The power of "not yet"

Carol S Dweck from Stanford University studied the power of mindset, and the results were that people either adopted a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset.  Her studies showed that it is developed very early in life.  She worked with  children inviting them to complete puzzles that got increasingly harder.  The children with a Fixed Mindset wanted to stop once they had experienced success as they did not want to fail and it was easier to stop.  The Growth Mindset children embraced the challenge and wanted the puzzles to get harder and harder.  One child even said " I love a challenge".

The Growth Mindset is all about the power of not yet and their language might sound like this:-

We can...

How can we...

I believe that I can influence...

I believe that I can change...

Life will challenge me and lead to personal development

My belief in the power of not yet reinforces my belief in the importance of effort

The Fixed Mindset language:-

We can't

How can we?

Defensive

Protective of the past and not embracing change

To develop the power of not yet, here are some nuggets:-

• Practice for tomorrow
• Relive a day and see if you could do it differently "Ground Hog Day"
• Study to learn not to ace or just get a result
• Praise effort and process as much as results
• Recruit potential not talent
• Failure does not define you - learn and move forward
• Stretch yourself, step out of your comfort zone and enter a growth zone
• Create an environment for a Growth Mindset
• Continuously use the expression "not yet"

Please do get in touch if you would like a workshop on Mindset bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk