Grow and Improve Yourself with a GROWTH MINDSET

What if your deepest talents and skills are just waiting to be unlocked? 

Imagine a world where every challenge is an opportunity to grow and become a better version of yourself. That's the power of a growth mindset, a belief that our abilities can be developed and improved over time.

So come with us on this enlightening journey and discover how a growth mindset can change your life.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Mindset Focus Podcast. I'm your host, tony Tran. In today's episode, I'm going to talk everything about the growth mindset, what it is, what are the benefits of growth mindset and how you can develop a growth mindset to level up all areas of your life. Maybe it's your first time hearing about a growth mindset, or perhaps you have heard about it before. A growth mindset is a term that's picking up popularity nowadays as more people are investing in their self-development. So let's start off with the definition of what a growth mindset is. A growth mindset, as defined by psychologist Carol Dweck, is the belief that your talent, skills, personality and your intelligence can be learned and be improved over time If you put the effort and the practice into it. So the keywords here are effort and practice. So these traits can only be attained and be improved if you choose to do it, so they don't come naturally or appear out of nowhere. So what does that mean? Well, it simply means that if we developed a growth mindset, we will be able to learn new things, have new experiences in life, develop new connections with the people that are around us and pretty much do anything that you want in your life because your ability to learn something is limitless. So that sounds pretty good to me. Does it to you, though? I hope it is, and I hope you are inching closer to wanting to develop that growth mindset.

Speaker 1: 1:47

Now there is actually a mindset which is opposite of a growth mindset. It is called the fixed mindset, and essentially, a fixed mindset is the belief that those traits that we talked about earlier. They are fixed, they're static, they are things that you can't change, they are things that you either have or you don't. People with a fixed mindset they focus on doing the things that they are already good at and they try to avoid the things that they are not so good at. So, for example, if you don't believe that you are confident, then with the fixed mindset approach, you just don't have the ability to learn or improve on yourself. Confidence, therefore, you just have to live and adapt to life with your lower sense of confidence, and that doesn't really sound good to me. I don't really want to head down that path of things that are limiting my life and limiting my ability to learn and improve as a person. So a fixed mindset approach is not going to push you outside of your comfort zone. It's not going to allow you to want to take on new challenges and look for opportunities for growth and learning. So instead, what you're going to do is look for the path of less resistance, where you can stay in your comfort bubble. Interestingly, studies have found that children in school who were more accepting of their bad exam results and studied even harder for their next exam did better than those who did not think they could do any better, even though some of those kids were actually smarter than the kids that had a growth mindset approach. So does this motivate you to go and do what it is you really want to for a while now? But perhaps you think that you aren't good enough, you're not smart enough, you're not prepared enough or pretty enough. So let's go and squash these self-limiting beliefs out of your mind and develop that growth mindset.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Firstly, let's do a quick rundown on some of the benefits of a growth mindset. So, firstly, you're going to have an increased sense of resilience. With a growth mindset mentality, you are going to see challenges as opportunities to grow rather than obstacles blocking your way. You're going to be more resilient in the hard and difficult times because you know it's not going to last forever, as long as you try your best. Number two you're going to be a continuous learner. You're going to be more open to receiving constructive feedback because you see them as tools for improvement rather than seeing as a personal criticism. You know that your learning potential is limitless. Therefore, you will always be open to learn. Number three is an increased sense of confidence. So, of course, your confidence is going to improve as you seek to take on new challenges, develop new skills and abilities, and you're going to know that you have more to offer to the world. And when you know that you are able to achieve anything with effort and practice, you will be more confident with your ability to succeed. So number four is reduced fear of failure. You will be able to overcome your fear of failure because failing is a natural part of the process.

Speaker 1: 5:05

There's a famous quote by one of basketball's greatest player, michael Jordan, and he goes like this I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning, shot and missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed Now, knowing that even the best athletes Michael Jordan considered one of the greatest player in NBA history have their bad times. You're going to push yourself to succeed.

