TIPS FOR CULTIVATING A GROWTH MINDSET
Mindset is a significant contributing factor when it comes to the overall performance of an Operator or soldier. It is also one that is sometimes overlooked in regards to how to train and improve it as it is not as tangible as sets, reps, loads, times and distances.
There are lessons to learn in many areas of mindset and mental performance and you can read some of our previous articles on an introduction to mental performance (Link to blog: TIPS FOR CULTIVATING A GROWTH MINDSET) and how to optimise your inner voice (3 STEPS TO OPTIMISE YOUR INNER VOICE) for some more practical methods to train your mindset.
The term ‘Growth Mindset’ comes from the research and lessons by Carol Dweck in her book ‘Mindset’. In this book, she discusses the two main mindsets we can navigate life with: a growth and a fixed mindset, and that constantly working on having a growth mindset is essential for long term progression, success and happiness.
The primary difference between the two mindsets is the belief that our intelligence and our physical and mental abilities can or cannot be changed.
A fixed mindset views them as permanent and with little to no room for change in either direction throughout our lives.
A growth mindset views them as more changeable, with opportunities for improvement or regression depending on the effort we apply.
Fixed
Having a fixed mindset means that you believe your physical abilities, intelligence and talent are relatively fixed throughout your lifetime and you act and respond under the impression that they can’t be enhanced or that you have reached the peak of your knowledge and can go no further as improvement is outside of your control.
You may spend your time documenting or reminiscing about your intelligence or talent instead of developing it. Individuals with a fixed mindset also believe that the ‘talent you’re born with’ alone creates success without the application of any effort.
However, this is just not true, intelligence and ability are not fixed.
Logically, you know you can always improve your intelligence and learn new/better abilities and oftentimes the only thing stopping you is your self-belief.
Here are some relative examples of fixed mindset thinking. Read them through and consider if you’ve ever thought in this way:
• Belief that you either “have it or don’t” when it comes to your abilities and talents – the belief that you’re a poor shot and that’s just the way it is.
• Also believing that those abilities and talents are fixed like our physical traits (such as our height and eye colour).
• Not taking feedback constructively. Because you link your traits to being born with them, you end up viewing the feedback as an assault on your character and become defensive rather than seeing it as an opportunity for improvement. Think about having a review from DS or a training team where you’ve been told that you are not performing well or have done something wrong – instead of using this feedback to improve, you become disenchanted and disinterested or believe that person just doesn’t like you, and you fail to improve at all.
• Not being able to let go of mistakes but instead internalising them. This can be thought of as a snowball effect, where you can’t let go of the mistake you made in one test and allow it to snowball into subsequent tests/skills causing more frustration and negative self-talk. This can then also lead to avoidance of the same activity and other challenges – “I didn’t do well at that swimming test, it must be that I’m not a naturally good swimmer”.
• Struggling to put the effort needed for growth into things, as you feel if you’re not instantly talented at something then you’re just not going to be suited to it ever. We all start somewhere and have to put effort into any activity to improve – mastery lives atop a mountain of mistakes. Think about the first time you picked up a map and compass. You had no idea what the lines represented, which way you were looking, or how long it would take to get from point A to point B. It was only through practice, time and getting lost many times that you improved this skill.
• Believing that all of your abilities are somewhat unchangeable and therefore looking to constantly prove yourself right in that thought process, leading to the reinforcement of that fixed mindset rather than learning from your mistakes. For example, the ‘that’s good enough’ mentality. Not improving yourself outside of a testing criteria because you’re consistently finishing in the middle of the pack so why do you need to?
• Giving up easily due to encountering obstacles, whether they are physical or mental. For example, hiding amongst the stack during CQC/CQB (Close Quarter Combat/Close Quarter Battle) because you’re not confident with your skills. Rather than putting yourself into a position where you will potentially receive harsh feedback because it makes you uncomfortable to think less of yourself and there’s a fear of what your peers will think of you.
• A fixed mindset can also be the downfall of the extremely intelligent. It can lead you to believe your way is the only way or you have all the skills already needed to accomplish everything. This closes you off from learning other ways to do things that may be more efficient or leads you to avoid sharing your knowledge with your peers who may benefit from your experience. For example, when writing orders, you deliberately withhold your knowledge from your team to put yourself in a favourable light.
• Feeling threatened by other people’s success and either belittling their achievement or shying away from further interactions with that person or group. For example, wanting someone to fail Selection or when they pass, resenting them for it and making up excuses as to why that person passed and why you didn’t.
Growth
Having a growth mindset means you recognise that all of your abilities, talents, and intelligence can always be developed and that none of them are ever fixed.
People with this mindset believe that they can consistently get smarter, more intelligent, and more talented through the regular application of effort and patience.
Having a growth mindset will help you to seek out better feedback and will persist for longer. You’ll cope better with transitions in work and you’ll be able to develop better mental self-regulation. It will also help you reduce stress and aggression in learning environments as well as increasing your well-being and emotional intelligence.
It will help to improve your self-esteem and learning attitudes and will help reduce helplessness in failure situations whilst also being linked to increased grit and pro-social behaviours.
Here are some relative examples of growth mindset thinking. Read them through and consider if you’ve ever thought in this way:
• Not being closed off to new ways of doing something and being open to the possibility of new evidence showing you better ways to do things that you may have been able to do before. For example, when a foreign or outside body comes in to teach their methods of CQC, you consider and implement those methods rather than instantly discrediting them.
• Knowing that a failure is something that is truly temporary and that consistent and applied effort regardless of failing is directly linked to your growth. Not every member of special operations has passed on their first attempt.
• Embrace harder and harder challenges even in the knowledge you may fail to begin with. Putting yourself at the front of a stack during CQC, fully knowing your skills aren’t up to scratch but being willing to receive feedback and learn.
• Be able to accept advice, help and feedback and not feel anything personal from it other than the gratitude of being given a chance to get better. Taking on the feedback from the DS knowing that they are giving it to you because they genuinely need and want people to pass.
• Acknowledging the praise you might receive for your accomplishments but realising that praise alone leads to more of a fixed mindset way of thinking. So highlighting your own mistakes to receive feedback or inwardly reflecting to generate it yourself. Not everything you do is going to be witnessed, so having the integrity to own up to your mistakes and shortcomings will mean you constantly improve.
• Maintaining the knowledge that applied effort and attitude is the true path to mastery of anything. Passing a test is just the beginning.
• View other peoples success as inspiration to work harder and increase effort rather than chalking it up to them being more of a natural or just gifted at things. If another human has accomplished something, it means that others can also do the same.
• Actively help your friends and peers by getting better and giving feedback to them yourself. The best feedback you can give someone is the feedback that provides them with the most helpful information. Sharing your experience and knowledge with your peers as they may have been too young to deploy and gain the experience you have. Combat deployments end and people are constantly coming through training, so it is up to those who have the experience to hand down that vital information.
• Reward the effort it took someone (or yourself) to achieve something. Rather than focussing on the end result and just giving praise for the achievement.
In our follow up article we will be looking at easily applicable methods you can shift yourself towards Growth Mindset ways of thinking, along with methods to recognise when you are in a Fixed Mindset state and how to shift out of that.
