 This video I'd like to talk about a growth mindset what it is why it's important and how we can develop one There's some people who believe that You're just born with the intelligence that you have that there's really nothing you can do about that and that there's no reason to Challenge yourself or get worked up about it and just live within, you know, your own little Patch of grass there and don't worry about Trying to grow or expand little and that's just a silly that's been proven And time and time again to be wrong and that's really what the growth mindset is all about growth mindset and tells us that That it's the belief that a person's intelligence can be developed through hard work that we can expand our mind that we can Learn to use more of our brain than we do normally So the the fixed mindset as fixed mindset and growth mindset fixed mindset says that you're locked in whatever you have is what you have There's no reason to get you know Worked out about trying to get any smarter or we're expanding yourself at all It's locked in there and there's like you see there's a padlock on it The growth mindset though says that we can cultivate this just like growing anything in the ground we can you know It's a garden our mind is a garden we can grow Flowers there we can grow corn there we can grow whatever we need to survive We can help it develop by giving it giving it water and giving it sunlight giving it nutrients and so it's been, you know Metaphorically obviously when I can do those things literally to our brain But but that we have the ability to expand our intelligence and to expand our world and our heart potential as a result So a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset fixed mindset basically says I can't do this This work is good enough. This work is too hard. I'm not gonna put any more into it but a growth mindset says I can do this a little differently I can try a different strategy and Challenge myself is this really my best work and and and acknowledging that this may take some time and some effort But we can we can do that we can expand our mind So how do we do that now? We know what a growth mindset is and we have this the science is there You can you can go look it up on your own if you want, but the science is there Growth mindset is a real thing. We can expand our intelligence. We can expand our our perception and our our abilities through this So how do we do that though? To develop a growth mindset one major aspect of this is finding your purpose Finding something that you're interested in that you're passionate about that you where you fit where your skills are at where your Your your natural abilities are at doesn't mean you can't do things that are a little harder for you too But but it's helpful to find those things That are that come sort of more naturally to you and where you can excel and and you can exceed expectations and really find Your purpose So so spend some time discovering who you are what it is you want and how you can mess get there But but also what's going to be the path that can lead you there. What is your purpose? Next you need to challenge yourself. I mean is this graphic depicts? There's a spot where you there's your comfort zone and then outside of that probably is where the magic happens, right? So there are times we need to get out of our comfort zone We need to challenge ourselves intellectually and and sociologically we need to challenge ourselves and not just stay within our little circle We need to be willing to say okay. This is outside of my comfort zone, but that's where growth happens, right? We need to challenge ourselves. I remember when I was growing up I have an older brothers and one of them in particular is a basketball player And I wanted to be a good basketball player and he's eight years older than I am right So he's not only older but bigger and had more skills and probably just had more natural talent in basketball And I hope he never watches this video so he never hears me say that but obviously I have more natural talent But I improved as a basketball player by playing against him I didn't get any better by playing people who are worse than me I got better by playing against him by playing against other people who are better than me and challenging myself and Really working at it in that way it was outside of my comfort zone and my ego got bruised a lot of times But but that's where the magic happened. That's where I saw improvement. So we need to challenge ourselves and get outside of that circle So we need to change our vocabulary and really insert the word yet So anytime we're saying, you know, I can't I can't do this. It's not my skill set yet There's always the potential that we can add that right. I haven't done this yet. I Haven't been able to accomplish this yet. I Haven't gotten to the level I want to at work to be able to you know to shoot for that promotion really because I can't do this thing yet So add the words yet to your vocabulary and add other Possibility words to your vocabulary and and take the take the negative connotation away from things like challenge and hard and And difficult take take the negative connotation away from those things and welcome those things So we need to change our vocabulary as we think about these things Well, so I need to establish goals We need to have a plan we need to have some specific goals And we need to develop this using smart goals right and smarts and acronyms You can see there for specific measurable achievable realistic and timely There's all kinds of resources you can get at that have to do with goal setting and smart goals and things But we need to set goals. We need to set goals that challenges again That work keeps coming up challenge, but we need to set goals that challenges But that are also realistic