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 Growth Mindset and Grit


 


Growth Mindset | Fixed Mindset

  Fixed Mindset 

    A  Fixed mindset is a belief that talents, traits, and basic abilities are fixed and can't be changed. A fixed mindset assumes that your character, intelligence, and creativity are unchanging and that you can do nothing to change that. A person with a fixed mindset believes that to succeed in every situation, you have to prove yourselves and prove that your given abilities and characteristic traits are enough.  

A fixed mindset leads to frustration, failure, and learned helplessness.

  • No amount of effort will improve your chances of success. 
  • You can't change. You are what you are. Your success is what it is.
  • If you don't have the skills or intelligence to complete a task, there's no chance for improvement.
  • Myopic
It is what it is; I cannot change it. "I can't"

 Growth Mindset

    The growth mindset is the opposite of a fixed mindset. Professer Carol Dweck of Standford University says.  "The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way in their initial talents, aptitudes, interests, or temperaments, everyone can change and grow through persistence, a strong sense of purpose, and deliberate practice" (Dweck, 2016). 

A growth mindset leads to success, growth, and the development of grit.
  • Effort is the path to mastery
  • Passion drives effort and success
  • Deliberate practice creates growth and improvement. 
  • There is power in persistence.
  • Ability to learn new things
  • Embrace challenges
  • Learn from criticism and failure
  • Find lessons and inspiration in the successes of others
  • Learning is a process
     I can't "Yet"; Qualities are cultivated through your efforts.


                               

It is not enough to shift our mindset; we also need a healthy dose of grit and resilience to achieve short- and long-term goals.



What is Grit? 

Is Grit something people are born with?  

    Angela Duckworth defined grit as “The tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals” (Duckworth, 2019). Grit is a trait that develops through experience. One way Duckworth points out in her Ted-Ed talk is that grit improves through shifting from a fixed mindset into a growth mindset. 

Grit is:

  •  Intense passion and drive for a particular goal
  • Self-control
  • Emotional regulation
  • Sustained, consistent effort over time
  • Guts, resilience, initiative, and tenacity
  • Optimism
    "Grit is about sustained, consistent effort toward a goal, even when we struggle, falter, or temporarily fail" (Miller, 2023).

 Grit takes a healthy amount of resilience.

    Resilience is the ability to bounce back after failure. It is picking ourselves up, dusting off,  taking a few minutes to breathe, and trying again. It requires optimism. Some people have more resilience than others. Resilience is a characteristic that can be cultivated. 

    According to the article, The Road to Resilience, "Grit can also be defined as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress- such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems, or workplace and financial stressors" (Newman, 2022).

    Grit is the stick-to-it-ness or passionate perseverance that moves us toward our goals. Resilience is the glue that keeps things together when they seem to fall apart.


How can you apply both Grit and  Growth Mindset to parenting?  


    Both grit and a growth mindset are invaluable. Characteristics parents can develop for themselves and teach to their children.  Parenting can be extremely difficult on some days, and sometimes we fail in our parenting, and that's ok. We are not the best parents we can be, Yet.   We can become the parents our children need through passionate perseverance, deliberate practice, and consistent effort.

5 Ways you can use the Power of Grit and Growth Mindset in your parenting

  1.  Focus on Growth Mindset- Progress, not perfection.
  2.  Recognize you have a choice- Choose to listen to the voice inside that encourages you to do small and simple things each day to improve your parenting. 
  3. Deliberate practice-- choose a parenting skill you wish to improve and practice it until it is a part of your skill set.
  4. Replace the word "failing" with "learning"
  5.  Choose to be optimistic 


 References


Duckworth, A. (2019). Grit. Vermilion.

Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset the new psychology of Success. Ballantine Books.

 Miller, K. D. (2023, April 6). 5+ ways to develop a growth mindset using Grit & Resilience. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/5-ways-develop-grit-resilience/

NBCUniversal News Group. (2023). True Grit, Can You Teach Children Character? NBCNews.com. Retrieved July 15, 2023, from https://www.nbcnews.com/video/true-grit-can-you-teach-children-character-44432451969.

Newman, R. (2002, October). Investigating the road to resilience. Monitor on Psychology. https://www.apa.org/monitor/oct02/pp

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