How to Develop a Growth Mindset

The beautiful is in the “broken.”

What a powerful statement this is!

Most of us are on a journey of growth. That growth includes mental growth and change. But that growth and change can’t occur without learning to accept the parts of yourself that are not “perfect” and are “broken.”

But how? And why?

Accepting Your Imperfections to Develop a Growth Mindset

The first step is remembering that NO ONE is perfect, and why would you want to be perfect anyway? Perfect may look pretty in a picture, but most people have a hard time relating to perfection. We are all imperfect, and there is beauty in our imperfections because they make us unique. We sometimes forget that traits and personalities are advantageous in certain situations and disadvantageous in others. As a result, sometimes your strengths are your weaknesses, and vice-versa, so our smartest move is to own our imperfections.

Growing up, I may have been called “thunder thighs” but after a lot of reflection and work, I have been able to reframe my experiences. This allowed me to see my big legs as a source of power. I excel at volleyball, basketball, and squats. I am unique. I am strong. I am proud. I own it. And so should you, whatever your uniqueness is.

The next step is working on how you talk to yourself. Do you lift yourself up by looking in the mirror every morning and saying, “I am beautiful. I am smart. I am thriving. I am energetic. I am compassionate. I am purpose-filled. I am amazing,” or is your self-talk filled with negativity, “I am dumb.” “I am ugly.” “I can’t do it,” etc?

The negative self-talk trap is easy to fall into. We have so many pressures from society, our friends, our families, and ourselves that it can become easy to play the comparison game and start reprimanding yourself when you don’t match this preconceived notion of perfection. But if you want to grow and reach your potential then this needs to stop. 

Here are 5 Growth Mindset tips:

1. Start with your why – Almost every decision in life can be made by asking, “Is this serving my why or not serving my why?
2. It is about the journey, not just the destination – As with every journey, there are going to be ups and downs—but by being present, we get to remain engaged, learn lessons and appreciate the process.
3. Fear of failure is much worse than failure itself – Successful people view everything as an experiment: you either hit the jackpot or you realize, “Nope, that wasn’t it.”
4. Adversity is an opportunity for growth – Getting out of our comfort zone is how we evolve and become stronger, smarter, faster, better.
5. Have gratitude for where you are now – Success begets more wins and successes.

Working on the above will get you started toward developing a growth mindset that will further take you on your journey. Remember, you are malleable and able to continue learning new things to reach the top of the next mountain.

Developing a love of yourself gives you the freedom to experiment and opens you up to new opportunities that wouldn’t have been there if you hadn’t done that work on yourself first.

Growth is a never-ending process—one that I’ve noticed many people try to do from the outside in. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve the outside, at some point, we must turn inward if we want to continue moving forward.

You must love yourself. And from there, gently, and lovingly peel back the layers to become who you were meant to be.

There was a great post on my social media where many of my followers shared one thing they learned in reflection, meditation, or therapy. I encourage you to check it out as there are a lot of great pieces of advice and wisdom that just might be something to help you on your journey of self-love.

Remember, the great thing about growth and personal development is that it is a life-long journey. You will never arrive. You will only continue to grow but you must do the internal work to get there. Start with daily affirmations or journaling and see what changes occur. Then continue to experiment with other changes. I guarantee you’ll start to see some as that mindset shift occurs.

If you’re already at the point where you are starting to experiment more and make other resolutions for yourself, make sure you check out Goals, Mindset, and Resolutions for a few other tips on how to get started and stay on track with those.

Developing that growth mindset will do amazing things for your life and I can’t wait to see you do it!

Sending love & virtual hugs to you all!