How goal setting works with a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset

Setting the correct goals for both your business and your personal life is one of the most effective methods to bring about change. In this piece, I’ll demonstrate how to develop a growth mindset and how to set goals that are sensible, challenging, and within your reach.

Goal setting while maintaining a growth mindset: you need to be creative, confident, and see things from different angles.

How does goal setting work when you adopt a growth mindset

Goal setting is a standard practice of getting things done in life. Many people use it as a tool to set goals they want to achieve success. Let’s take a look how using the growth mindset changes the way you set goals.

“When you’re not working towards becoming your best self, then you are going backwards. And when that happens, you become desperate.” ― Ryan Holiday

The growth mindset sees intelligence as malleable and believes it can be developed rather than fixed at birth. When you adopt a growth mindset, you consider it possible to change your thinking, skills and actions for the better. Moreover, the growth mindset allows people to lay off the pressure of instantaneous results and enjoy the long-term challenge instead. When you use your mind in this way, you’ll find it easier to create meaningful goals and to become more committed to achieving them.

The growth mindset and goal setting is performed by viewing goals through a different lens. These include:

setting goals that you ACTUALLY believe that you can achieve.
learning new things that will help you to achieve your goals.
understanding that it is ok to fail. If you miss your goal reassess, learn and try again
having fun and enjoying your life.
improving on a daily basis, or when they feel ready to take on a bigger challenge.
looking at your goals as a process rather than an end result. Goals is part of achievement, not an achievement itself. This way it removes judgement of success and failure.

How setting goals this way differs from a fixed minset view

A fixed mindset implies that the intelligence is set at birth. It’s a belief that you are born with certain capabilities and you can’t change them much.

Those who believe in a growth mindset, on the other hand, see intelligence as malleable. They believe it can be developed through effort, good strategies and persistence over time. People with a growth mindset also believe that failures happen because they’re still learning or because something wasn’t right with their approach or strategy.

So when you set goals with a fixed mindset you probably set limits to what you want to achieve. This means that you set goals that are too far from your abilities, thus you will feel some sort of pressure to achieve them as soon as possible.

“Failure is a result of not having tried enough.” ― Walter Issacson

On the other hand, when setting goals with a growth mindset, you focus on what is achievable for now rather than what’s ideal for the future. In this way you will be able to take more risks and develop more strengths. Moreover, when you adopt this mindset, you will be able to enjoy what you are currently doing and not be stuck on the idea that you should have a different life/career in the future.

Why setting goals with a growth mindset works for both business and your personal life

When I talk about “growth” it’s referring to mindset. What is the point of setting goals if your goal is to maintain everything as it is. However, if you set your goals with a growth mindset, you will have more chances of achieving them by thinking in a more productive and useful way.

This method is used by top performers in every field. Imagine practice time as an opportunity to learn something new that will make you better at what you do. Remind yourself that failure is not the end of the world and also an essential part of success. In this way you will be able to celebrate your successes and treat failures with less pressure than before.

Using this method with goals for your personal life will help you to make more relevant decisions. Imagine that you will use the rest of your time to develop yourself, as Dolly Parton famously said “I’m on my way to becoming the best person I can be.”

Summary

What is the point of setting goals if your goal is to maintain everything as it is? When you adopt a growth mindset, you will have more chances of achieving them by thinking in a more productive and useful way.