In this module, we will be covering the external and internal roadblocks to growth mindset. In this particular lesson, we are going to dive into some of the external blocks to growth mindset. The first one is the biggest one because it deals with people. People, can be an external roadblock to growth mindset. I'd love for you to now think of the people that you work with, the people that you live with, and the people that you interact with in your life, and your business, and your career on a daily basis. For example, if you're surrounded by people that have a fixed mindset, and specifically have a fixed mindset not only about their own abilities, but about your abilities, that can affect you. The very first thing is to think about the people in your life and in your work, and whether or not they're actually holding you back by having their own fixed mindset. We're now going to cover what I call the five myths to growth mindset. These five myths make up the rest of the external blocks. The first myth, has now been referred to as false mindset. That myth is that, if you are a nice person and you, let's say you're open-minded, that therefore you have a growth mindset, they're not synonymous. Although, being a nice person, and having, let's say this wonderful open-minded outlook in life, although that's a great attribute, it does not equate to an actual growth mindset. Let's remember, what is a growth mindset? It is the belief that you and other people and your abilities and knowledge and everything that makes up who you are, can be improved, and that you will learn from challenges and setbacks. That really doesn't have to do with being nice and it doesn't have to do with being open-minded, although those are wonderful things, they are separate from growth mindset. The second myth, is that having a positive can-do attitude needs to be in place at all times. This is a myth about growth mindset that has been used against workers often by leaders and supervisors. Sometimes workers have too much work. They just have too much on their plate and they are at capacity, and we cannot stretch the laws of physics and time and space, and yet your supervisor or a co-worker might say, well, you don't have a growth mindset because you don't have a positive can-do attitude about everything on your to-do list, and all of the projects on your plate. You know, sometimes having a bad attitude can be used against you, and again, I get that, it's a great attribute to have a positive can-do attitude. But it's not quite the same as growth mindset. Let's make sure we're not using against people productivity by saying, "Hey, if you can't keep up, then you are not growing and you don't have a growth mindset." Because remember, growth mindset again, is about the belief that you can continuously improve. But you can't continuously improve, if you have too much work to do within a specific framework. The next myth is that growth is unbounded or limitless. We like to tease that this can also be known, this myth, as anybody can be an opera singer, anybody can be Pavarotti, and that's not true. Some of us can improve our singing, but we will never be, let's say a professional opera singer. The idea that growth mindset is unbounded can actually hinder you from excelling at what you're really good at, and focusing on the job that you're supposed to be doing. Because you're always trying to improve in an area where there might be just a natural ceiling, and you're never going to excel beyond a certain level no matter how much you grow. Be careful with the false mindset of, growth mindset is unbounded or limitless because, it's not. You can get better at certain things, but you might not ever become, let say a master. Mastery might be out of reach just for certain types of abilities. The fourth myth is that growth mindset is only about praising effort. This one has been widely misunderstood, and it is a huge misconception in education and teaching. You might have heard the phrase before, praise the process, not the outcome. That's still not absolutely accurate for growth mindset. We will talk a lot more about this when we get to module 4, and we cover how to give and receive feedback with a growth mindset in place. But the quick way of talking about this is, what should you be praising? Well, you should be praising not just someone's effort, because what if their efforts still lead to an ineffective outcome? What you should be praising is, did they change things up? What are the strategies that they put in place? Did they ask for help? A really great way around this is, instead of praising the process or the outcome, ask questions and show interest. What did you do to improve here? What did you do differently this time? What type of strategies did you employ? Did you ask for help, and from whom, and from where? Actually showing interest in the process itself, but not praising the process, and not praising the outcome might actually be the way to go often. The last myth around the external myths around growth mindset is that, growth mindset means striving for business growth. We're going to talk about this a lot more when we get to module 3, and we cover growth mindset at an organizational and leadership level. But I want you to think about it like this, growth mindset is about whether the people that work for that organization, including you, can be stretched beyond the abilities where you are currently find yourself. It is not about the bottom line. When you hear growth within business, people think you mean make more money, a bigger return on your investment, and that is not again what growth mindset means. Don't confuse growth mindset at an organizational level, with the bottom line and making more money. Striving for business growth is more about the people that work for the organization, and their mindsets and less about making more money and being more financially sound. Although again, all of these things that we brought up are wonderful attributes, but they're not actually growth mindset, which is why we call them the five myths. I'll see you in the next lesson.
