A growth mindset; and it’s nothing to do with just being smart.
I’ve recently been reading Mindset, by Dr Carol S Dweck.
The book is a full and frank discussion of two different types of mindset: a fixed mindset, and a growth mindset, and the consequences of being stuck with the former.
A person with a fixed mindset believes they are either dumb or smart; they can’t change it.
A person with a growth mindset believes that being dumb or smart isn’t the issue. They can learn, improve, and get better, whatever their starting point is.
Early on in the book, she describes the two mindsets, in such extraordinary terms, that I’m going to repeat quite a chunk of it here. I hope you find it as useful as I did:
When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world - the world of fixed traits - success is about proving you're smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other - the world of changing qualities - it's about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself.
In one world, failure is about having a setback. Getting a bad grade. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you’re not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for the things you value. It means you’re not fulfilling your potential.
In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you’re not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn’t need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.
You have a choice. Mindsets are just beliefs. They’re powerful beliefs, but they’re just something in your mind, and you can change your mind.
My own mindset experience
Throughout most of the first twenty years of my career, if I’m brutally honest, I had a pretty fixed mindset.
I was convinced that I was smart, and that I’d proved that I was smart. I had top grades at school, got into the University of Edinburgh, and even got elected as a VP of the Students Union. Yep! I was smart!
When I graduated, I started working in schools’ liaison for a university as one of the very first full time liaison officers in the country. I progressed naturally and expected to, because I was good, and understood the work better than anyone else. Or so I thought.
I sought new challenges to manage teams and build my career, not so that I could learn, but so that I could prove that I was right all along; that I really was the best in the business.
I honestly thought that getting the job as Director of Student Recruitment at Imperial College was the pinnacle. I had proved that I was great.
Except I wasn’t.
And when I handed in my resignation for that job - a role that if truth be told, I had horribly struggled in - I was devastated. I was not the best after all. I was not up to it.
Now, ten years on, I have had the most transformative years of my whole career. A role landed almost by accident, turned out to stretch and challenge me in a way I could not possibly have imagined. And in the process, it turned my mindset 180 degrees. This was tech start-up Unibuddy.
As the first business employee at Unibuddy, I literally had to learn new things every day. From setting up a new CRM system in an afternoon, to learning the intricacies of the new GDPR Data Protection legislation, to determining sales strategies and staff incentives. You name it, pretty much everything I had to do was new to me. And new to all of my colleagues too!
And during my time with Unibuddy I was surrounded by people with an incredible mindset. Unlike me, they didn’t seem to want to prove they were smart. They wanted to learn, to grow, and to be better.
One of the most amazing examples was Yahya. He was our Head of Product, and we had a conference coming up where we wanted him to share our product roadmap. More than that we wanted to give insight into the process behind the developments; why were we doing this, and how had we come to the decisions.
To make sure everyone was on top form, Diego (the CEO) insisted that each presenter had the coaching they needed to make the presentations as good as possible, and we hired a consultant to do this.
Yahya prepared a great set of slides, but his presentation was not good; he stuttered, went way too fast, and got the timing on his jokes all wrong.
And yet, he took on every single bit of feedback. He practised, and practised, and way after the consultant was gone we worked and worked on that presentation together.
On the day, he absolutely nailed it. He had the audience literally eating out of the palm of his hand. In a pretty strong field, his was the standout session.
That was true growth mindset right there.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I was the only member of the team who didn’t present to the consultant. The CEO knew that was a step too far for me at the time. I wonder how much better I could have been if I had fully embraced the growth mindset in the way that Yahya did?
In truth, I didn’t consciously decide to change my mindset, and those who I worked with will confirm that sometimes I fought it. But over time, with support and encouragement from colleagues like Diego and Yahya, it happened, and I did change my view. It turned out to be the most rewarding period of my entire career.
And now I’m far more excited about trying and learning new things than I ever was before.
