Do you have a Growth mindset, or do you have a Fixed mindset?

With a Growth mindset you welcome opportunities to try new experiences, you know you can learn and develop new skills, you are happy to do something for the first time and know that it will get better as you learn more. You are happy to take the stairs and, in fact, like to count how many you climb.

With a Fixed mindset you are content with the feeling that you know where you are, you know what you can do, you are confident and feel safe right here right now, and you don’t need to take the stairs if there is an escalator.

In truth, most of us have a little bit of both going on in our lives, and a lot of this will come from our parents and our experiences as we were growing up.

Although my Mum and Dad accomplished a lot in their lives, they were also quite fixed in their thoughts, feelings and beliefs. AND this definitely played a part for me and my brother and sisters in what we did and how we felt about things. One of my Dad’s sayings was: what do you want to go and do that for? if I told him I was doing something different for the first time … and if me and my sister are chatting about things and doing or trying something new, we both share a laugh as we ask each other: what do you want to go and do that for? 

But to be honest we can both feel a bit anxious about taking on new things and I think this all stems from our Mum and Dad … bless them. My Dad’s name was Len, and I often find myself saying: stop doing a ‘Len'! If I am trying to talk myself out of trying something new.

Have these kind of thoughts stopped you from trying something new? If so, maybe stop doing a ‘Len’ and give it a go. You never know where it might take you, how it might make you feel, and what you will be able to achieve at the end of it.