Soul Sculpting: Un-Fixing a Fixed Mindset: Identify       Part 1

Fill in the blanks with words to create a true sentence.

(You can play with a variety of words with topics like spirituality, intelligence, relationships, personality, creativity, physical strength, mental health, emotional health. . . )

1. When it comes to __________ I love a challenge.
2. I am stuck when it comes to __________.
3. You have a certain amount of _____________, and you can’t really do much to change it.
4. No matter who you are, you can significantly change your ____________ level.
5. To be honest, you can’t really change how _________ you are.
6. No amount of effort will ever change my __________.
7. I view challenges with ____________ as opportunities.
8. I often say, “I’m just not a _________________.
9. If I work at it, it is possible to change my ________.

Questions 1, 4, 7,and 9. indicate a possible Growth Mindset.

Questions 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 indicate a possible Fixed Mindset.

“In a Growth Mindset, we believe that our abilities can be developed through effort.

In a Fixed Mindset, we believe that our abilities are fixed inborn traits. Effort makes no real difference.

Why does mindset matter?

According to the work of Dr. Carol Dweck (Stanford)

our behavior,

our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts,

and ultimately our capacity for happiness

all spring from our mindset.

As I have explored Fixed and Growth Mindsets I have come to agree that my mindset is a deal-maker or deal-breaker.

How do we get a mindset?

When I was in 4^th grade I had a fixed mindset about math. I believed was not good at it and no amount of effort could change that.

Where did I get this fixed mindset?

From my teacher who seated the class in rows according to math ability. Row #1 was the smart kids (seat #1 of row #1 was the smartest). Of the 5 rows I was in row #4. I was grateful I was not in the very dumbest row, but I was still clearly dumb.

Throughout the school year the seats never changed. Math ability was fixed.

It appears that we begin developing our mindset when we are in preschool. A longitudinal study out of the University of Chicago found that when preschool children were praised by their mother for process and effort (You worked hard at that); these effort-praised children developed a growth mindset that was still evident in second grade.

Consider this 4 part study with older children by Dr. Carol Dweck and associates:

Part A. Developing a mindset

Students were given fairly challenging problems from a nonverbal IQ test, then praised.

• Group #1 was told, “That’s a really good score. You must be smart at this,”(Praised for ability – Fixed Mindset
• Group #2 was told, “ That’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.(Praised for effort – Growth Mindset)

Part B. First result of a mindset: What to do with a new challenge.

Next, the children were offered a choice of doing a challenging new task.

• Group #1 (Ability-praised – Fixed Mindset) rejected the new task. They didn’t want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent.
• Group #2 (Effort-praised – Growth Mindset) 90% of the children wanted to do a challenging new task they could learn from.

Part C. Second result of a mindset: View of one’s self

Then, the students were given a subsequent set of much harder problems, on which the students didn’t do well.

• Group #1 (Ability-praised – Fixed Mindset) Students thought they weren’t so smart or gifted after all.
• Group #2 (Effort-praised – Growth Mindset) Students thought the difficulty was an indication that they had to put in more effort, not a sign of failure or poor intellect.

Part D. Third result of a mindset: Honesty or Dishonesty

Finally, the students were asked to write letters to their peers relaying the experience. Students were asked to disclose their scores in the letters.

• In contrast with the honesty of the effort-praised students, 40% of the ability-praised kids lied about their scores, inflating them to look more successful.

(Increased lying/cheating are also seen in the adult business world when talent is rewarded and effort is not rewarded.)

Hazards of a Fixed Mindset

• We spend our time documenting our intelligence or talent instead of developing them.

Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser? . . .

• Because it is hopeless we do not make the needed effort to change.
• We eliminate new opportunities because they would show up our inadequacies.
• We give more time to looking good than actually being good at something.
• We feel stuck.

I am guessing that most of us have areas of our life that we view with a Growth Mindset and other areas that are viewed with a Fixed Mindset.

The good news here is that Fixed Mindsets aren’t fixed. We can turn a Fixed Mindset into a Growth Mindset.

In upcoming blogs we will try out 8 tools for changing a fixed mindset into a growth mindset. Here we will begin with the first tool.

Soul Sculpting Project: Un-Fixing a Fixed Mindset

Tool #1 Identify a Fixed Mindset

1. Fill in the blank to identify a Fixed Mindset:

• I am stuck when it comes to __________.
• You have a certain amount of _____________, and you can’t really do much to change it.
• No amount of effort will ever change my __________.
• I often say, “I’m just not a _________________.

2. Answer one or more of these questions to identify your target.

• Where is God inviting me to change my Fixed Mindset into a Growth Mindset?

• What Fixed Mindset is holding me back?
• I can’t be who I feel called /or want to be because __________.

• What is holding me back from moving forward?

In 6^th grade my teacher thought I was gifted in math and put me in an advanced group. Curiosities of education. I bet you have an education story, too.