In her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”, Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck noted in her research that there are two groups of students:

• The growth mindsets: they believe that, aside from having inherent qualities and traits, a person’s skills and intelligence can be constantly developed. They are open to learning and gaining new skills.
• The fixed mindsets: they believe that a person inherently possesses the skill and intelligence to be successful. If you’re not good at a certain task because you lack the talent, then you’ll end up believing that you’ll never be successful at it.

In your career journey, adopting a growth mindset can be instrumental in achieving success in the workplace. By taking this approach, you are willing to learn new information, boost your current skillset, unlock your potential to develop new skills, and further broaden your expertise. Having a growth mindset also means you must be motivated by your commitment to improve. You need to take the time and make an effort to focus on your personal and professional growth.

Here are some of the best ways to develop a growth mindset that will guide you in changing your perspectives to create positive and fruitful outcomes in your career.

1. Find out what your mindset is now

Knowing whether you’re in the growth or fixed mindset will help determine what you need to do next. If you’re in the fixed mindset group and you want to shift, are you prepared to get out of your comfort zone?

2. Understand why you want to do this

Shifting to a different mindset can be challenging. You may not even be fully aware of how your current mindset has prevented you from seeking better opportunities for growth. So, it’s important to know how having a growth mindset will benefit you personally.

3. Gain insights from other growth-mindset people

Ask your family, friends, and colleagues who have adopted a growth-mindset approach in their career. As they share their experiences, you can gain insights on how you can work your own growth mindset. You can also find inspiration from influential leaders in various fields (business, sports, entertainment) who are growth-mindset proponents.

4. View failure as a process of learning

It’s only natural that you’ll encounter errors along the way as you develop your growth mindset. Try not to think of it as a sign of inability. Even the best business leaders had to start somewhere and made mistakes as well. What drives them are the lessons that they’ve learned from their past failures.

5. Set SMART goals

Realise and accept that there are some endeavours that may be beyond what you can achieve, due to certain aspects or circumstances in your current situation. To help you set targets for yourself, try the SMART approach in goal-setting: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. This will guide you in developing your growth mindset that’s aspirational but also more attainable.

6. Change what you say

Self-doubt statements can derail your drive to develop a growth mindset. “I’ll never be good at this.” “I don’t think I can do this.” If you find yourself saying this, shift your perspective to re-build your confidence. Start with a simple word: YET. “I’m not good at this yet.” “I don’t think I can do this yet.” See the difference? You may not be ready for now but in time, you will be!

7. Find opportunities for growth in challenges

A common thread among people who have a growth mindset is that they see challenges as opportunities to do better. When you encounter obstacles along the way, see them in a more positive light. Problem-solving will give you a chance to learn something new, to apply yourself, and to experience real growth.

8. Reflect on your learnings

It always feels great to savour the success you’ve achieved. There’s nothing wrong in taking pride over what you’ve accomplished, of course. But take the time to reflect on where things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to. These experiences are precious moments of learning and development. This isn’t the time to wallow on what you’ve done wrong. This is where you acknowledge what happened and learn from it.

9. Don’t seek approval from others

Seeking approval distorts your objective to have a growth mindset. It’s not about being right so you can obtain the approval of others. It’s about what you can learn from the experience and how it will help you grow. This point of self-discovery is crucial in developing your growth mindset as it will help you become more comfortable and more confident with yourself and what you’re capable of doing.

10. Reward actions, not traits

Part of having a growth mindset is focussing on praising others for the effort that they put in to achieve success. It shows that you recognise their struggle and their dedication to overcome challenges, which makes the experience even more rewarding. If someone gets a promotion at work, you can say “I’ve seen you working so hard, you truly deserve that promotion.”

Grow your career with The Talent Consultants

Among the executive recruitment agencies, The Talent Consultants is a well-established institution for recruitment process outsourcing in Vietnam. We provide talent acquisition sourcing in Ho Chi Minh City for multinational businesses and connect the most qualified talent across Southeast Asia to their organisation.

If you’re a job seeker looking for global opportunities to boost your career development, visit our job vacancies page or submit your CV here. If your company needs expert talent acquisition and workforce management services, you can call us on +84 28 7309 7991 or book your free consultation here.