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Arthur Marara Point Blank

By now, you are well aware of the advantages of developing a growth mindset. My assumption is premised on the belief that you read the previous article that I did on the growth mindset.

If you missed you can catch up by visiting Business Weekly website or grab a hard copy. The question that I want to deal with this week is how do you actually develop a growth mindset. Most articles ignore this fundamental bit, the “how”.

Where are you now?

You need to develop yourself from where you are. This calls on you to have an introspection of the mindset that you have. Do you have a fixed mindset or do you have a growth mindset? You know yourself better. It is good to be honest with yourself.

Change your approach and perspective on failure

There is more in trying and failing than in not trying at all. We need to nurture a culture of embracing failure as part of the journey. Failure is not a sign of inability, it is a sign that you are putting in effort and most importantly it is a sign of your commitment to learning.

We grew up being told that “failure is not an option”. In school, teachers are reminding students that failure is not an option. During our days if you failed an assignment you would receive physical punishment. From school, you are consistently taught not to fail, how will you learn new things if you do not fail. How will you know what does not work, if you do not fail? Many still repeat this statement to the teams.

Truth be told, when you want to make progress in your business, you need to make failure an option. Business is constantly under pressure to innovate and develop new products. In the process of trying to develop these, they experience failures. That is life. It is not every time that you are going to experience success. You are going to make mistakes, you are going to be disappointed. Failure has to be an option.

A growth result requires you to change your approach and attitude to failure. Failure is part of the journey and not the end of the journey.

Pay attention to how you speak and act

How do you talk about talent and skill. Are there any instances that you find yourself saying things like, “I am no good at this” or “She is just naturally talented”? You need to change your language, and integrate phrases like “I am not great at this yet.” and “She has clearly put in a lot of effort to become so talented.” Create room for more learning rather than to close yourself out.

What you speak becomes your reality. Be careful what you speak, and what you do, this inevitably defines you. Learn as well from the people around especially if their words and actions speak of a growth mindset. Make friends with such people, this will facilitate your growth as well.

Reflect each day

Make this a habit, reflect on what you have succeeded and failed every day. Most importantly focus on the lessons in each of these stages. You spend by now some time at the end of the day reflecting on your successes. You also need to go a step further to deliberately reflect on the failure, what did not work, and most importantly why it did not work. This is important in your growth as you need to constantly look for opportunities for learning and growth. What are you learning from your failures? The focus is not to dwell on failures, but to dwell on the lessons from those experiences.

Stop seeking approval from others

Do not live to impress people, you will spend your life depressed. Equally do not live your life seeking approval from other people. If you seek approval from people you will be their slave. Be clear on the goals that you want to achieve, and stick to it. The difficulty with seeking the approval of others is that you take on the wrong objective. Do not make being right as your goal, rather than learning and growing. Take time to recognise when you are pursuing approval rather than growth.

If you are on this course, learn to remind yourself to stop seeking approval from others. Be comfortable with the daily failures that come from you stretching yourself out of your comfort zone.

Celebrate the success of others

Do not be intimidated by the success of others. When other people around you succeed, celebrate them! You do not lose anything by celebrating the people who are doing well. Be curious about what made them successful, and learn from them. Success leaves trails.

If you want to prosper, learn from successful people and do what they did and you will succeed. You can even take time to ask the people what makes them successful.

This will cultivate a growth mindset in you. Connect with other successful people, and understand what decisions, and actions they took and how they approached the challenges they encountered on their way to success.

What are you going to do to grow and develop a growth mindset?

• Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote speaker, corporate and personal branding speaker commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, strategy and personal and professional development. Arthur is the author of “Toys for Adults” a thought provoking book on entrepreneurship, and “No one is Coming” a book that seeks to equip leaders to take charge. Send your feedback to [email protected] or Visit his website www.arthurmarara.com or contact him on WhatsApp: +263780055152.