The difference between success and failure always has been, and always will be, mindset. That is why we give every new member the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.

If you have not read it, I recommend you order it now!

While you wait for it to arrive, however, here are the three big takeaways that you can start implementing today:

How to Create a Winning Mindset

1) Recognize where you have a “fixed” mindset.

The foundational concept of the book is that we all have two mindsets: fixed and growth. A fixed mindset is one in which you believe your abilities, personality, life situation, etc. are all fixed and cannot be changed. A growth mindset recognizes that EVERYTHING can change.

Your job, then, is to recognize in which parts of your life you have a fixed mindset and start working toward a growth mindset.

2) Seek development, not approval.

To develop a growth mindset, you must get into the habit of seeking out and utilizing feedback.

This can be challenging because to do this effectively, you not only have to accept that you are not perfect, but also have to be willing to listen to what other people have to say.

If you can’t stand hearing anything but positive feedback from people, you will never grow.

3) Take advantage of your failures.

To establish a growth mindset, you must start seeing failures and setbacks as opportunities to learn and improve. Failure, as it turns out, is a REQUIREMENT for success. Just think about how many times children fall when learning to walk.

If they saw failing as something to avoid, then they would never learn the valuable lessons that each fall gave them and would be stuck crawling their whole lives!

With all this being said, I want to come back to a very important point:

The hardest part about developing a growth mindset is believing in it. While you undoubtedly have areas of your life that you do have a growth mindset about (things you know you have and can continue to get better at), there are also many areas that you probably do not even realize you can improve in.

Take personality. Have you ever thought: “That’s just the way I am”? Well, if you are talking about a good attribute, then lucky you! But if it is something that is undesirable, and yet you use this little line to feel better about the situation, you aren’t doing yourself any favors!

The truth is, everyone can change. And while we all have tendencies, it doesn’t mean we are forever stuck the way we are. If you can accept that, then you have just made a huge jump toward creating and implementing a growth mindset in your own life.

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