychologist, gave name to the concept of the growth mindset. Her work looked at the beliefs people had about their potential to learn and discovered that people tend to maintain one of two beliefs: a fixed or a growth mindset.
Fixed Mindset - It's the belief that a person's capabilities will never change and are pretty much fixed at birth.
Growth Mindset - The belief that a person has the power to nurture the traits they desire. Yes, any traits including even ones linked to your personality or the things you thought you'll just never be good at.
Most intentional learners tend to have a mindset that encourages learning as a lifelong process. In the case of public speaking, for example, some people might say that they just aren't good at it and will never really be able to be good at it — this is a fixed mindset point of view. Whereas in the growth mindset point of view, people will say that they are not good at it YET...and that they can learn how to do public speaking if they want to, even if they're not experienced or confident enough right now. From a growth mindset perspective, this same attitude can be applied to any traits or skill you aren't yet good at but want to improve upon.
You can unlock your growth mindset and get on the path to success with these tips:
Give yourself time. Patience is key to learning and improvement.
Don't beat yourself up. Notice what your fixed mindset voice sounds like and reframe to a growth mindset when it pops up. For example, instead of seeing failure and mistakes as an indication that you should stop something, reframe them into indications of where exactly to focus your improvement efforts.
Be surrounded by people who believe in you. Use others for accountability, motivation and inspiration. Tell them about new things you want to learn and ask for their support along the way.
Curiosity Mindset
A curiosity mindset is sparked by the desire to discover new things and focuses more on the process rather than the outcome. It's also the ability to be aware of things, be open to new ideas, and draw connections between seemingly unrelated concepts. In other words, curiosity is the fuel that runs the engine of learning.
Motivation and curiosity are also directly linked because curiosity enables you to care about something, which in turn motivates you to take action. For example, you're more likely to find a solution to a problem or learn something new if you're interested in the subject matter.
Curiosity is important to develop because it's more than just reading, taking a course, or asking many questions. Exploring, traveling, or trying something different are a few examples of providing a continual stream of unique experiences to your brain for learning. Yes, even people who consider themselves to not be naturally curious can develop their curiosity muscle.
So to help strengthen your curiosity, here are three essential practices you can do:
Conquer your fears and face them head-on. You might just discover that something you were afraid of actually holds a lot of interesting adventures for you.
Explore new experiences. Notice when your bias kicks in and says something isn't worthy or interesting. Ask yourself why not and see if you can find an angle that interests you to find out more.
Focus on the things you love. It's great to follow your passions and use them to drive continuous learning and additional curiosity.
Takeaway
Growth and curiosity go hand in hand. A growth mindset is all about believing that you can improve, even if you're not the best at it right now, while a curiosity mindset is the willingness to learn and explore, even when it's difficult.
Unlocking these two mindsets can definitely help you achieve your highest potential!