Decision and Failure: Deciding That Failure is Not an Option

Nobody likes wasting time, money or opportunities by making a bad business decision. We can certainly identify what “bad” looks and feels like, however we should be identifying what the “win” looks like too. Too often we focus on the bad, which puts us in victim mode that perpetuates a scarcity mindset which leads us directly into becoming frozen or stuck.

When we are forced with a decision, we should just make the choice and not fret about what may come next. Not all decisions are bad and conversely, not all are good. Sometimes we even make good choices that end up bad or bad choices that end up good. Failure presents itself in two primary ways, through our mistakes, and in our fears. 

Make the Mistake…Fail

Learning from our mistakes can be tough yet the most successful entrepreneurs will also tell you to FAIL fast and FAIL regularly! What? Coming to understand why anyone would want to fail and be happy about failing is quite liberating. The truth is, we learn so much from our failures that we literally need failure in order to learn those lessons required to become more successful.

Sounds crazy but the truth is…. It is the truth. The word FAIL can be described as Full Accountability In Learning. When we take full accountability for where we are at, the circumstance, the situation, the event, whatever it is, we can either achieve the results desired, or we can learn from it.

When the mistake ends in learning, we should celebrate it (I think of the Disney movie, Meet The Robinson’s here – side note, it belongs on the top 10 list of movies for entrepreneurs to see). Learning requires us to make changes. Change is good. Change is necessary. Change is growth.

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end.” – Denis Waitley

The Only Thing We Fear…Fear Itself

The second aspect of failure comes in the face of fear towards failure. When you find yourself frustrated from your last perceived failure that you are nervous about making your next decision too quickly, that is fear. When you find yourself caught up in the “paralysis by analysis” cycle and either have a difficult time making decisions or procrastinating on a decision, that is fear.

The crazy part…as hard as we try to weigh all our options to make the best possible decision, it is NOT possible to fathom all the options! Let that sit for a moment because it is almost counter cultural to think that way, yet when we do, our minds open up into a world full of possibilities. Faith returns, hope endures, procrastination crumbles.

Faith and Decision Making

The reason is that until we take that next step of faith, we have no idea of the resources, relationships, and opportunities that can and will surface from that single decision. You see, it’s literally not possible to have ALL of the information. Certainly, we need to make the best decision with the information we have at the time yet, still have faith to know and understand there will be information we do not have readily available, and it is okay.

There is a part of taking action that requires faith and persistence in continuing to move forward and pivot as we go. This is not the same as “just winging it.” Faith is fully allowing it to happen as it is designed to. Some high-level businesspeople refer to this as having no regrets on the actions taken.

Once you decide on a course of action, take steps which support that decision based on all the tools in your personal toolbox… at the time. As you continue to add new tools to your toolbox you will make stronger decisions. This is where persistence becomes crucial.

“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.” – Zig Ziglar

The Choice is Yours

It’s clear that understanding these aspects of decision making and the way you approach the process of making decisions along with how you proceed during and after a failed decision sets the tone for learning how to make better decisions that results in stronger successes. Be persistence in acting in faith and do not be afraid to fail. Having faith over fear will be key in mastering the failures made from your decisions.

from
https://addicted2success.com/life/decision-and-failure-deciding-that-failure-is-not-an-option/

A New Year, Just Keep On Being You

I was always one of those people who set New Years’ Resolutions/goals for the year ahead – to earn X amount, to exercise more, to relax more. My personal opinion is that goals for ourselves, our business or performance; whatever it is, are important to have – they help to keep focused if nothing else.

New Year’s Resolutions can include: 

• No chocolate
• No alcohol
• Gym 3 or 4 times per week
• Losing X amount of pounds or stone in well
• To achieve that job promotion

These are different kinds of goals that I’ve just mentioned; some are ‘refrain from’ goals and some are ‘aspirational’ goals. Many of us – including myself in this, give ourselves new and pressured targets to achieve something because it is the turn of the year. What is it about January? How is it different to say, the 1st May, or the 1st September?

