When faced with a challenging math problem, one student says “I’m just not good at math” and gives up. Another student says “I haven’t figured this out yet” and keeps trying new approaches until they succeed. The difference? A growth mindset versus a fixed mindset.
Having a growth mindset means believing your abilities can improve through effort and learning. While some people naturally develop a growth mindset early in life, anyone can learn to cultivate this powerful way of thinking. Let’s explore how.
What is a Growth Mindset?
A growth mindset is the belief that your abilities, intelligence, and talents can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence. It’s the understanding that your brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with practice and challenge.
Imagine tending to a garden. Someone with a fixed mindset believes their garden is limited to whatever naturally grows there. But someone with a growth mindset? They know that with the right care, nutrients, and attention, they can cultivate any produce they want.
Examples of Growth vs Fixed Mindset:
Here’s how these two mindsets compare with some examples:
Growth Mindset | Fixed Mindset |
“Failures are opportunities to learn” | “Failures define my ability” |
“I can improve with practice” | “I’m either good at it or not” |
“Challenges help me grow” | “Challenges expose my weaknesses” |
“Feedback helps me develop” | “Feedback is criticism” |
“Others’ success inspires me” | “Others’ success threatens me” |
“My effort determines my ability” | “My abilities are set in stone” |
The Science Behind the Growth Mindset
This fundamental difference in thinking was first identified by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, who discovered that our beliefs about learning and intelligence dramatically impact our success.
Dweck’s research1 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691618804166 —and that of psychologists who expounded on her theory—consistently point to one finding: those who believe their abilities can be developed (growth mindset) outperform those who believe their abilities are fixed (fixed mindset), be it in school, work, or even when it comes to mental health.
Now a staple concept in the world of personal development, Dweck’s TED Talk on growth mindset has racked up over 6.2 million views on YouTube! Check it out:
Your Brain On Growth Mindset
Thanks to neuroplasticity (your brain’s ability to form new connections), adopting a growth mindset physically rewires your neural circuits!
When you embrace a growth mindset, these key areas of your brain become more active and connected:
- Your dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (your brain’s “challenge monitor”)
- Your striatum (your motivation center)
- Your hippocampus (your learning and memory hub)
So next time you face a challenge, remember that you’re literally rewiring your brain for success.
Want to rewire your brain to become a social savant? Check out our training program:

Master Your People Skills
- Create a Memorable Presence
- Communicate with Confidence
- Achieve Your Goals
Have a question about the presentation or People School? Email Science of People support.
12 Science-Backed Tips to Develop a Growth Mindset
Let’s dive into practical, science-backed strategies that can help you cultivate a growth mindset.
Reframe Your Self-Talk
At its core, a growth mindset reflects how your inner voice speaks to yourself. When you reframe how you talk to yourself, you’re literally rewiring your brain’s response to challenges.
Instead of saying:
- “I’m not good at this”
- “This is too hard”
- “I keep making mistakes”
Try saying:
- “I’m not good at this yet”
- “This is challenging my abilities”
- “Each mistake teaches me something new”
Action Step: Keep a self-talk journal for one week. Write down your negative self-talk and practice reframing each statement into a growth-minded version.
Be Receptive to Feedback
Feedback helps us grow. So it should come as no surprise that research2 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5040906/ shows that individuals with a growth mindset process criticism differently than those with a fixed mindset—right down to the neural level.
When people with a fixed mindset receive feedback, their brains often show a defensive emotional response, like they’re under attack. But those with a growth mindset? Their brains light up in areas associated with problem-solving and learning. It’s like they’re saying, “Awesome, here’s some useful data!”
Here’s how to train your brain to love feedback:
Instead of This | Try This |
Taking feedback personally | Viewing feedback as valuable information |
Defending or explaining | Asking clarifying questions |
Focusing on the emotion | Focusing on the opportunity |
Avoiding feedback situations | Actively seeking feedback |
Action Step: This week, actively seek feedback on something you’re working on. When you receive it, practice saying “Thank you for helping me grow” instead of immediately defending or explaining. Notice how this small shift changes both your emotional response and the quality of feedback you receive.
