Life in the Armed Forces can be uncertain and complex. Today, mental health, performance, and mindset are more important than ever, and the belief in one's ability to grow is essential. Learning to use a growth mindset can help you focus on personal development and improvement.
A growth mindset is the belief that personal characteristics like intellect and talent can be developed or changed. This is the opposite of a fixed mindset, which is the belief that personal characteristics can’t be changed. For example, those with a fixed mindset see successful people as naturally gifted and assume their success was easily attained. In contrast, those with a growth mindset see success as something people work hard for and earn. A growth mindset (and a fixed mindset) can be applied to all areas of life and is ultimately a daily choice.
Follow the concept map to learn the benefits of a growth mindset:
Then look at the map as a whole to see how all the concepts are connected.
A growth mindset prepares you for challenges, which improves teamwork through collaboration, buy-in mentality, and goal acquisition.
People with a growth mindset embrace challenges. Whether you're experiencing challenges in training, on the battlefield, or at home, if you follow a growth mindset, you can view challenges as opportunities for personal and team development. A growth mindset can help build teamwork by boosting morale, demonstrating belief in one another, and improving the team's professional development. A growth mindset-oriented team works better together when they recognize the goals of the organization and team (buy-in), which leads to reaching those goals—and collective success.
When facing obstacles, people with a growth mindset embrace difficult situations through grit, which requires motivation, commitment, confidence, and control.
A growth mindset helps you overcome obstacles. You can overcome obstacles in your personal life, training, operations, and more with a growth mindset and by embodying grit. Grit—holding firmly to goals that give you meaning—isn't just pulling yourself up from your bootstraps; it's the passion and perseverance to reach your long-term goals despite difficulties. Grit is an essential ingredient to a growth mindset and requires you to focus on the things you can control, approach obstacles with confidence, commit to yourself and your goals, and maintain your motivation. People with a growth mindset and grit remember why they started the journey and remind themselves they’re capable of great things.
A growth mindset encourages you to try using deliberate and reflective practice to increase their levels of proficiency and learning.
People who have a growth mindset believe there’s always room to develop and that their knowledge, skills, and abilities require effort for self-improvement. They reject the idea that certain people are successful solely due to "natural talent" or genetics, such as those who pass military fitness tests or challenging ranger or special forces schools. Someone with a growth mindset focuses on hard work rather than accomplishments. By using deliberate and reflective practice, you can become a better learner and develop proficiency in your areas of expertise. Deliberate practice involves intentional, consistent training to create a knowledge base or skill. Reflective practice involves thinking about your thoughts and actions after an event and evaluating what you could have done differently.
A growth mindset helps you embrace feedback and criticism in reflective and deliberate practice, which results in improved learning and proficiency.
People with a growth mindset view feedback and criticism as additional opportunities to grow and develop. People with a fixed mindset view feedback and criticism as negative, unpleasant, or unnecessary. Getting the perspective of your teammates or coworkers can help you gauge your contributions and impact in the workplace. Reflective and deliberate practice can help you capitalize on feedback to improve your weaknesses, develop proficiency, and become a better learner—similar to effort.
A growth mindset helps you celebrate the success of others, ultimately demonstrating “freudenfreude,” finding pleasure in the happiness or wins of others.
People with a growth mindset perceive the success of others as inspirational and encouraging. People with a fixed mindset view the success of others as a threat or a reflection of their imperfections. People with a growth mindset aim for "freudenfreude," not “schadenfreude." Freudenfreude is inspired by the German word for "joy" and is about finding pleasure in the happiness or wins of others. (Schadenfreude is the opposite; it’s about finding pleasure in another person's misfortunes or failures.) Growth mindset-oriented people demonstrate freudenfreude and rarely, if ever, feel threatened about another person's happiness. A growth mindset reminds you to support battle buddies when they’re awarded leadership opportunities because you know their promotion and recognition isn’t a negative reflection on you. ”Champion others, but run your own race.”
Key takeaways:
- A growth mindset prepares you and your team for challenges.
- A growth mindset helps you overcome obstacles.
- A growth mindset encourages you to view effort as a path to learning and mastery.
- A growth mindset helps you embrace and use feedback and criticism.
- A growth mindset encourages you to celebrate the success of others.
Additional resources
Want to read about growth mindset in action? Check out these HPRC blogs from guest authors.
Adopt a growth mindset for focus and performance
Growth mindset vs. the pandemic: A Soldier’s perspective
How a growth mindset can help you build resilience and optimize your performance