It seems, it’s all about having a new start, a new beginning, a new ‘US’ if you like. It’s great to approach a new year with enthusiasm, renewed vigour and hope. We also know though that most New Years’ Resolutions don’t last – we generally go back to living the way we were the previous year. The thing is, a year hasn’t past – that January 1st date is only one day – just one day after the previous year and one week or so since the festive period. 

We’ve got ourselves in this moment, so whether it is the beginning of January, the start of spring, or the wind down of summer, we’ll always just have ourselves in this moment. That is quite powerful because it can help us to understand where those New Year’s Resolutions are coming from.

With our intellect in play, we make sense of a lot of things from the outside world such as:

• Gym memberships – we should be going to the gym, four times per week and start the year fresh
• We should be losing weight now that we’ve over indulged
• We should be aspiring for things that we didn’t last year
• We should be detoxing our bodies
• We should be believing the things that we’re hearing or reading regarding what is important, expectations and so on

Experience tells me that it doesn’t work like that. There is something deeper at work here.

What if we’re content in just making decisions that we’re making for ourselves and know that they’re the right decisions?

What if we just know that opinions and expectations can influence our thinking and we have the choice not to take things so serious?

What if we can listen and be guided by ourselves, rather than outside pressures, and know that we are creating our own experience in relation to those outside factors – not the other way round?

This is our time and I’d like to invite you to consider for a moment, where are our New Years’ Resolutions really coming from?

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Do we really need to make a ‘new’ us?

Do we really think a new ‘us’ starts at the beginning of January and that everything that was going on in the outside world will stop affecting us? In reference to the outside world, I was thinking of day-to-day things that occur such as social drinks and invites, nights out, work deadlines, child getting sick, long days, car breaking down or an argument with our partner.

These are all day-to-day things that I know from experience and also in working with clients, that tend to lead people into going back to their old ways.

The thing is, it might look like there was an old us and that we’ve magically created a new us, however, that hasn’t happened. Likewise, even though we may have behaved in a certain way previously when an outside world event has taken place, it doesn’t mean to say we will behave in the same way next time.

I’m not saying that going to the gym is not healthy and has many other benefits; I’m not saying that drinking less alcohol has its benefits; I’m not saying that eating lots of junk food is good for us and I’m certainly not saying we shouldn’t aspire to things.

It’s more about, if we’re coming from a place of secure thinking, as opposed to insecure thinking, then we’ll feel – we’ll just know what we need to do to work towards any goal, whether we decide to call this a ‘New Year’s Resolution’ or a ‘Mid-Life goal’, or a ‘Pre-Summer Target’.

It’s not the gym and losing weight that will make us feel secure and better about ourselves; the saving money that will make us feel safer, or the job promotion that will lead to less stress in our lives. That comes from within us, in the moment.

“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller

We don’t necessarily need to create a new ‘us’

We are new in every moment. Please allow that to sink in for a few seconds – we are new in every moment and all we need to know is our next step and the next step after that as we work towards any goal that we set ourselves. In doing that, those steps that we are taking will allow us to feel like we are gliding effortlessly, moving forwards and achieving things that we never felt capable of achieving.

There will be hiccups along the way. As they happen, we’re in danger of not following through on those resolutions we’ve set ourselves. So what? How and why would that matter? To who does that matter? Your rules or someone else’s?

Do we think that everything ends on the date that we’ve set ourselves to achieve that ‘thing’? It doesn’t. Not to mention the judging of ourselves or being judged by rules or parameters that have been set, that are essentially made up.

Perhaps a healthier way of judging ourselves is against the things we are doing, as opposed to the things we’re NOT doing. That way, if those hiccups do occur we may have already achieved two weeks of our intended four week goal, been to the gym on less occasions, or even managed to get out of bed on 4 out of 7 days, rather than none. Our results may not have been the results that we’d set ourselves, however, we still haven’t failed. We still haven’t lost. We’re still in the game and we are the ones that can choose to believe whether we are still IN the game or not.

We’re new now, we do not need to create a new version of ‘US’. Trust ourselves and accept ourselves for who we are and have confidence that we’re still in the game. We were never out of it.