Turn Failures Into Data Points
The most successful people actively learn from failure. Treat each setback as a data point in your personal growth experiment. What worked? What didn’t? What will you try differently next time?
Research3 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smj.3609 shows that people who view failures as learning opportunities show increased persistence and better performance on future challenges. They also experience less stress and anxiety when facing new challenges.
Action Step: Actively reflect on your “failures” by documenting:
- What didn’t work
- What you learned
- How you’ll adjust
- Your next action step
Feed Your Brain Challenge Snacks
Just like you wouldn’t try to run a marathon without training, you shouldn’t expect your growth mindset to flourish without regular exercise. The key? Start small.
Try these daily “challenge snacks”:
- Learn one new word in a foreign language
- Take a different route to work
- Try using your non-dominant hand for simple tasks
- Attempt an easy puzzle or riddle
- Have a conversation with someone who disagrees with you
By regularly pushing yourself out of your comfort zone in small ways, you build the mental muscles needed for bigger challenges.
Pro Tip: Set a daily reminder to do one tiny challenging thing. Make it so small it seems almost silly to resist.
Master the Art of Process Praise
The way we praise others (and ourselves) can either encourage a growth mindset or reinforce a fixed one. Studies show that praising effort and strategy (“process praise”) is more effective than praising natural ability (“person praise”).
Instead of This | Try This |
“You’re so smart!” | “You worked really hard to figure that out!” |
“You’re a natural!” | “Your practice is really paying off!” |
“You’re gifted at this!” | “I love how you tried different strategies” |
Action Step: For one week, catch yourself using person praise and consciously switch to process praise. Notice how it affects both you and others.
Create Your Growth Zone Map
Understanding where you’re comfortable versus where you’re growing is crucial for developing a growth mindset. Here’s how to map it out:
🟢 Comfort Zone: Things you can do easily
🟡 Growth Zone: Where learning happens (slightly uncomfortable but manageable)
🔴 Panic Zone: Too challenging to learn effectively
Try to spend most of your time in the yellow zone—just beyond your comfort zone but not so far that you’re overwhelmed.
Pro Tip: Choose one activity from your comfort zone each week and find a way to make it slightly more challenging.
Collect Mental Models
Think of mental models as different lenses for viewing problems. The more models you have, the more ways you can approach challenges. Here are some powerful ones:
- First Principles Thinking: Break problems down to their fundamental truths
- Inversion: Solve problems backward
- Second-Order Thinking: Consider the consequences of the consequences
- Systems Thinking: Look at how things influence each other
Having varied perspectives can be particularly useful in team-based problem solving at work, where research4 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00187267241247962 shows that diverse mental models are associated with team success.
Action Step: Next time you face a challenge, consciously try viewing it through at least three different mental models.
Build Your Growth Support System
Ever notice how marathon runners train in groups, writers join workshops, and artists gather in collectives? There’s a reason the world’s highest achievers rarely go it alone—our capacity for growth expands dramatically when we surround ourselves with the right people.
Create your growth ecosystem:
- Find a “growth buddy” for accountability
- Join a learning community
- Follow growth-minded people on social media
- Share your learning journey with others
- Seek out mentors who embody a growth mindset
Pro Tip: Create a growth circle of 3-5 people who meet monthly to share learning experiences and challenges.
Practice Strategic Reflection
Reflection is the art of actively processing experiences to extract lessons and plan improvements. Recent research shows that people who engage in structured reflection learn significantly more from their experiences than those who don’t.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself everyday to practice reflection:
- What did I learn today?
- What challenged me?
- What could I have done differently?
- What will I try tomorrow?
Action Step: Set aside 5 minutes at the end of each day for structured reflection using these prompts.
Set Up Learning Triggers
A learning trigger is an environmental cue that automatically puts you in a growth mindset state. Think of it like a mental on-switch for learning mode.
Examples of effective triggers:
- A specific playlist for learning time
- A designated growth space in your home
- A pre-learning ritual (like making a particular tea)
- A physical object that represents growth to you
- A specific time of day dedicated to learning
To be consistent, consider using the same trigger every time you want to engage in deliberate learning.
