Acknowledging the way your mind works is critical to business success. Read this article to understand more about different mindsets and make changes early on before you fail and give up.
The theorist Carol Dweck believes there are two distinctive mindsets, fixed and growth. If you’re the sort of person who believes that they have an innate ability to do something (or not!) you have a Fixed Mindset. If you believe your ability is based on how hard you work and how much you learn about a skill or topic area you have a Growth Mindset.
Think for a moment about your own mindset in relation to starting and growing your business. Do you believe that you have the skills and knowledge and will succeed? Or do you believe that you have the potential and that you’re going to do your best to take the resources study them, learn, grow and eventually succeed? The former is an example of a Fixed Mindset the latter a Growth Mindset.
It may surprise you to find out that the person with a fixed mindset is most likely to fail in the end. Although they may go in to an enterprise feeling well equipped, according to Dweck they do not deal with failure well. They believe that they have the innate ability and should be able to succeed regardless. This means that when they come across a barrier or business disaster, this failure calls into question their ability to succeed at all. The doubt that creeps in from failing can result in the person giving up completely, as their whole view of themselves has been called into question.
A person with a Growth Mindset knows that by failing it gives them an opportunity to learn and therefore to eventually succeed. Each failure is seen as an opportunity and does not call into question their beliefs. After all, they always knew it would be hard work and that failure along the way was inevitable.
Every entrepreneur’s journey requires a Growth Mindset: from here on in will you see failure as an opportunity? If you have failed then you have taken action, and taking action already puts you ahead of the crowd. So well done to you!
Most people don’t succeed in business, either because of their mindset OR because they don’t stick at it long enough to fail enough. I’m proud to say that I’ve stuck at it long enough and I failed a lot. But it was worth it!
If you want to learn more about changing the way you think about business, join Mumpreneur in a Month, Erica and Antonia’s free e-course.
