Mindset is “the established set of attitudes held by someone.” Mindset can affect their day to day choices through their “thoughts, beliefs, and expectations.”
Mindset matters because it focuses on the way you perceive the world. Without a strong mindset, one won’t be able to achieve one’s goals and aspirations. A person with a mature mindset can learn anything they want to. When frustrated, they persevere. They seek challenges. When failure is seen as an opportunity for learning, it can lead to success.” When someone else succeeds, they are inspired. Their effort and attitude determines outcome .However the opposite is true about a person with a weaker mindset. When frustrated, they give up. They don’t like to be challenged out of fear that they might not succeed. When they fail, they’re likely to want to give up. When others succeed, they feel threatened. They believe their abilities determine everything.
Some might say that athletes are naturally talented and that they are physically gifted. What sets naturally gifted athletes from athletes with a strong mindset are their mental performance. As my figure skating coach often noted, “it’s 80% mental and 20% mechanical.” If one wants to achieve the next level in one’s competition, one need to strive for the growth mindset. One needs, to make changes and be mentally prepared to be a confident athlete—someone who doesn’t struggle with self-doubt or easily lose their self-confidence.
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Just as being defeated by your competition can be devastating, “losing a limb is life-changing”. A close-minded or inflexible amputee can negatively influence body-image, self-esteem, and quality of life. Peer support from friends, loved ones, or another amputee is a great empowerment in a growth mindset of, focuses on the positives and sets goals that will enable them to live a great life.
Athletes who compete in sports face performance challenges in their game or event. They can easily lose confidence in their ability to win and make poor decisions during their competition especially when they are under pressure. As a former figure skater, my experience in learning jumps, spins, and axles were very technical and a difficult skill to master. When you watch some of the professional skaters, like Gracie Gold or Ashley Wagner perform, it may seem as though they were born with natural talents. Athletes are a true reflection of who they are as a person and honing in on one’smindset.
Being positive and having persistence are personal qualities. Continue to move forward regardless of setbacks; to endure until the end. And making the best out of challenges that can determine your success. FFarol Dweck emphasizes, “We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us.” According to MaryBeth Singler’s case studies athletes who cultivate a growth mindset “in their basic qualities, such as talents” succeed through their “dedication and hard work” each day they train.
“We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.” This is a typical example of a fixed mindset. My challenge was landing the axel, a one and one-half revolution rotational air jump landing between my blades and a thin sheet of ice, that is said to be the hardest jump for many ice skaters to master. There was no reason to continue after three years, even with all the endless hours spent practicing that did not reinforce my skills or improve my 3-minute holiday program. Being stuck in a fixed mindset, trying to move but unable to get out of it, is like how a baby chick who doesn’t have wings to fly away when they just hatched because it takes practice.
Here’s a real-life example of a middle aged woman from Georgia who calls herself the toeless runner because she was told that she would never run again after having all of her toes amputated, yet she never gave up and challenged her capabilities by completing her second 1/2 marathon. Despite her significant setbacks, such as her five infected metatarsal bone or the mid-foot connected to the toes were removed during ankle surgery or her being bedridden for six weeks, didn’t discourage her until one day she fell down bleeding, ashamed and pitiful. She began to develop a negative mindset when she wasn’t fulfilling her potential. She was failing and ready to give up. Fortunately, with the support of her husband and personal trainer, they helped her grow and succeed instead of staying fixed in her insecurities. She ran her first 5K and just last year and finished her 9 miles half marathon.
Today she is an advocate for sepsis, a blood poisoning that she suffered from causing her to become an amputee, and inspires people not to give up on their goals. Just as Denzel Washington strongly believes in the growth mindset; success comes from failing which in turn gives us hope and strength to conquer the impossible. “If you’re going to fall, don’t fall back on anything, but fall forward.” He talks about an intense drive to stretch your abilities and not to worry about what other people think. (Carol, Dweck)
In Carol Dweck’s survey, about 40 percent of people in the world believe that people are fixed to their genetic heritage while another 40 percent of people in the world believe that all others gradually develop and grow over time. The other 20% were undecided. Research clearly states that having a growth mindset is good because it can improve your probability of success, whereas a fixed mindset doesn’t give us room to change. Depending on the situations in our daily life, most people will have a mixture of both the growth and fixed mindset as in the example of the toeless runner. “When a problem becomes slightly too hard to solve, it’s approached through two mindsets.
It can affect our confidence, mindsets, giving people paths into the future that creates greater persistence.” People with a fixed mindset often prioritize failure, allowing distractions or things to get in their way and often quit or give up because they believe that their talents are fixed. “They become afraid of challenges. They become afraid of not being smart and reject an opportunity to learn.” Consequently, those with the growth mindset are likely to focus on the process of growing and working hard despite any obstacles that get in their way. They are not result driven, rather, they go after what they want to achieve and overcome difficult situations. “Their commitment is to growth, and growth takes plenty of time, effort, and mutual support.”
References
- Maintaining a Positive Mindset – Verywell
- Nurturing Resilience: Can we change our mindset? – APA Monitor on Psychology
- Malleability of Intelligence: Is the Brain Like Darwin, or Design? – Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute
- Mindfulness – Greater Good Magazine
- Psychological Science: Mindsets and Math/Science Achievement – Sage Journals
- Fixed and Growth Mindset in Education and how Grit helps Develop a Growth Mindset – ScienceDirect
