A Winning Attitude

Success means different things to different people, but did you know you attitude is more important than your IQ when it comes to achievement? Research from psychologist Carol Dweck at Stanford University shows that your attitude is a better predictor of your success than your IQ.

She has found that people’s core attitudes fall into one of two categories: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

If you have a fixed mindset, you are likely to believe you are who you are and you cannot change. When you are challenged, this can create obstacles as you may tend to see the ‘new’ as more than you can handle and leave you feeling hopeless or overwhelmed.

People with a growth mindset believe that they can improve with effort. They embrace challenges and seek opportunities to learn or try something new. The study showed that those with a growth mindset outperform those with a fixed one, even when they have a lower IQ.

Being adaptable and open to change, allows you to overcome hurdles when new tasks become difficult. Those who rely solely on intelligence, with a ‘closed’ mind, may feel confident initially, but will be more likely to give up when they face challenges and setbacks. The deciding factor in life is how you handle setbacks and challenges. People with a growth mindset welcome setbacks with open arms.

There can be no success without failure, and how you approach failure is key. Ms Dweck says, “Failure is information—we label it failure, but people with a growth mindset see it more like, ‘This didn’t work, and I’m a problem solver, so I’ll try something else.’”

It is possible to develop a growth mindset.

We all feel a bit helpless sometimes. Just don’t stay that way. Ask yourself how you usually react to that feeling – do you choose to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start again or let it you down?

Basketball legend Michael Jordan is a master of the growth mindset. Here’s what he has to say about failure: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

There are countless successful people who would have never made it if they had succumbed to feelings of helplessness: the key is to be willing to fail hard, and bounce back.

Pursue what is you are passionate about. Empowered people chase their dreams. They find a way to make time – every human on the planet has the same 24 hours each day in which to create something of themselves. Entrepreneur Warren Buffet recommends this method to find your passion: Write down the 25 things that you care about the most. Then, cross out the bottom 20. The remaining 5 are your true passions. Everything else is merely a distraction.

Always take action. If you do nothing different, nothing can ever change. Fear is a normal part of taking risks, but the reward is finding a small solution to part of your challenge. People with a growth mindset are empowered, and empowered people know that there’s no such thing as a truly perfect moment to move forward. So why wait for one? Taking action turns all your worry and concern about failure into positive, focused energy.

Try harder and see what happens. Martial artist Bruce Lee famously pushed one of his students to his (perceived) breaking point physically, and rewarded him with this piece of advice. They always ran three miles a day. One day, they were about to hit the three-mile mark when Bruce said, “Let’s do two more.” His pupil was tired and said, “I’ll die if I run two more.” Bruce’s response? “Then do it.” His pupil became so angry that he finished the full five miles. Exhausted and furious, he confronted Bruce about his comment, and Bruce explained it this way: “Quit and you might as well be dead. If you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there; you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

Are you getting better each day? Everyone encounters unanticipated adversity. The trick it to be flexible in your approach to finding solutions, expect the best comes from hard work and never make excuses. As Thomas Edison said, ” I have not failed, I have simply found 10,000 things that don’t work.”

A growth mindset looks for opportunity in everything, so there’s no room for complaints. Grow your mind today!