MARCH 18, 2022
You might think that the biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful people is in the kind of vision they hold and the goals that they have.
This is true, but this isn’t the whole picture. Just having those goals doesn’t make anyone successful.
There are thousands of people who want to become the next Christiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams, Steve Jobs, or Taylor Swift. But how many of them actually achieve that goal? Not even 1 percent.
Lots of people dream. Only a fraction of them turn those dreams into reality. So, what’s the bridge between the dream and reality, and how do we cross that bridge? That’s what you’ll understand in this blog post!
Why can’t we make our dreams a reality?
The number one reason why we can’t make our dreams come true is that we don’t have the right mindset. We feel that success should just come and walk right into our house, and then we’ll welcome it with open arms. The harsh reality is you have to put in a lot of effort to get to the door of success and then push your way through.
We all like to live in a dreamt-up reality where everything happens super easy for us, and that’s why we aren’t successful. Our mindset and outlook from the start are only wrong. When a challenge comes up, the first thing we do is give up instead of welcoming it. When we have to grow and evolve, we back off. We think everything should fit in as it is in our comfort zone, not realizing that we have to expand that comfort zone, go through some pain, and then only do we become successful.
We don’t have a growth mindset, and thus we don’t achieve our goals.
What Mindset do We Need to Achieve Our Goals?
We need to have a growth mindset to achieve the goals that we set for ourselves and turn them into reality.
You might be wondering, “I’ve heard a lot about the growth mindset already.” And that’s true. There are many things about the growth mindset, from tweets, blog posts, videos, books, and even scientific research. We often tangle the meaning of what it truly means to have a growth mindset in a web of words and confuse ourselves on how to implement it. And the sole purpose of this post is to untangle that web and present to you the true definition of a growth mindset. And here it goes.
Very simply, a growth mindset is a thought process in that you can change, learn, grow and acquire the skills required to achieve your goals as opposed to a fixed mindset where you believe that you cannot expand your skills or become great in life. With a fixed mindset, you think that all your talents are innately set, and you can do nothing about it.
A fixed mindset makes you a helpless victim of your excuses. In contrast, a growth mindset helps you move above those excuses and fly high.
If you want to achieve your goals, then your fixed mindset isn’t going to help you. It is just going to bog you down. Your excuses will save you from putting in the efforts today, but they’ll delay your dreams just as much or longer.
You need a growth mindset where you don’t frown when you get challenges but see them as opportunities to grow and succeed.
Now that you know what a growth mindset is, let’s move on to understand why it is essential and how it can help you out.
Why is a Growth Mindset Important?
A growth mindset can change the whole game for you. By building one, you’ll be able to turn your vision into reality in a process as simple as baking a cake. It wouldn’t be easy to do. But it really will be simple.
This is how a growth mindset helps you in your life:
- It helps you unlock your potential. It shows you that you are capable of way more than what you’re capable of now. You can grow. You can learn. You can experience new things. And with each action that you take, you will unlock more of your potential and succeed in life.
- It breaks mental barriers. We have many unnecessary and negative mental barriers that stop us from achieving success. These mental barriers make us feel we aren’t worth anything. But a growth mindset breaks all of that. It shows you that you can be better and do better, thus breaking all these mental barriers.
- It helps you overcome challenges. Let’s accept this fact: challenges will be there. Your response to them decides how they affect you and how they don’t. When you choose to think with a fixed mindset, you will give up. When you decide to think with a growth mindset, you’ll grow through these challenges and become successful.
How to Develop a Growth Mindset?
Developing a growth mindset is pretty straightforward. All you need is two things: humbleness and a willingness to learn.
An egoistic person can never have a growth mindset. An egoistic person believes that they know everything in life. They feel that they are superior. They always have a shield around them that protects their vulnerable self within. They don’t want to be seen by other people as weak or as a person who makes mistakes, and thus they don’t accept that they too can make mistakes. They aren’t humble. With that kind of attitude, learning and growing are nearly impossible. Thus, you must be okay with making mistakes. You must be okay with being imperfect and vulnerable because that’s the only way you can learn and grow.
Next comes the willingness to learn. And this is equally important too. You can take a thirsty elephant to a river. You can pick up the elephant’s trunk and put it in the water. But if the elephant does not want to drink the water, no matter how much you force it to, it will not drink that water.
It’s the same with us humans. Those willing to learn will find those lessons and resources even in the direst of circumstances. Those who aren’t willing to learn will let go even when they have the most resources in the world.
You don’t want that. You must build your willingness to learn, and with that, your growth mindset will be complete, and you will achieve success.
Partnering in your success, happiness, and growth,
Prabhsimrat