A Growth-Mindset & Visualization Will Take You Far

Just about every successful person in history who also loved what they were doing and felt fulfilled had a growth-mindset.

In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential, Carol Dweck, Ph.D. says a growth mindset, “is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way – in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests or temperaments – everyone can change and grow through application and experience.” This is in contrast to a fixed mindset in which an individual believes their intelligence and capabilities are inborn and not changeable.

In the book she explains how this type of mindset can lead to success in all areas of your life - sports, business, relationships, parenting, teaching, and coaching.

She is also a proponent of visualization. In the book she writes,

Think of something you need to do, something you want to learn, or a problem you have to confront. What is it? Now make a concrete plan. When will you follow through on your plan? Where will you do it? How will you do it? Think about it in vivid detail.

These concrete plans – plans you can visualize – about when, where, and how you are going to do something lead to really high levels of follow-through, which, of course, ups the chances of success.

So the idea is not only to make a growth-mindset plan, but also to visualize, in a concrete way, how you’re going to carry it out.

Try this suggestion out this week with something you need to accomplish.