Here’s Why You Need To Change Your Mindset From Fixed To Growth
Our writer’s mindset is a huge part of our creative toolkit. It can dictate how we think or feel, how we approach things and alter our perspective. As writers, it’s easy to question ourselves, question whether our work is good enough, and cling to that sense of doubt. However, if we can adopt a growth mindset, we can come to see things more positively and learn not to be so hard on ourselves.
But what exactly is the difference between a fixed and growth mindset (and what does it really have to do with writing)?
Your Writing Mindset
With a fixed mindset, we constantly seek approval from others and come to see failure as defining and negative. It can not only lead to us feeling inadequate but also stop us from seeing the learning and growth that can come from mistakes. Whereas with a growth mindset, nothing is set in stone. Passion, practice, and learning are nurtured as tools to help us develop. There is no limit to what we can achieve.
Why is it worth challenging ourselves to shift our mindset from fixed to growth?
Learn from failure
If something doesn’t work out how we’d hoped, or we face some kind of rejection, it can be tough to see it in a positive light. Yet, a growth mindset encourages us to embrace these kinds of situations as a learning opportunity. As Maria Popova explains, a growth mindset helps ingrain a ‘voracious appetite for learning,’ within us, as opposed to seeing failure as a defining setback.
In writing, we can imagine failure to be messing up a chapter, skipping a day of our writing routine, failing to win a competition, or getting rejected by a publisher.
Instead of shying away from failure, we learn to take on the challenge and see all kinds of experiences as an opportunity to stretch ourselves and learn new things. A growth mindset helps us adopt a much healthier attitude toward failure. Instead of thinking we’ve failed, consider what we’ve learnt.
2. Say goodbye to fear
Experimenting with our writing, such as trying an unfamiliar genre, for example, can feel particularly daunting when we’re used to writing in a certain style. However, if we can transition from this fixed mindset and reach out of our comfort zones a little bit, we can enjoy fresh experiences and recognise opportunities for personal growth. We won’t be held back by fear, and we open ourselves up to new things.
A growth mindset stops us from hesitating about trying the unfamiliar. Rather than fretting, we need to prove ourselves to others, it urges us to seek out challenges, and new experiences. It helps develop our sense of creative courage too, as we learn to welcome learning opportunities, rather than see them as frightening, we can see them as an opportunity.
3. Increases confidence
Confidence isn’t easy to develop, especially in such a competitive environment like the writing industry. There’s often that sense of competition and comparison. However, a growth mindset can help us reach a sense of calm, and belief in our own capabilities. It can instil confidence in us to really identify ourselves as writers, and to push forward, despite those lurking reservations a fixed mindset can drum into us.
Rather than flicking past that short story competition, for example, as we don’t believe our work is good enough, a growth mindset helps us see the chance for development in those kinds of writing opportunities, and see the potential of what could happen. Rather than focusing on the risk of rejection, a growth mindset allows us to see the possibility for progression in things. It gives us the confidence to practice and persevere.
Why change your writing mindset?
It’s no easy feat changing your mindset, but it’s so worthwhile. From self-belief to experimenting with our writing, the positive shift a growth mindset can instigate can help us take a huge step forward. As Maria Popova explains in her assessment of Carol Dweck's book Mindset, the hallmark of a growth mindset is ‘the conviction that human qualities like intelligence and creativity, and even relational capacities like love and friendship, can be cultivated through effort and deliberate practice.’ With the right mentality, we can always move forward with our writing. It’s a much healthier and productive mindset for us.
What do you think about the concept of a growth mindset? Is it something you’ve encountered before? We’d love to know what you think!
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