Your mindset is of great importance for the success or failure of career steps. For example, a static mindset can make you ignore feedback, while someone with a growth mindset will actively do something with those comments. How do you ensure that you are open to growth? A few tips.

A growth mindset is about whether or not you believe in the possibility of making progress within a certain domain. It may concern your own skills, but also characteristics, capacities or relationships with others. People who are open to growth dare to take on challenges more quickly, are more open to criticism and help from others and also persist longer, even when the going gets tough.

This principle was coined by Stanford professor Carol Dweck, who has written numerous books about this. She argues that someone with a growth mindset believes that through exercise you can become better at things for which you are motivated. People with a static mindset, on the other hand, believe that your capacities and characteristics are largely fixed and that you have little influence on them.

The great thing about this principle is that mindset itself is not fixed. If you now have a more static mindset, you can take certain steps to work towards a growth mindset. Some suggestions on how to do that:

Write down your thoughts

Do you notice that you tend to think from a more static mindset? Write down the situation and what thoughts you have about it. Then try to approach those thoughts from a growth mindset. How do you view it then? And will you be able to look at it that way next time?

Focus on the process

We often tend to focus on the ultimate outcome of our effort. But what if you instead focused on getting there? Pay attention to your own perseverance and what you learn from that process. Even though you may not achieve your goal all at once, you have probably learned a lot about yourself and how to do it even more effectively.

Dare to make mistakes

Growing without mistakes is actually impossible. So dare to make mistakes and see them as an opportunity to learn. And dare to share those mistakes. You will see that you are far from the only one who makes mistakes. You may also be able to laugh about it together (over time).

Ask for help

Two often know more than one. Dare to admit that you don't know everything and that you can use help from someone else here and there. This is not a matter of giving up or weakness, but rather a sign that you want things to happen in the best way possible. Put your pride aside and seek help where necessary. In addition to a lot of time, that can also save you a lot of frustration.

Keep learning

Learning is the way to get better at things. This can be by doing something practical, but also by immersing yourself in a particular subject. Someone with a growth mindset never stops learning, because he or she believes that there is always more to learn. Give yourself the space to learn new things and make use of the knowledge of others.

Do you want to work on a growth mindset? This is a theme that comes up in many of my coaching trajectories. Feel free to contact me for more information.