We need to set goals that are measurable and specific that have a number attached to them that have a time a specific time frame And sense of timeliness attached to them So we need to set and establish these these smart goals and and really use those to push ourselves then We also need to increase our grit You know, we did understand that these things are hard But that'll most things in life that are worth having are difficult That takes some effort on our part that takes some perseverance Right getting a college degree for example takes a lot of grit You know, there's a certain amount of intelligence involved and that kind of thing But it also takes a willingness to set other things aside You're gonna set aside time with your family and that you're not gonna have set aside time for your hobbies That you're not gonna have because you're pursuing this education Right set aside some money that you could maybe use for some other things for this, but but that's what grid is That's what perseverance is and it doesn't come in a straight line There's lots of stops and starts and and fits and starts and just you know, it's it's a challenging thing But grit and perseverance is what sees us through the other side So we need to increase our grit or willingness to Persevere and see things through the end even through those challenges and especially through those challenges We need to kick the can't When I was kid we played a game called kick the can but this one's called kick the can't We need to get rid of can't really kind of again changing our vocabulary. You know, it's not that we can't do these things I mean there anything, you know realistically or the other things that aren't within our grasp right now Yeah, but but we use that term way too to liberally can't I can't do that. I can't do no Most of the time when we say can't we mean won't We mean won't that I'm not willing to do this I'm not willing to put in the time and energy and effort that it takes to do this So we need to kick the can't really think about is it a can't or is it a won't Because one is on us and the other is not We need to seek out feedback and that's scary It's scary to ask people to give us feedback and tell us what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong But I'm where we can grow Because that's you know, it's hard to hear those things sometimes But we need to seek out that feedback not just let it come to us But we actively need to seek it out and and from the right Areas we need to get feedback from the right areas and the right people and but we need to seek out that feedback We need to practice mindfulness Which comes in a variety of forms But we need to to train our mind to to settle in to think about specific things to just be focused on What what it is we're doing where we're at right at this moment, right? So we need to Practice this mindfulness in whatever form that it comes for us And finally we need to to value the journey We need to value the journey. You see this stack of rocks here. It may just look like a stack of rocks to you but in biblical times This is what was known as an Ebenezer It's an Ebenezer When something significant would happen to somebody in the Bible or in biblical times, they would do what they call raise an Ebenezer They would raise an Ebenezer to signify this is where something significant happened for me this is a special place because Something happened to me that was so special that I want to remember it. I want to memorialize it. And so they were taking time out to say This is my journey and here's where I'm at And here's how you can see where I've been because I'm raising these Ebenezers along the way and we should do that too We should raise Ebenezers that maybe not literally but in our lives We need to find a way to raise an Ebenezer. We need to find a way to value that journey not just the the end result But what we've taken from that along the way all the little lessons that have built up to that one Big moment not one big lesson, right? We need to value that find ways to appreciate and recognize those And that kind of leads into our last thing here, which is reflect. We need to pause That's the pause symbol, right? We need we need to pause occasionally and say what am I learning? Am I on the right path? Am I doing am I have I found my purpose? Am I changing my vocabulary? Am I finding the right feedback? Am I doing all these things that I need to do to develop a growth mindset? We need to reflect on all of these things and make sure that we're on the right path And if not, we need to adjust. We have to have the ability to adjust and and and Do things a little differently as needed So in in the end again Growth mindset is absolutely a very real thing. We know that scientifically again the research is out there. You can go look at that, but But we need to be focused on that. We need to be intentional about building our intellectual abilities building our our having that sense of purpose and that sense of intentionality about about building these things and about Accomplishing these things and when we do that, I mean it'll take you know Million small steps along the way, so it's going to be hard to recognize But if we take that time to reflect and look back occasionally, we'll see I'm not the person that I was a year ago five years ago 10 years ago. I'm changing. I'm growing. I'm improving Because of this growth mindset If you have any questions about growth mindset or anything else related to professionalism And professional presence of which certainly growth mindset is an important aspect an important part of that Feel free to email me and be happy to chat with you via email and discuss these things with you via email Look forward to those and in the meantime get out there and start focusing on that growth mindset. You can do it