THINKING: FIXED AND GROWTH

There are many, many ways to think about thinking. Some years ago Carol Dweck introduced the growth—fixed mindset distinctions. These “mindsets,” as she called them, were two different styles or patterns of thinking. While her area of application was, to a great extent, education and how students think about some of the components of learning, she described her research of some three decades as a systematic approach to answering the question: “Why do some people achieve their potentials while other equally talented people do not?”

Her final conclusion was that the answer did not lie in ability, but in the mindset that people operated from. One mindset or thinking style looked at personal ability as something inherent (a given) and needs to be demonstrated. The other thinking style viewed personal ability as something that could be developed. It was not a given, it was a potential.

Contrasting the Fixed and Growth Thinking Patterns In the NLP meta-programs this is the Aristotelian (static) thinking pattern and the Systemic thinking pattern (Meta-Program #8). Do you see the world as static— permanent, solid, fixed, or do you see it as dynamic, fluid, changing. Do you think in terms of Either/Or or Both/And?

If you have the fixed thinking or mindset, your way of thinking about intelligence, challenges, obstacles, criticism, and the success of others seriously interferes with your ability to handle the everyday challenges of life—both at home and at work.

You view intelligence as static. This leads to a desire to look smart and to avoid challenges because a challenge might question or undermine your intelligence. You believe “This is the way I am.” Because a challenge could be difficult and because success is not assured, rather than risk failing, a fixed thinker avoids challenges. You stick to what you know you can do well.

You view obstacles as things to avoid. If a challenge is something that you can decide to do, then an obstacle would be an external force that gets in your way. And if things are fixed, then your effort will not really make a difference. It is useless or worse. Your attitude becomes, “What’s the point of working hard and exerting effort if it doesn’t make a difference?” With this thinking pattern you see effort as an unpleasant experience that doesn’t pay any real dividends. You then think that the best thing to do is to avoid it!

You see criticism as negative and hurtful. With the fixed thinking pattern you hear criticism of behavior or skills as criticism of you as a person. This personalizing then

discourages you so that you do not even want to hear it. After all, things are fixed and they are the way they are.

You see the success of others as threatening. You believe that, “The success of others makes me look bad.” To defend against this, as the fixed thinker you try to convince yourself that the other’s success was by luck, who they knew, etc. You do your best to explain it away. That’s because you interpret the success of others as diminishing you. Therefore you easily fall victim to jealous and envy.

Those with the growth mindset or thinking pattern sees their own skills and abilities as open to change and development. Neither their intelligence, competencies, nor future is fixed. This way of thinking enables you to see things in an entirely different way.

You see intelligence as something that can be improved and developed. This leads you to want to learn and to embrace challenges. You think, “The brain is like a muscle that can be trained.”

You see challenge as a means for improvement. Therefore you embrace challenges as that which moves you out of your comfort zone as you step up to the next level of development.

You see a set-back or obstacle as a challenge. An external obstacle is just something to deal with and conquer, not something to give in to. You distinguish between yourself as a person and what you do. Person and behavior are two very different phenomena.

You see effort as the means to success. For you, effort is the key for growing and developing. You think that it is the quality of effort that makes the difference and so you fully embrace effort.

You hear criticism as a source of useful information. Because criticism is not about you as a person, but what you do or the expression of a skill — you treat it as holding valuable information which you can use to get better. You know that others can often see and recognize what you may be blind to.

You celebrate the success of others as a source of inspiration and information. As others succeed, as a growth thinker, you use that to motivate yourself to go for it as well. It provides information about how to do it and inspiration that it can be done.

Because how you think makes a big difference in your life, fixed thinkers need a cognitive make- over. That’s because, with a static cognitive map— change becomes a threat and to be corrected becomes an existential threat to your very being. For further reading: Executive Thinking (2018) Winning the Inner Game (2007) Neuro-Semantics (2012)