A Growth Mindset

Yesterday, I spent a good majority of the day watching a 5 hour crash course on basic financial accounting. The reason I spent the day watching it, was because one of my buddies Adam who is staying with me from out of town, wanted to learn about it to help his business.

Accounting is awesome, because its clear cut. It's either right or wrong, and it has to balance.

I have some bookkeeping and accounting experience, but it was refreshing to watch a skill that I use daily in my businesses be broken down into its simplest form and explanation. 

It was cool to see these basic concepts of Debits/Credits, T-Charts, Journal Entries, General Ledgers, and Trial Balances be broken down and understood by someone who never ran into these things before. 

At 38 years old, and after starting and owning multiple businesses, he decided that he wants to have a better understanding so that he can work better with his accountants in the future.

He believes that he can learn more about it, and he's right! 

That is an example of a growth mindset. 

What is a Growth Mindset? 

A growth mindset is a belief that your skills and capabilities can be developed. You aren't born with skills... growing up, you had to learn how to roll over, then to crawl, stand, walk and eventually run! 

The same goes with other skills in life.

You can develop competency in a skill, as long as you believe you can get better at it and put in the effort to do it! 

What about a Fixed Mindset? 

A fixed mindset is the opposite, it is a belief that ones skills are innate. The belief that you are either born with it or you aren't. 

If as an infant you had the self-talk that said... "walking is not for me", "I'm not a walker", "other people are better walkers than me, I'm just not that person"... where would you be today? 

That's not to say that some people go through their life literally unable to walk, but chances are... the good majority of people have that capability. 

Why is a Growth Mindset important? 

Your mind can be your own worst enemy, or your biggest supporter!

A growth mindset is really just believing in yourself, and telling yourself that you can make improvements on the skill you want to develop. Without a growth mindset, you place a limitation on yourself, that usually isn't really even there. 

How can I practice a growth mindset? 

A lot of it really comes from the words that you use! Often times when you start, it's just thinking the opposite of what you are thinking. 

Here's some a couple of basic examples... 

"I'm not good at this"  vs. "How can I become better at this?" 

"I can't do it"  vs. "How can I do this?"

It's easy to get frustrated when you compare yourself to where someone else is at but when you focus on daily improvement and progress, what you'll realize you have the power within yourself to be there too! 

There's tons of awesome content out there about a growth mindset, and if this interests you... this should just be the starting point! 

"Those who think they can, and those who think they can't, are both usually right."
- Henry Ford