Enjoy the year ahead (and by the way, I mean that from the date you’re reading this!). Whatever happens, just keep on being you.

What’s the one thing you’d like to achieve this year? Share it with us below so we can keep you accountable!

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https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/a-new-year-just-keep-on-being-you/

Effectiveness Kills Creativity: 7 Steps to Help Strengthen Your Innovative Thinking

You know that you need to be creative to solve complex problems, support innovation and make progress. A lot of tasks, however, cause you to put too much on your plate and you have little time. Therefore, you need to be quick and focused. However, excessive emphasis on efficiency usually kills creativity. It only helps – if you focus less on it, your results will be better.

Complexity of the “mhm” phase

Creativity is the engine of innovation. In fact, raw ideas are transformed into innovations, something new that people are actually willing to pay for. Creativity has different aspects. It is not only a group of people who meet in large rooms with colorful notebooks and highlighters. On the contrary, the creative process should include time for reflection and silence. All of us have certainly experienced the moment of “mhm” that comes with a flash of understanding. However, ideas do not appear suddenly. They are like seeds that have been “sown in your brain” over time, and have grown stronger thanks to the neural pathways that allow you to connect ideas in new ways.

Bringing together different ideas

Creativity comes when you bring together things that you wouldn’t say could be together. That is why the solution may come from, for example, a new person who has just joined the project as it has no effect on him. Diversity often brings unexpected ideas that help solve the problem in a new way.

Keep in mind, however, that you need experience and time to combine different ideas. Creativity cannot be hurried, planned or managed. A study from Baylor University even found that leaders who are too focused on the end result, endanger the performance of their own team.

If you want to be really effective, take the following 7 steps into consideration:

1. Take time to reflect

As you are always available and always have a device in your hands, you are missing the time to think. While you are waiting in the dry cleaners, you check your emails. While you commute to work, you have a conference call with colleagues. However, filling every minute of the day in the name of efficiency can be an obstacle. Your brain also needs to breathe, think and deepen. Resist the urge to be available at every moment and take the time to reflect.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou

2. Connect with people who are different than you

You often spend working days with people who think like you because they are part of a business, industry, or function. This is great for efficiency because shared thinking and similar world views help you move forward quickly. However, if you want to be more creative, you should try to connect with other people. Find people who have different jobs, spend time in different places and think differently. Their ideas will encourage your thinking.

3. Look for unexpected experiences

You tend to search for a routine and get predictable patterns into your business. Week after week, everything goes almost the same. However, you can be more creative by searching for experiences outside this standard. Take a different journey to work, register for a course outside of your comfort zone or go on vacation to an unusual destination. Whether it’s small changes like cycling instead of using public transport, or bigger ones like yoga stays during spring break, unusual experiences will help you find lost creativity.

4. Express creativity beyond work

It can be difficult to awaken creativity at work if you rarely use an innovative spirit in other areas of your life. According to one study, your imaginary creative muscle can build up different manifestations of creativity, making your brain more efficient. It is therefore sensible to express oneself also through non-working activities. Whether you’re creating a holiday photo book, learning a foreign language, or attending dance lessons, these activities can stimulate your creativity.

5. Find places that fill you

Evolutionary speaking, our ancestors spent thousands of years in the wild and lived. And now you are just interested in managerial positions and sitting in drab offices. That’s why your brains are incredibly bored. Make sure you find sites that stimulate brain activity. Stand up from your desk and work side by side with colleagues in the café. Make an appointment in a comfortable space near the windows instead of in the conference room. In addition, sit back in the park or find a forest path to take a walk to relax.

6. Create challenges for yourself

It is creative stagnation that is the greatest killer of our progress. If we do not have the need or motivation to drill creative skills on a regular basis, we do not logically move far. That is why there are challenges – they encourage work when we just wave our hands and leave things as they are. But the challenges we set ourselves will not allow us. We do not have to put all our effort into it at once. It is enough to start gradually, for example by practicing creativity on a regular basis, or by achieving a creative milestone to some point. It can be a new level of a foreign language, a song on a piano, a drawing technique, just anything that makes you get up and sit down to work.