Pro Tip: Create a learning starter kit with 3-4 items that signal it’s time to grow.
Develop Intrinsic Motivation
Our motivation to do things can be broken into two categories: intrinsic (motivation that comes from within) and extrinsic (motivation that comes from external rewards).
Research shows that intrinsic motivation activates specific regions of your brain that are linked to personal agency and reward processing. When you learn to focus on internal rewards rather than external ones, you naturally start viewing challenges as opportunities for growth rather than threats to your abilities.
Here’s how to tap into your natural motivation:
- Choose tasks that spark your curiosity rather than those that just promise external rewards
- Focus on personal improvement rather than competitive outcomes
- Give yourself autonomy in how you approach challenges
- Look for the inherent value in what you’re learning, not just its practical benefits
- Create opportunities for choice in your learning process
Pro Tip: Next time you’re struggling to stay motivated, stop and ask yourself: “What genuinely interests me about this challenge?” Sometimes reframing the task around your natural curiosities can transform it from an obligation into an opportunity for growth.
Design Your Growth Experiments
Turn your learning into a series of small, controlled experiments. This approach makes growth more manageable and helps you learn more effectively from both successes and failures.
Here’s a framework for growth experiments:
- Hypothesis: What do you think will help you improve?
- Test: Try it for a specific time period
- Measure: Track your results
- Analyze: What worked? What didn’t?
- Adjust: Modify your approach based on findings
Pro Tip: Run at least one growth experiment each month. Keep the scope small and the timeframe short.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Growth Mindset
Having a growth mindset means viewing challenges as opportunities rather than threats, embracing feedback as a tool for improvement, and believing that effort leads to development. People with a growth mindset understand that their abilities aren’t fixed and can be developed through dedication and hard work.
The main difference between growth mindset and fixed mindset lies in how people view ability and intelligence. Those with a growth mindset believe abilities can be developed through effort and learning, while those with a fixed mindset believe abilities are innate and unchangeable. This fundamental difference affects how people approach challenges, handle feedback, and respond to failure.
The benefits of a growth mindset include:
– Increased resilience in face of challenges
– Better academic and professional performance
– Improved problem-solving abilities
– Greater willingness to take on challenges
– Enhanced ability to learn from feedback
– Reduced fear of failure
Developing a growth mindset is an ongoing process rather than a one-time change. While initial shifts in thinking can occur within weeks, fully incorporating a growth mindset into your daily life typically takes several months of consistent practice and conscious effort.
Yes, anyone can develop a growth mindset through conscious effort and practice. Research by Carol Dweck shows that understanding how our brains can grow and change is the first step to developing a growth mindset, regardless of age or current beliefs about intelligence.
In a growth mindset, failure is viewed as a natural part of the learning process rather than a negative reflection of ability. Failure provides valuable feedback and opportunities for growth, helping individuals identify areas for improvement and develop new strategies for success.
Growth mindset affects learning by influencing how people approach challenges and process feedback. Students with a growth mindset are more likely to persist through difficulties, seek out challenges, and view effort as a path to mastery, leading to improved academic performance and deeper learning.
While positive thinking focuses on maintaining optimistic thoughts, a growth mindset is about understanding that effort, learning, and persistence can lead to improvement and development of skills.
Growth mindset relates to success by influencing how people approach challenges and setbacks. Research shows that individuals with a growth mindset tend to achieve more because they embrace challenges, persist despite obstacles, see effort as necessary for success, learn from criticism, and find inspiration in others’ success.
Unleash Your Growth Mindset
Developing a growth mindset transforms every challenge into an opportunity and every setback into a stepping stone. When you understand how your brain responds to challenges, embrace feedback, and cultivate intrinsic motivation, you create a powerful foundation for continuous learning and achievement.Ready to put your growth mindset into action? Start by creating a “learning bucket list” with our guide: How to Make a Learning Bucket List!
Article sources
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691618804166
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5040906/
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smj.3609
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00187267241247962
How to Deal with Difficult People at Work
Do you have a difficult boss? Colleague? Client? Learn how to transform your difficult relationship.
I’ll show you my science-based approach to building a strong, productive relationship with even the most difficult people.