In my last Mindset Monday I wrote about how I am going to stop hiding out after being called on the carpet by my coach. This is all part of a much larger personal journey I am on and that is to discover if my mindset fixed or open.
As part of this self discovery I just read this great book by Carol Dweck: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. It really opened my eyes to where in my life I was living in a fixed vs open mindset.
Now mind you, I consider myself to be a pretty open minded person yet when I read this book I was faced with the hard truth that I was open minded only when it kept me safe and in my comfort zone. When asked to push myself to be more visible to my audience through webinars and speaking, I become very uncomfortable and I am sure a lot of you reading this can relate to that.
Yuck! I was one of those fixed mindset people who when it came to doing something that I did not want to or felt uncomfortable, I came up with a million reasons why not. So yeah I am one of those who avoids a challenge when it comes to public speaking because I am afraid.
And… I hate criticism – I mean who really does? Yet if I were to really look at criticism from an open, growth mindset I would embrace it and learn from it. I have a choice to either feel bad and become the victim when criticized or I can own it and learn from it in order to master whatever needs to be done.
And so everyday in order to keep myself in an open, growth mindset I am asking myself the following questions:
- How can I be open to learning and growing today?
- If I need to dive deeper how can I make this happen and implement what I have learned?
- When can I complete this?
- How can I keep myself open learning and growing everyday?
Just doing this each morning before I step into my office helps to keep me in a more thoughtful perspective rather than being reactive. And if I get faced with a tough or uncomfortable issue I’ll step back pull out my questions and ponder them before leaping to answer. I find that doing this makes me a happier, calmer person.
It doesn’t matter, I can use this if I am at work or with my family. It works.
I’ve created this handy Is your mindset fixed or open reference guide read it over and see where you might fall on this list.
And feel free to click on it and download it for yourself.
Here’s my tip: Look over this list and ask yourself is your mindset fixed or open? If you find yourself saying yes then consciously look for ways to embrace a new way of thinking.
Your mind and your business will thank you!
So back over to you…let me know is your mindset fixed or open?