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” – Pablo Picasso

7. Enjoy your sleep

Rest is also important for the creative process. Efficiency can dictate you to spend the night and finish the project or get up at dawn and catch up with all your emails. However, this can jeopardize your creativity. Sleep is good for the brain, helping to sort thoughts. If you want to think properly, you must also relax correctly.

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/effectiveness-kills-creativity-7-steps-to-help-strengthen-your-innovative-thinking/

Why 2020 Should Be The Year You Go Global

According to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc., growth was the top priority for CEOs in 2019, and it will continue to be in 2020. Along with growth, cost and risk management will be the areas that industry-leading executives will focus most of their energy on.

But, next year, with “clouds gathering in the horizon”, as distinguished analyst Mark Raskino said, we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket. Regardless of the size of our business, we should be planning for growth. Especially, for the sort of growth that diversifies our risk.

Expanding abroad is one of the most potentially rewarding paths we could take to grow our business. It diversifies our risk, mitigates the effects of negative changes in our home market, and breathes new life into our products and into our company.

When the market you’re in is starting to feel way too small, it might be the right time to look for opportunities away from home. Expansion might also be a great move if your products are seasonal, or if you’ve found a clear market gap in a neighboring and/or thriving economy.

Of course, be careful. The importance of research and ongoing analysis can’t be overstated. Several experts fear of a global recession, so you’ll need to plan for the unexpected.

Is Your Company Ready? 

Whether international expansion is the key to growth for your particular business will depend upon several factors. Some have to do with your industry. Other factors are fully internal, and determine your success in particular. For instance, your business’ current financial conditions and your management style.

First and foremost, carry out extensive research. Find a country that’s culturally, politically, or regulatorily similar to yours — or just one that has a clear market gap that your products could fit right into. Conduct deep market research, take a sober look at country risk, and look for foreign partners who can advise and support you through this process. Remember that success is always driven by amazing human resources.

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” – Napoleon Hill

Your Competitors Are Your Greatest Teachers

Take a close look at what your competition is doing, both locally and in your target market. Learn from their mistakes and reaffirm (or reconsider) your competitive advantages. Nowadays, and especially in the coming year, expanding your business won’t necessarily be about expanding its physical presence. You can expand from the comfort of your home country. 

Digital Expansion vs. Traditional Expansion

As coach Kev Martin recently wrote, we should invest in our people, not only our stakeholders. But the tools we use and the platforms we take part in are as important as the talent we employ. We need good tools to operate and grow, and we need a proper setting where we could make the most out of them.

When you’re planning to take the exponentially regarding leap of expanding your business to a foreign market, you can rely on a booming B2B sector, to support you. Hunt for innovative, tech-driven solutions to facilitate and optimize all aspects of expansion: From logistics to proper customer service, localized digital marketing, interpreting services,  and website localization.

Expanding a business in the digital age is not about expanding your physical presence. This lowers the cost and risk of expansion, but it doesn’t erase cultural or regulatory differences between your home and target countries.

Even if your expansion will be purely digital, think of it as if you were opening a new physical store. For instance, let’s say your brand is based in New York, and you’re opening a Parisian location. Your storefront should be recognizable as one of your brand — but you wouldn’t make a detailed reproduction of your American storefront. You need to find the common ground between your brand and the preferences of your new customers. 

When you enter the store, the distribution and presentation of the products might be the same, but you’d expect the employees to communicate with customers in their own language — Right? Well, it’s exactly the same for your new online presence. It should be clearly yours, well-branded and consistent with the visual identity of your brand, but it should be localized for your new target audience. 

The internet has reshaped all aspects of our life, especially through social media and the Internet of Things. Businesses now have an ever-growing kit of amazing tools to drive growth. Meanwhile, globalization and dynamic cultural exchange might lead us to believe that expanding digitally will require no major adaptation or learning process. But, globalization doesn’t fully erase cultural differences. And, there are some timeless principles to enticing customers that globalization hasn’t changed: People like to feel that brands understand them, and talk to them in their own terms. 

