Nurturing Your Growth Mindset

Earlier this week, we learned that recruiters and hiring managers who have a fixed mindset will often shy away from the trial and error necessary to make the recruiting process work.

Individuals with a growth mindset tend to be more resilient, persistent, and engaged in the process because they enjoy the challenge of overcoming obstacles inherent in recruiting.

Do you have a growth mindset? 

According to Carol Dweck, you have part of one:

Everyone is actually a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, and that mixture continually evolves with experience. A “pure” growth mindset doesn’t exist, which we have to acknowledge in order to attain the benefits we seek.

Maybe a better question is: Are you doing things to nurture a growth mindset?

Saga Briggs, the managing editor of InformEd, built a research-based list of 25 things you can do to nurture your growth mindset. In my opinion, here are the best five ideas:

Cultivate a sense of purpose. Dweck’s research showed that students with a growth mindset had a greater sense of purpose. Keep the big picture in mind.

Value the process over the end result. Some people enjoy the learning process and don’t mind when it continues beyond an expected time frame. Be one of those people.

Place effort before talent. Hard work should always be rewarded before inherent skill.

Replace the word “failing” with the word “learning.” When you make a mistake or fall short of a goal, you haven’t failed; you’ve learned.

Stop seeking approval. When you prioritize approval over learning, you sacrifice your own potential for growth.

Since your mindset is not static, nurture it into a resource to help you grow.