In my last post, I introduced the growth mindset as a powerful way to learn new skills even when you’re out of your comfort zone. I also stated that you can adopt a growth mindset at any moment with dramatic results. I suggested you think of a situation where you were feeling uncomfortable because you hadn’t yet mastered a new skill and ask yourself two questions:

What’s my current mindset? How is it helping or hurting me?
What would a growth mindset tell me to do?

Of course, the implication was to do what a growth mindset would tell you to do!

It all sounds so straightforward and simple. Yet last week I found myself unable to maintain a growth mindset after receiving some lukewarm feedback. Instead of welcoming the feedback, I started down the path of judging myself, catastrophizing about the possible impact of the feedback and generally making myself miserable.

Luckily, I was able to recognize the danger ahead and pulled back from going further down that path. I was able to jumpstart a growth mindset.

In this post, I’ll share 3 habits that will help you to hold a Growth Mindset more consistently. We’ll look at some of the science behind why these habits are effective and explore some things that might get in the way.

Practicing these habits will go a long way toward enabling you to eagerly grasp every developmental opportunity with relish rather than judging or second guessing yourself. Not only will you experience more joy but you’ll also be more successful. What’s not to like?

I’m going to briefly describe each of the habits and a little bit of the science behind them, including why our brains might resist. Then we’ll do a deeper dive into specific ways you might build each habit. I invite you to pick one habit to really focus on at first that can help you make progress on something that matters to you.

Habit 1: Experiment

The first habit is to deliberately experiment with different ways of doing things. Why does this promote a growth mindset? Because it’s all about learning. Experimenting means you’re more interested in what you can learn than you are in the outcome.

Experimenting requires that our brains come off autopilot, a place that doesn’t use a lot of mental resources. It’s efficient but not the most conducive to learning and retention.

Here are some suggestions to establish a regular practice of experimenting:

· Change up your daily routine: Chances are you had a pretty well-established daily routine that was disrupted during COVID and may still be disrupted. Did you find yourself reacting negatively? “I can’t work from home!” “I miss my morning commute!” Lots of people I talked to reacted that way but these are actually great opportunities to find a better way.

· Ask for other people’s ideas…and try them: My husband loves to tell me how to do things…he’s an engineer. Most of the time I react negatively. What if I solicited his ideas and then tried them instead? He may have some good suggestions!

· Take up a new hobby: I’ve just started playing Wordle, that word game that everyone seems addicted to. Although I still feel like a novice, the stakes are low and I can experiment to my heart’s desire.

Habit 2: Value Progress

This is a hallmark of a growth mindset and it can also be practiced as a habit.

Whenever you’re trying to get better at something, it’s helpful to establish clear measures of progress. For example, in my last post, I introduced Philip. He was trying to get better at asking questions that helped people think for themselves. He was frustrated at his lack of progress. Instead of trying to ask brilliant, thought-provoking questions all the time, let’s say he first tries for one good question a conversation. Instead of beating himself up for being in learning mode, he could celebrate the progress when it happened.

It's also helpful to share your progress with others. By doing that you’re taking the time to reflect on how you’ve grown, and you’re enlisting someone else to appreciate it with you.

Our brains have a tendency to remember the result of something we did, not the lessons or insights. Therefore, it’s helpful to establish a deliberate practice of recognizing and valuing progress (and what you did to get there), not just moving to the next thing on your to do list.

Here are some suggestions to establish a regular practice of valuing progress:

· Intentionally capture progress and learning daily or weekly: Take a few minutes at the end of each day to note the progress you’ve made on one of your goals. Or maybe you’d rather do it on a weekly basis.

· Build milestones into all your goals: What are the indicators that you’ve made progress? If it’s a weight loss goal, break it down into increments. That’ll keep you motivated and on track.

· Reflect on how far you’ve come: when you’re feeling discouraged that you’re not making the kind of progress you’d like.

· And make sure to…celebrate progress, not only results!

Habit 3: Actively Learn from Others

This habit encourages us to seek out feedback from others on an ongoing basis. One way of doing that is to learn from our role models. But there are others ways as well. Whether it’s doing a debrief at the end of a meeting, asking for formal 360 feedback, or conducting an After Action Review, learning from others is an important way to cultivate a growth mindset. We often move so quickly from activity to activity that we skimp on active learning and reflection.

Here are some suggestions to establish a regular practice of actively learning from others:

· Create a feedback ritual at the end of every meeting: You could ask questions like: What did we learn? How will that affect our work? What could we have done even better? This is also a good ritual to establish while you’re creating a feedback culture with your team.

· Ask for feedback and offer self-feedback first: Feedback can be scary, for the person receiving it and the person giving it. In fact, there’s research by the NeuroLeadership Institute that giving and getting feedback can be equally stressful. Two ways to reduce the stress by as much as 50% are to solicit feedback (you’re in the driver’s seat) and then offer self-feedback first.

· Keep track of the number of times you ask for feedback and share with your team: You can create a little competition with your team by keeping track of how often you ask for feedback. See if you can get other team members to join. That’s another way to build a feedback culture.

Pick one of these habits that you think will help you consistently approach challenges with a growth mindset and practice it until it becomes second nature. The next time you’re heading down the path of “I can’t do this,” take a minute to reflect on the progress you’ve made approaching challenges with a growth mindset.

I plan to practice experimenting with a new style of painting. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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