“100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.” – Simon Sinek

Engaging International Customers

Now, we can access precise, real information about our target demographic, know what they’re interested in, what they like about our product, and what aspects we should improve. We know where our customers hang out, we know what they’re talking about, and we know how to make them feel closer to our product. And, we have the tools to act accordingly, in real-time.

We can also learn how customers behave on our website, test conversion strategies, and adopt a multichannel approach to marketing and selling without breaking the bank. Gathering this information, learning from it, and using it to constantly improve our processes is key to establishing a robust international business.

Thanks to the increased dominance of e-commerce, and the overpowering and refinement of a data-driven approach, the costs, and risks associated with international expansion are lowering, becoming easier to control and easier to calculate. Analytic tools have also made it possible to get to know our customers before ever interacting with them.

Growing your business in the digital age is a multifaceted creative endeavor. And, in 2020, the most technologically advanced, effective resources to grow, operate and scale an international business will be available to businesses of almost all budgets. So, expanding abroad in 2020 isn’t only highly convenient, it’s also highly comfortable. Today you can operate an international company, without ever setting foot on an airport. Make the most out of it, and good luck!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/why-2020-should-be-the-year-you-go-global%e2%80%8a/

How Larry Page Launched Google and Became One of the Richest People in the World

Larry Page, one of the most famous icons of the web, founded Google with Sergey Brin in 1998 and has served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its parent company, Alphabet, until 2019. Being the most influential internet entrepreneur and computer scientist, Lawrence Edward Page has an inspiring success story that entrepreneurs can learn from.

Born on March 26, 1973, to a family with a greater obsession with technology, he has always been attracted to computers and innovation. This played a significant role in his future career life. Surrounded by math and its products, Page always dreamt of establishing a firm of his own, rather than spending a life working for someone else.

Following his parent’s footsteps, he studied computer engineering at Stanford University. While studying, he met Sergey Brin with whose assistance he developed Google that listed results according to the popularity of the pages, which later became the world’s most popular search engine. Apart from computers, Page also has an interest in renewable energy technology and philanthropy.

Blue Mail Media has curated his journey in the form of Infographic for better understanding. Go through it to learn how Larry Page launched Google and became one of the richest people in the world.

The Journey of Larry Page:

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/how-larry-page-launched-google-and-became-one-of-the-richest-people-in-the-world/

7 Must-Read Books on Self-Development, Wisdom, and Leadership

I fervently believe in the notion that in order to be successful, you must become an avid reader and insatiably curious about how the world works. Whether fiction or non-fiction, reading provides you with wisdom to approach problems differently.

For example, a 300-page biography that takes you a few weeks to read could save you significant time if you learn to avoid the mistakes others have made (I try to read at least one biography per month). There is value and insight to be gained through this process by investing a little time and effort.

The practical real-life, on-the-job lessons that can be practiced and learned, the thinking that may spark new ideas, and the skills you will acquire will be invaluable in your career and beyond.

Colleagues often ask me if I’ve read any self-improvement, strategy, or leadership books that have impacted me in a positive way. The answer is yes, and my philosophy is simple: if a book changes or influences my way of thinking, it’s an essential. Admittedly, I have perused many books and identified hidden gems along the way.

In my experience, “millennials” either find self-development books laughable, or are voraciously trying to devour every one they can get their hands on (I am guilty of the latter). Nevertheless, guidance is often requested so I try to do my best to steer hungry contemporaries in the right direction.

If you are a veteran or just starting out, and are looking for career, social, or personal guidance, my recommendation is to start with a solid foundation. This can be accomplished with a small time investment that will reap large dividends. 

The list below will start your journey, eventually directing you to more books until you are completely down the rabbit hole – and remember, you are in charge of your own improvement!

1. The Magic of Thinking Big – David J. Schwartz

Set your goals high and think positively in order to achieve them. Never underestimate your own abilities or overestimate others. Always bring enthusiasm and optimism to everything you do. Never forget to invest in yourself and look at every setback or failure as an opportunity for personal growth. 

