Fixed vs growth mindset
How the way we think about ability shapes the way we train, compete and recover from setbacks.
Mental wellbeing
Most people have heard the terms, but do you know what they actually mean? A clear understanding of how much a growth mindset can change your direction, lift your motivation, or steady your emotions in the face of perceived failure is worth having.
A mindset is a set of self-perceptions and beliefs you hold about yourself. It shapes behaviour, outlook and mental attitude: what you believe about yourself affects how you think, feel and behave in any situation.
What a growth mindset does
A growth mindset lets you embrace failure and learn from it. People who believe effort matters respond to hard tasks with more positive, more sophisticated strategies, and keep increasing their learning over time.
Learning from failure produces real change in the brain throughout life, and it is vital for resilience. In a sport where losses outnumber wins for almost everyone, that is not a nice to have.
How each one sounds
Fixed mindset, the things we think or say:
- This is just who I am
- I would never be able to do that
- This always happens to me
- They never do it the way they should
Growth mindset, the reframe:
- Imagine if…
- I wonder if…
- How could I influence that?
- What am I not doing or saying yet?