Until I started betterunichoices, I had never written a blog, let alone weekly articles. I’d never launched a newsletter, let alone committed to the rigour of one per week. I’d never posted regularly on Linkedin or Instagram. Despite my marketing background, I’d never even created a commercial social post, a reel or a carousel. And I’d certainly never recorded and released a podcast.
And yet, here I am, doing all of the above, imperfectly, making mistakes, learning, improving, and loving it.
So… what might you be able to take from this? How can you start applying this in your life, if you think you might be like the younger version of me; with a fixed mindset?
Well, if you are reading this, then you are somewhere on your journey towards applying to university, and so you’ve got some pretty important things coming up.
Your UCAS Personal Statement
Perhaps you think you are smart enough just to write this on your own. You’ve read the basic instructions, you’ve got lots to say. How hard can it be? Or perhaps worse still, you don’t think you can do it at all. Your fixed mindset is telling you that you aren’t good enough. You haven’t got enough to say. And even if you did, you don’t know how to say it.
Frankly, both these positions are just nonsense. There are so many ways you can learn, improve what you do, and ultimately do better. Read my free Personal Statement guide, listen to the Top Tips podcasts, watch university videos, or even join a group chat, like the one offered by the University of Leicester on their Personal Statement hub.
And once you have read a little, you can simply start writing. The growth mindset will tell you that you can do it; that the first attempt won’t be perfect, but that’s OK. Because then you’ll seek help from friends, family, and experts. With their help, the second version will be so much better. And the third, fourth and fifth versions will be better still.
If you think you can’t write a Personal Statement, you might be right. But you can learn how, and once you learn you will have no difficulties at all.
And if you think you can write the perfect Personal Statement already, then just imagine how much better it could be if you put in the effort, listened to the advice of experts and applied them to your statement.
Studying and revising
Perhaps you think that no matter how much you revise, the information just doesn’t go in. You just aren’t smart enough to remember it, let alone understand it.
Or perhaps you think you’ve got study nailed already. You have your routine, your revision timetable and you are just fine thanks; because you are smart.
Once again, these positions are just nonsense! And in both cases you need to think again.
Last week I wrote a piece all about some lesser known study skills techniques. These have the potential to make a real difference. For those of you who are struggling, they might just get you going in ways you didn’t think were possible. For those of you who think you are doing OK, well, it’s possible they might make you even better!
And don’t just follow my advice. Go and see your teachers one-2-one and ask them for their specific advice, just for you. They’ll know where you are, and will be happy to give you hints and tips that will either get you up to scratch, or will stretch and challenge you. They’ll know what you need, and will love giving you that extra support. You just have to ask, and approach them with a growth mindset!
University interviews
With a fixed mindset, you’ll probably approach university interviews with one of two positions. Either you’ll think “I’ve got this. I know my stuff and it will be alright on the day”. Or you’ll think “Oh crap. I can’t do this. I’ve never had an interview before. It’s going to be a disaster”.
Once again, both of these positions are just nonsense.
Just because you are smart does not mean it will be OK on the day. And it doesn’t mean you can’t learn more about the process and get even better. And just because you’ve never had an interview before does not mean it will be a disaster.
So… start by reading my article on university interviews. Whatever you think you know already, you’ll know a whole lot more after ten minutes reading. And then, as it says in the article, practice, practice, practice. Ask your teacher, your parents, your friends. Go out of your way to find ways of practising your interviews. Even if it's just you, on your own, talking through possible questions out loud in your bedroom.
The reality is that interviews are just about the perfect example of something where preparation and practice really are the things that make the difference. You can do this!
Still not convinced?
If you are not convinced, and don’t believe that learning and practice will make you better, smarter, and stronger, then Dr Dweck (later on in Mindset), has a couple of questions for you:
Think of a hero: do they have extraordinary abilities, or did they just work hard. Find out, and admire them even more!
When did a fellow student out do you? Are they better or cleverer than you, or did they just use better strategies, worked harder or practised more?
If you are honest with these questions, you are going to have to concede, like I did, that your abilities are not fixed.
With a growth mindset, you can do so much more!