The greatest takeaway from this book that helped me was Schwartz’s mantra on fear: in order to cure fear, take massive, deliberate action, and invariably be confident in your decision.

“Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.” – David J. Schwartz

2. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carengie

This is the first book I read in my quest for positive self-development. Published in 1937, this classic, timeless book on how to become an influential, persuasive, and likable leader is still very relevant today.

Warren Buffett credits his rise to success as a direct result of reading the book and using the advice, training, and practical applications. It’s a great book to start with on your journey towards becoming a successful and effective leader.

3. Marcus Aurelius: Meditations – Translated by Gregory Hays

The best book on stoicism I have ever read. The ultimate guide for discipline, personal responsibility, morality, self-motivation, ethics, strength, and humility. I suggest reading the book with a notebook or stack of index cards, so you can jot down all of the important maxims that Aurelius lives by. 

Think about it: in 170 AD, the most powerful man in the world sat down and wrote lessons and mantras to himself for becoming a better person. What I find most remarkable is the fact that the book has stood the ultimate test of time, and you have a plethora of wisdom at your fingertips. You should read this book now.

4. Xenophon’s Cyrus the Great: The Arts of Leadership and War – Translated by Larry Hedrick

“Still the best book on leadership” according to the father of management theory, Peter Drucker. This book follows Cyrus the Great’s multi-year military campaign in an easy-to-follow journalistic fashion. The book provides relatable examples on how to become a well-loved, benevolent leader through building friendship, loyalty, trust, and admiration. 

A common theme that kept me pondering throughout the book: when Cyrus is successful, all of those around him are successful, and always share in the glory. This is the best biography written of Cyrus the Great, also known as “the father of human rights.”

5. The 4-Hour Workweek – Tim Ferriss

This book will change your life by changing your way of thinking and your perspective on “how things should be,” in regard to what the consensus considers a normal workweek.

“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” – Tim Ferriss

6. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life – Walter Isaacson

I couldn’t help but include one of my all-time favorite biographies of Benjamin Franklin on the list. So much can be learned from this book such as the history of the birth of the United States of America and Franklin’s integral role in it is fascinating. 

The reader also gets many lessons in how Franklin practices self-development, and constantly tried to improve himself on a daily basis. For example, Franklin created a system to measure his weaknesses. He wrote down all of his weaknesses and tracked his behavior against them. At the end of each week, he would reflect on his progress and would change the order of the behaviors he still needed to work on to become a better and wiser person.

7. Outliers: The Story of Success – Malcolm Gladwell

10,000 hours. Yes, 10,000 hours is the amount of time and deliberate practice one needs to put in to be world-class in an area of expertise. Start clocking hours!

Which one of these books is your favorite and why? Share your thoughts with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/7-must-read-books-on-self-development-wisdom-and-leadership/

Growth Mindset Vs. Fixed Mindset: Which One Do You Have?

I recently finished Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” which motivated me to deeply ponder her thesis on the Growth Mindset versus the Fixed Mindset, and how we, as individuals, employ them in life every day. Mindset (or attitude, as I prefer to call it) is critical because in order to be successful, one must be self-aware of the mindset to which they subscribe.

For example, are you challenging yourself? Are you giving up in the face of adversity or potential failure? Are you putting in deliberate, conscious effort? Are you afraid to take on challenges because of the fear of making a mistake?

According to Dweck, these are the questions one must ask. If you want to be truly successful and achieve mastery, new psychological evidence suggests that hard work, effort, perseverance, and grit are the keys to get you there.

A similar case study was exposed in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers: The Story of Success.” Gladwell’s assertion is that 10,000 hours of hard work, struggle, and deliberate practice are needed before one is considered an expert and holds mastery over their field. These notions resonated with me, because I’m sure everyone remembers their father’s, grandfather’s, or a mentor’s advice when they were young and thought they knew it all: “Look son, there are no get-rich-quick schemes in life, if there were, we’d all be rich” or “The road to success is built upon blood, sweat, and tears” (i.e., sweat equity); you get the gist.

