Whatever your goals in life, the right mindset is paramount to success; according to some, 80% of the likelihood of reaching a goal depends on how we approach the task on hand. It’s easy to see the truth in that, but how do you improve a mindset? Getting to know your mind is the first step to facing your self-imposed limitations. Using Inquiry to question them you’ll be growing your mind into a growth mindset.

Fixed Mindset Versus Growth Mindset

In her book Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success (public library), Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck published her research into the influence of a person’s mindset on their ability to learn and grow in their lives. In simple, easy to follow language and with plenty of examples from all walks of life, she describes the differences between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

People with a fixed mindset believe that they are either good at something or not, while people with a growth mindset understand that they get better at anything through practice and learning. Their mindset has wide-ranging implications in people’s lives: 

• In a fixed mindset, we believe that our performance in any task describes WHO WE ARE – and thus failure and criticism are really hard to take. As a result, in a fixed mindset, we rather don’t apply ourselves to hard tasks, because failure is really scary. It says that I AM A FAILURE. This is demoralizing and depressing. In a fixed mindset, we tend to blame others or situations for what has gone wrong. 

• People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe that we can get better at anything. Our performance at any moment is seen as feedback on where we are on a journey. It tells us how we can improve. In a growth mindset, failure is a non-sequitur. People who operate out of a growth mindset are open to criticism and learning new things. They enjoy difficult tasks that make them focus and think. Their sense of self is bolstered by a constant stream of small achievements.

Growing My Growth Mindset By Being Self-Aware

When I began to read these definitions and the book, it was crystal clear to me that having a fixed mindset is OBVIOUSLY a bad idea. Seeing that I’m dedicated to personal growth, I decided that I certainly didn’t have one of those. You can imagine my horror when, the further I read, the more apparent it became to me that in many areas of my life, I do indeed operate out of a fixed mindset.

I began to see that often, I judge new avenues as not applicable for myself because I don’t want to go to the trouble of learning them. When listening to complicated ideas I easily space out. I argue with opposing opinions because I don’t want to find the ways that they might be right. When someone gives me feedback, I might well cut it short by saying: “I know” and stop thinking about it right there. 

I began to see how I’m limiting myself by believing that some things are “fixed.”

As with all models of the world, the model of fixed versus growth mindset is limited because we are complex creatures. We exhibit both growth and fixed mindset to some degree. At times, a fixed mindset might prove beneficial. Nevertheless, I found it very empowering to allow myself to see the areas where I was believing in the absolutes, and thereby constantly falling short of my own expectations.

The Bridge Of Incidents Between Intention And Manifestation

Another piece was added to this puzzle when I watched Joseph Rodrigues video The Bridge Of Incidents, explaining the theory of manifestation by Neville Goddard. In short, Joseph explains that in order to create something, we set an intention, and (as long as the desired outcome is harmonious) the universe will move us towards that manifestation via a series of events in the physical world. When we treat these events as supportive of our growth, we will be able to flow towards manifesting. When, instead, we are challenged by these events and oppose them, the journey to manifestation becomes longer and might be entirely thwarted. 

Understanding the bridge of incidents in this way and keeping my fixed mindset areas in mind, I begin to see how I hamper my own manifestations. There is an area where I believe that I’m not worthy, not good enough, where I know that success requires hard work (keeping me hard at work) and that I’m likely to fail – because look, I failed before. 

Using Inquiry To Change My Mind

All of these thoughts are very common, and I come across them in my facilitation of clients consistently. And the good news is, they can be inquired into. That is what I did. And lo and behold, this is what I found: I am good enough – clients tell me so. My hard work is often NOT where I get clients from, and my business is 1 year old this month. So far, not failing. 

The beauty of inquiry is that I get to work with my self-limiting beliefs. I get to experience and hold the emotions that arise. Inquiry helps me have a felt sense of a reality without those limits, thereby moving this reality closer to manifestation. By looking at turnarounds, meaning the opposites to the original beliefs I held, I actively educate my mind to different possibilities.

Using inquiry, I get to change my mindset from fixed to growth. I get to remove the blocks to manifesting a life that flows in harmony with the rest of creation. This is so satisfying.

The Leaders Work facilitation of inquiry helps you by growing your mind into a growth mindset.

Interested to seek out your limitations and transform them into flow and excellence? 

Book a Clarity Call or email me Stef@TheLeadersWork.com!