Speaker 1: 5:44

So there's a scientific term, guys, called neuroplasticity, and essentially what that means is that our brain is continuously undergoing changes and it can develop neural connections. So, as I'm a physio, I've worked with a lot of patients who've had a stroke. So for those of you that don't know what a stroke is, it's essentially when someone has a bleed in the brain or a blockage in one of their blood vessels. So what happened is because the blood flow is going to be reduced to certain parts of their brain. The tissues die off because the blood is not going there, oxygen is being starved into that part of the brain and essentially they lose function to whichever part of that brain corresponds to in the body. And obviously these patients they come to the hospital with weakness. They lose their ability to talk, walk. Even simple movements such as feeding themselves or even opening their eyes they can't do, depending on what part of the brain is affected.

Speaker 1: 6:54

So we rehab these patients and neuroplasticity plays a big part in how they recover. So it's very important for the first three to six months of their recovery that we get them to do a lot of repetitions, right? Because we want these neural pathways to be firing again and to be connecting to those parts of the brain where it's been lost. And it's amazing what the body can do, because three to six months down the track, these patients are walking and they're talking and they have regained some functions that they have lost completely when they've had the stroke. So the body is an amazing source of anatomy.

Speaker 1: 7:39

The brain is amazing, guys. You know, neural connections are always building and you're always growing in there. You're always getting smarter, even though you don't know it. So when we are thinking or when we challenge ourselves, when we go outside of our comfort zone, right when we do different things, new neural connections can develop in our brain and that can make us smarter. So, guys, there's actually scientific evidence saying that you can get smarter and you can actually develop a growth mindset, no matter how old you are or where you are in life. Okay, so it's not too late, you are still able to develop that growth mindset. And that's what you're going to do with me today in today's episode. So, now that we know that anyone can develop a growth mindset, as we have scientific proof, let's go ahead and work on some steps on getting that mindset Now.

Speaker 1: 8:36

But first, before we talk about that, I want you, I want to make a similar comparison of your mindset to your muscles. Okay, I'll probably talk about this quite a bit in my other episodes, but I just want you guys to know that your mindset is like a muscle. So if you want your muscle nice and strong and bigger, what do you do? You're going to go to the gym, you're going to lift weights, you're going to do a lot of repetitions and sets, all right, and you're going to continuously challenge your body. You know, by increasing the weights and sets and repetitions, whatever, you're going to challenge your body so that it can get bigger and stronger. But it's not going to come overnight, right, you're going to have to put in work, effort and time, but, most importantly, you have to be consistent with it, all right. And the same goes for your mindset. It's going to take time, consistency and effort, but you need to have that mindset of wanting it and wanting to improve it, because it's not going to come overnight. You have to be deliberate about wanting it. Okay, you have to do the repetitions. You have to challenge your mind, okay, so that it can become stronger and more resilient. All right, so let's move on to the things that you can do to develop a growth mindset.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Okay, so the first thing I want you to do is swap out your negative talk and thoughts with more empowering and positive thinking. So what you think of yourself is the most important opinion in the world. Not what your mom says, not what your friend says, not what that stranger on the streets thinks of you, okay. Not even what our girl over there thinks of you that you might even like. No, we are all really harsh on ourselves. All right. We are our own worth critics, right, and there's a good reason on why that is.

Speaker 1: 10:34

You obviously want to be the best version of yourself all the time to impress other people or yourself. It's just human nature, right? You want to present your best version to the world 100% of the time. So what does that mean? It means perfection and no mistakes whatsoever. And look, while that's a decent way of living life, it's not the healthiest way to live, because you're always going to tell yourself that you are not good enough. Okay, you're never going to reach a point of satisfaction because you will always aim to reach for more and more and more. And when will it stop? Okay? So then, when you are unable to reach those incredibly high expectations of yourself, you start to doubt yourself.

