2. Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset

In my previous post, I talked about a Growth mindset and a fixed mindset concept. If we look at our pasts, we see situations where we might have said to ourselves, “well, I don’t have that kind of talent” or “I am not that smart” or “I can never do that.” Thinking this way will create an invisible wall in front of you, not allowing you to move forward. I believe that if you can create an invisible wall, then you also have the ability to hold your fist and punch that wall so hard that it breaks into million pieces.

People fixed mindset are those who say “they are not smart,” “I cannot do that,” etc. If you are like this, then there is a simple hack to avoid having a fixed mindset. It is “Do not define yourself; do not put a label on yourself.” Putting a label will only create invisible walls in your life. Saying you are not smart enough ends the argument, it means you can never be smarter.

To understand why we have a fixed mindset, we have to know how it begins. I have a friend who was toper in the class when he was in 3rd grade. His parents and teachers said he was brilliant and he believed that. He had high self-esteem because of this. Seeing his ability, his headmasters decided to transfer him to a better section the following year, where he can sit with other smart students. My friend saw fierce competition there. In the following tests, he got 85 percent, he was nowhere close to 1st Rank, and he was not even in the top 5 Ranks. He was devastated. He started thinking he was smart only for a 3rd-grade student. He is not intelligent enough. He started resenting tests, slowly he lost interests and also his self-esteem.

He was a bright student; what went wrong?

Everyone was praising his results; no one talked about the process. Saying he was smart had put a wrong idea in his head. He thought he scored well because he is bright but not because of his effort. Instead, his parents should have said, “your hardwork paid off.” Praising the process instead of the result is a good practice because “How hard you work, will affect how smart you are. But how smart you are, do not affect how hard you work.”

We covered a fixed mindset; by now, you might have got little idea about the growth mindset and how to have it. You have to praise the process instead of the results. You have to ask a simple yet powerful question, which is “How can I become/develop ____________?”. Fill in the blank with a suitable word. Ask how I can become smarter? If you are looking for weight loss, ask how I can lose fat?

Asking these questions will allow you to find creative solutions for your problem. In the last section, I wondered how some people keep trying time and again, even after multiple failures. It is a growth mindset that allows them to ask questions, learn, and grow from each failure. For some people, failure doesn’t mean the end; it means “not yet successful.”

I said I had dedicated my previous post to my friends who were preparing for exams. We have touched upon mindset. To crack your exams, you need to learn productive tools; for that, you must know how to learn. I will provide you with the most significant learning techniques which have helped me in cracking GATE 2016. Next section, I will talk about a method that made my learning enjoyable, fun and helped to fight procrastination. The technique is called the “Pomodoro Technique.”

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