What Is a Growth Mindset and How Can You Develop One?

Job postings everywhere seek employees with a “growth mindset,” but what exactly does that mean?

This article explores the growth mindset concept and offers tips on how to develop your own.

The Benefits of Having a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is the attitude that even if you struggle with certain skills, your talents are adaptable and can be improved with effort and practice. People with a growth mindset view challenges and setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow, and they believe that with enough work, they will succeed.

The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset, in which people believe that their intelligence and abilities are inherently unmalleable and unchangeable over time.

Having a growth mindset correlates to a number of benefits:

• In a global study, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found a link between having a growth mindset and higher student test scores and greater student well-being.
• Supervisors in growth-mindset companies expressed significantly more positive views about their employees than supervisors in fixed-mindset companies, rating them as more innovative, collaborative, and committed to learning and growing, Harvard Business Review reports. Supervisors were also more likely to say that their employees had management potential.
• According to the journal Brain Sciences, people with a growth mindset:
• Show an ability to improve without incentives
• Have increased motivation
• Reach higher levels of academic achievement
• Have better coping skills, especially with academic tasks

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset

What do growth and fixed mindsets look and sound like? The table below gives examples of a growth mindset versus a fixed one.

How Do Students With a Growth Mindset See Their Mistakes?

When students with a growth mindset make mistakes, they think:

• This is a learning opportunity.
• I’m inspired to keep improving.
• It’s good to take risks, even if they don’t always work out.
• I can learn from the criticism.
• That’s OK; I’ll get back to work and learn more.
• This is an opportunity to get creative with problem solving.
• Mistakes are part of the learning process.
• I’m not giving up.

10 Tips to Develop a Growth Mindset

If you identify more with having a fixed mindset, you still have the power to change. To develop a growth mindset, try the following: 

1. Identify Your Current Mindset

You can’t amend what you don’t know. Self-awareness is key. Start noting what you think and feel when you make a mistake or are faced with a challenge.

2. See Challenges as Opportunities

Tell yourself that you gladly accept this challenge — it’s an opportunity to learn and grow. You might not believe yourself at first, but keep telling yourself that anyway.

3. Be Patient With Yourself; Growth Is a Process, Not a Destination

You won’t develop a growth mindset overnight, and you may make progress, then regress, then make progress again. Remind yourself that this is part of the process.

4. Focus on Your Positive Actions Rather Than Traits

Too much focus on your traits and talents lends itself to strengthening a fixed mindset. Take positive action toward your goals, and give yourself a little pat on the back for doing so.

5. Talk to Others Who Have Developed a Growth Mindset

Ask them how they did it — they may be able to offer feedback and tips.

6. Change Your Perspective on Failure

Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, said, “I did not invent penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it by accident.” Start telling yourself that failure is an opportunity to learn or discover something new.

7. Write Down Your Goals

Research suggests that those who write down their goals have a higher chance of reaching them. Write down what you want to achieve.

8. Celebrate the Success of Others

There is plenty of growth and learning for all. When others succeed, be happy for them, congratulate them, and ask them how they did it.

9. Ask for Feedback

Those closest to you may see avenues for improvement that you cannot. View the feedback as a way to get better, not criticism.

10. Remind Yourself That You May Not Be Good at Something — Yet

“Yet” tells your brain that it will happen — you just need to put in more time and practice.

Would a College Degree Help You Meet Your Goals?

Do you tell yourself that you can’t go back to school right now, for whatever reason? We awarded 10,700 degrees in 2022–2023 to people who believed they could! Purdue Global offers 175+ online programs including associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees and certificates. Reach out today for more information.