I am a true believer that talent, ability, and intellect can only get you so far. One must also possess a strong desire and insatiable hunger to learn and develop by taking challenges head-on and cultivating and advancing skills.

Moreover, new research has challenged conventions in that the brain does in fact continue to develop into your early thirties. Advanced neuroscience indicates that the brain is malleable, and you can influence neurons that can change with experience, either positive or negatively. 

When constant positive neural growth takes place, you change your baseline thinking and re-wire thought patterns, which in turn will change your overall behavior in small increments. If you think about it using common sense, it clicks. The brain, like any other body part needs to be challenged, stretched, and used to become strong. If you don’t go to the gym and exert force on your muscles and challenge your body, you will become decrepit. So it goes with your noggin.

Growth Mindset

As I mentioned previously, think of the Growth Mindset as an attitude, a way of life. One who employs the Growth Mindset, believes that life requires continuous learning and that failure is a critical and necessary component of that learning and self-development. It is the deep belief that no single individual is born with innate talent and ability. Rather, mastery, talent, and ability, is developed over time through perseverance, grit, and hard work.

There is great debate as to whether or not Larry Bird is the best basketball player of all time. People constantly mention his talent and ability and grace. What people don’t talk about though, is, as a poor kid growing up in French Lick, Indiana, before school and after school, how Larry would methodically practice his jump-shot every day for hours on end. In the rain, in the sleet, in the hot sun in the early morning hours and well into the evening – it didn’t matter. That drive combined with his competitive nature and willingness to take challenges head-on (i.e., Magic Johnson) is what made Larry Bird arguably the best player in the NBA.

Dweck states that a Growth Mindset thrives on challenge and sees failure, “Not as evidence of unintelligence, but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities.”

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says, ‘I’m possible’!” – Audrey Hepburn

Traits of the Growth Mindset

Intellect can be developed over time and leads to a desire to learn and grow which results in:

• Embracing challenges head-on
• Perseverance (i.e., not giving up) in the face of setbacks, defeat, or failure
• Seeing effort and hard work as a path to mastery
• Using criticism and negative feedback as a form of learning and self-development
• Finding lessons and inspiration in the success of others

Fixed Mindset

A Fixed Mindset, is an attitude that assumes character, creativity, intellect, and ability are static, and endowed to us upon birth (i.e., he’s a natural, a born genius, etc.). What is often overlooked with those who employ the Fixed Mindset, is that if you look at history, there are many examples of people who came from backgrounds of deep poverty and working class, but through resilience, determination, and hard work, made positive impacts on the world.

Take Thomas Edison for example, after thousands of tireless nights and failures, he created the modern light bulb. Through those failures, he learned and grew as a result. He employed the Growth Mindset. 

A Fixed Mindset view would have given up with their justification being that scientific traits weren’t carved in stone at birth. Remember, a Fixed Mindset, can negatively affect all aspects of your life ranging from education, career, and personal relationships.

Traits of the Fixed Mindset

Intelligence is static and leads to a desire to look smart which results in:

• Prefer to avoid challenges
• Giving up easily to obstacles or challenges
• Seeing effort as fruitless or a waste of energy
• Ignoring useful negative feedback or criticism, and taking it personally (i.e., ego)
• Feeling threatened by the success of others
• Not learning from or acknowledging their mistakes because of arrogance or ego

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw 

Employ a Growth Mindset

Relatives, friends, and colleagues young and old, I implore you to read Mindset, you will not be disappointed. Even if you are retired from the “working” world, there is so much to be gained that can be applied to other aspects of your life. 

You can take a skills inventory and challenge yourself daily to employ a Growth Mindset. Ask yourself whether you are shying away from challenges out of fear. Remember, challenge and failure are necessary to learning, self-development, and growing as an individual.

I’ll leave you with this quote: 

“In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you’re not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn’t need effort (Fixed Mindset). In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented (Growth Mindset).” – Carol Dweck

Keep on challenging and believing in yourself and you will achieve greatly.

What’s one new thing you’re learning this year that you didn’t know last year? Share your stories with us below!

from
https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/growth-mindset-vs-fixed-mindset-which-one-do-you-have/