What is Mindset: Understanding and changing the power of the mind
Mindset can be translated as “mental structure” or “thinking” in Turkish, but does not reflect the full meaning of these terms. Rather, Mindset is a pattern of stereotypes and behavior, covering the basic beliefs, assumptions and expectations of a person’s world, himself and his abilities. This is not only about our thoughts, but also a powerful internal force that shapes our emotions, motivation and actions.
Fixed Mind Set (Fixed Mindset) and Growth Mind Set (Growth Mindset):
Carol S. Dweck’s research has revealed two basic types of Mindset: fixed mind set and growth mind set. These two approaches show significant differences in the reactions given to failures and difficulties and in the perception of personal development.
Fixed Mind Set: People with this Mindset believe that intelligence and abilities are innate and invariant features. They see their abilities as fixed and unchanged. While they consider success as an indication of their innate abilities, they interpret their failures as a sign that proves the limitation of their abilities. They avoid challenging tasks because they do not want to face the risk of failure. They personally receive criticisms and these criticisms adversely affect their self -esteem. The learning process is reluctant to gain difficult and new skills.
Growth Mind Set: On the contrary, people with a growth mind set believe that intelligence and abilities can be improved and increased over time. They see success as a result of effort and learning and consider failures as opportunities to learn. They see challenging tasks as an opportunity to challenge and learn and do not avoid difficulties. They regard criticism as an opportunity for development and take the steps to improve themselves. Because they are open to learning, they enjoy gaining new skills and developing themselves.
The effects of Mindset in different fields:
Mindset has significant effects in many areas of our lives. In many fields such as academic success, career development, relationships, health and general welfare, Mindset plays an important role.
Academic Success: Students with a fixed mind set avoid difficult lessons, while students with growth mind sets face difficulties and enjoy the learning process. Therefore, students with a growth mind set are often more successful.
Career Development: In business life, people with a fixed mind set avoid new tasks and responsibilities, while people with growth mind sets seek new challenges and try to improve themselves constantly. This helps them to progress faster in their careers and to be more successful.
Relations: In relationships, people with a fixed mind set personally receive criticisms, while people with growth mind sets see criticism as an opportunity to improve their relationships. Growth helps to establish stronger and healthy relationships.
Health and general welfare: Mindset is an important factor in terms of health and general welfare. People with a fixed mind set, forced to cope with health problems, people with growth mind sets, take the steps to overcome health problems. Growth helps to improve the mind set, stress management and general welfare.
Ways to change Mindset:
Although Mindset is not an innate feature, they are patterns of stereotypes and behavior and can be changed. Various methods can be used to change Mindset:
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Awareness: First of all, you need to get to know your own Mindset. Observe your thoughts and behavior patterns and determine thoughts that indicate a fixed mind set.
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Affirmation: By using positive thoughts and self -assessments, you can increase your confidence in yourself.
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Celebrate your success: Beware of your success and celebrate. This helps to increase your confidence in yourself and strengthen your growth mind set.
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See as an opportunity to learn failures: See failures as learning opportunities and learn from them. Consider failures as a difficulty you encounter in the process, not your personal failure.
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Focus on difficulties: Do not avoid challenging tasks. Challenges are opportunities that allow you to grow and develop.
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Be open to learning: Be open to learning and developing new skills. Continuous learning process, growth strengthens the set of minds.
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Role Models: Observe people with a growth mind set and inspire them.
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Professional help: If necessary, get help from a therapist or coach.
Change Mindset requires time and effort, but this effort can provide significant improvements in every aspect of your life. Adopting the growth mind set helps you lead a more successful, happy and satisfactory life. Therefore, making efforts to understand your own Mindset and change when necessary is a very valuable investment for your personal development.