“A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations. | An inclination or a habit.”
— Your Dictionary

“Mindset is the established set of attitudes held by someone.”
— Oxford Dictionary

“Thoughts are behaviours we haven’t learned to observe yet.”
— B.F. Skinner

I imagine you have heard all the talk about mindset particularly in relation to success or failure in business and life. But do you understand it? If not, then read on for an explanation on what all the talk is about, and why you should care.

What is Mindset

Mindsets are beliefs —beliefs about yourself and your most basic qualities like your intelligence, talents and personality. As per beliefs, mindset also relates to attitudes you hold.

“An attitude is a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behaviour.” (Oxford Dictionary) Attitudes are a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way (whether negative, positive or indecisive). Furthermore, attitude is made up of three components: emotional, cognitive and behavioural. Your attitude is how you feel about something; your mindset shapes your attitude and your attitude reinforces your mindset – a catch 22.

These beliefs and attitudes can either enable or limit you in accomplishing that which you set out to do. Which would you rather choose to be?

Your mindset shapes your thought habits and will affect how you think, what you feel, and what you do. It will impact how you make sense of the world, and how you make sense of you. It is how you talk to yourself, and as such it is a BIG deal!

Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist, Dr Carol Dweck (Ph.D), in her research on achievement and success. In her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential“, Dr Dweck said “The key isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed.” This was a simple idea that makes all the difference.

Under the old views and assumptions of possessing talent and intelligence from birth and as a fixed trait, the person is not encouraged to develop either of these further, but instead they spend their time documenting these.

Alternatively, under a growth mindset, when you realise that you can develop further your innate abilities of brains, talent, and etc, you are then given the freedom to dedicate yourself to a love of learning and develop resilience essential for great accomplishment.

Thus, in the worlds of business, education, and sports, the teaching of a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity, and enhances relationships.

Next week we will be looking at Scarcity Thinking, Abundant Thinking and The Law of Abundance in “Mindset: Part 2 – Scarcity vs Abundant Thinking”.