Speaker 1: 11:19

The self-negative talk creeps in and it slowly eats away at your confidence and self-belief. Right, it reaches to a point where you go back into your comfort zone and then you don't want to challenge yourself anymore. So, instead of having incredibly high expectations of yourself and having self-doubt, be kind to yourself. Think and talk about yourself in a positive way. Tell yourself that you are good enough. Tell yourself that you have the capability to learn and grow. You are what you think and say about yourself.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Some people are always the ones that think they are confident. Charismatic people believe that they are charismatic. Funny people believe that they are funny. So, whatever it is that you want to be, believe that you can be that, and you are 50% of the way there already. Look, and the opposite is true as well. Unfortunately, there's always two sides to a point, and that is if you believe you are not confident, then you won't be confident, or if you are not charismatic, then you won't be charismatic. The positive self-talk and thinking will boost your self-belief and confidence, which will make you want to tackle on challenges.

Speaker 1: 12:35

So, instead of saying no to doing a presentation at work because you are scared your colleagues are going to think you are not good at what you're doing, instead say yes to embracing discomfort and see it as a way of connecting with your colleagues. See it as a personal achievement in that you have stepped outside of your comfort zone and tried something new. This is exciting. You are going to build new neural connections in your brain neuroplasticity, remember and it's more exciting than being in the audience or being on the sideline. Guys Trust me. So the next one is to see every challenge in your life as an opportunity. So, whether that's an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to connect, whatever it is okay. Just see it as an opportunity for something, because staying in the comfort zone is the killer of your productivity. You need to step outside of that comfort zone, into your learning and growth zone, where you are going to be challenging yourself, and I want you to see these challenges as an opportunity to grow, to learn, to be better, to have fun and to enjoy all that life has to offer.

Speaker 1: 13:43

You know, I remembered when I really wanted to improve on my social confidence, about seven or eight years ago, I dreaded the thought of talking to strangers. Right, I constantly had self-doubt in my mind. You know, it would tell me self-limiting beliefs like oh you know, you are not cool enough, you're going to look really silly. You know you're not interesting enough. These people are going to think I'm weird. Why would I want to talk to these people when you know they're gonna judge me so hard? But when I decided to tackle this challenge and saw it as an opportunity to improve myself, I relied those beliefs into. I want to provide value to the other person. I want to improve my conversational skills, regardless of whether I look silly or not. In fact, maybe being goofy is a part of my personality that people may like. Right, and look to my surprise, when I started interacting with other people, they reciprocated my energy and attitude and it felt really good.

Speaker 1: 14:44

You know, I wasn't silly or weird or long. It was simply what I thought I was going to be. You know, it was simply these thoughts in my head that simply held me back from doing what I wanted to do. So most of my thoughts were simply that. They were just thoughts, guys. They were my perception of reality, but it wasn't even reality itself. Guys, most of the time, the situations that you drop in your head are simply just fictional events. They are things that most likely will not happen in real life. That is where a growth mindset can really push you to challenge yourself, despite of these thoughts and, guys, now, as a result, I am a lot better with talking with strangers now compared to my younger self, and I'm so happy for it, because tackling that challenge has really opened up other avenues of opportunities for me, you know, in terms of social networking. For, say so, go and rewire your internal dialogue and start seeing challenges in life as an opportunity to grow. When you realize that most of your thoughts are simply fantasy or fictional, you will find it easier to take actions in your real life to produce real results.

Speaker 1: 16:05

Okay, next up is to learn from your mistakes and your failures. I find that people that I have talked to over the years of my life right, the ones that are willing to accept their mistakes and learn are the ones that had the most potential for growth. They are also the best people to be around with, and simply because they will not judge you for your mistakes, because they know that everybody makes mistakes in life. They have been there before, they've done that. You know there's a famous saying that people who are above you will never criticize you for what you do. It's only the people that are below you or behind you that will criticize you. Okay, so the word failure is something a lot of us tread, but honestly, I think you should give this word a bit more of a positive credit, because if you don't fail, how are you supposed to learn what not to do the next time? You try it right Without failing. You will have it easy and, honestly, nobody likes it that easy. We usually think hang on, is this a trick? What sort of magic is this?

Speaker 1: 17:20

It is in our human nature to want things that are the hardest to get Right. For example, we want diamond, we want gold, and they are freaking hard to find and get right. Or we want the most attractive girl or guy, and they are also quite difficult to get as well right. And and we want the best job in that company that we are in. You know we want that promotion and everybody's fighting for it and that's the hardest job to get. But that's what we want as a part of human, human nature. We want the best things in life and most of the time they are the hardest thing to get.

Speaker 1: 18:00

But it feels so much better when you are successful, knowing that you have traded in your sweat, your blood and your teeth. There is long sleepless nights and countless of rejections right. It feels so much better that you to know that you never gave up on yourself, on your goals and your dreams. Right. It feels amazing to succeed when you have failed and failed and failed time over time again, just like Thomas Edison, the founder of the light bulb. He said I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. So, guys, go out there, be a Thomas Edison and don't be afraid to fail again and again. Learn from your failures. Ask yourself what can I do better next time? What shouldn't I do next time? People with a growth mindset always take out learning lessons from their failures. They apply it to their next attempts, or fewer attempts, until they get it right. They don't let the failures take control of their life.

Speaker 1: 19:06

Okay, lastly, but most importantly, guys, you need to take actions. I have talked about this so many times on my previous episodes. If there is anything that I want you to remember from this episode, let it be this you need to take actions. No matter what, no matter how you feel, no matter what time of day it is, no matter what day of the week it is, no matter what's going on in your life, you need to take actions. Actions are the foundation of success, and if that's what you want, if you want to be successful, then you need to take action. I know that's what I want, but if you were anything like me back in the days, you might perhaps be waiting for the right time to get started, or you're waiting for a day when you feel really motivated to continue with your project, or whatever other million of excuses that you might be coming up with to delay taking action. Do you know why we always seem to come up with excuses? Well, it's simply because that's the path of less resistance.

Speaker 1: 20:10

It's more comfortable not to try right, because if you don't try, then you won't fail. You're not giving yourself that opportunity to fail right? Unfortunately, this also means that if you don't try, you won't succeed either, and that's how someone with a fixed mindset would approach it. They would approach it seeing that if I don't go and try, then I won't fail. People will not laugh at me, I will not feel bad about myself, so I'm just going to stay in my comfort bubble, okay.

Speaker 1: 20:42

But if you don't take actions, you're not going to go anywhere, because thinking about it in your head is not going to translate into real life outcomes or results. It's going to be merely a fantasy or a dream that you might have, because all that matters at the end is the actions that you take. It doesn't even matter about the results that you get out of it, right? Because most of the time, the result that comes your way isn't even the result that you want. But don't see these results as a bad thing. Try to see them in a positive light. See it as a learning lesson. See it as a courage and the discipline that you had when you pushed yourself forward. Okay, so if you didn't get those exam marks that you wanted, good, you have another opportunity to go and learn to be better. So you didn't get that job that you applied for Good. You now have experience from that previous interview and now you can go for another, better job.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Guys, see me put it Actions is the only way to create change in your life. So if you want to lose weight, you need to take action and eat healthier exercise regularly, starting today. If you want to get better playing the piano, you need to take action to practice your chords and scales, starting today. If you want to be a better friend, you need to reach out to your friends and support their dreams as if it was your own. Learning and making mistakes and taking that chance is for you to grow, because not knowing what you are doing but doing something about it is better than knowing everything but doing nothing.

Speaker 1: 22:16

Let me say that again, not knowing what you are doing but doing something about it is more effective than knowing everything but doing nothing. So, guys, go out there, take actions and learn from the process. It is better to give it a go rather than taking a seat on the sideline and scrolling through life. Okay, so that comes to the end of my episode on the growth mindset. I hope by now you are ready to develop that growth mindset and take on the challenges that are waiting for you. It's going to empower you to take actions. It's going to challenge you to step outside of your comfort zone and, at the end of the day, it's going to be positive for you. You're going to grow as a better person out of this, and that's what life is all about. It's all about growing and learning to be a better you. So, guys, until next time, take care and be better than who you were yesterday.