The Growth Mindset is a Skill

 The growth mindset should be considered a skill like anything else. For example:

Kicking a ball is a skill

Catching a ball is a skill

Public speaking is a skill

Cooking is a skill

Saving money is a skill

Playing chess is a skill

Doing maths is a skill

Why should a growth mindset be any different?

 Growth Mindset is a Skill

A Skill has Techniques

                                             Techniques can be Learned

If we do not let people know about the growth mindset and do not teach people about it and the associated techniques, how are they going to find out about it and how are they going to get better at it?

Two rules to follow when wanting to

Implement a Growth Mindset

1. 1.    The Growth Mindset is a skill  with techniques to learn
2. 2.    Keep the Growth Mindset to the fore

The Greatest Gift you can give someone

In all the work and study I have done the one conclusion that I can come to is that the growth mindset is a gift. And the greatest gift you can give someone be it as a teacher, parent, coach or leader, is that of a growth mindset.

It costs nothing, but a bit of time, has a positive effect and it lasts a life time.

Also the positive flow on effect of giving someone a growth mindset is not in proportion to the costs of implementing it.

In other words, maximum bang for minimum buck, something that should be of interest to all of the accountants and budget people out there.

Most of the innovation has always come from people with a growth mindset and most of the people trying to stop them have had a fixed mindset. Up until now, most of the people in charge of things have been those with fixed mindsets, though as the world becomes more enlightened this is beginning to change.

Is it any coincidence today that so much innovation and progress is happening because the consequences of having a growth mindset now aren’t as drastic as it was in the past?

The consequences of having a growth mindset in the past were to be burned at the stake, crucified, jailed, ostracised or tortured.

Those that embrace the gift of the growth mindset are the ones who are going to go the furthest,  be the most successful and make this world a better place.

 The Greatest Gift you can give someone

be it as a Teacher, Parent, Coach

or Leader, is that of a Growth Mindset.

It Costs Nothing but a bit of time, has a

Positive Effect and Lasts A Lifetime.

Competitive sport and social sport

 People have forgotten or ignored the aims of competitive sport.  The aims are winning and improvement. You may not always be winning, but you should always be looking to improve. The aims for social sport are participation and fun, winning and improving do not come into it. Both sports have their place, though at the end of the day, which sport do the majority go and watch, the majority want to play and the majority of money is consumed by.

People who are of a growth mindset and training for competitive sport are an asset for their community and society as they are doing things for the right reasons. Trying to force the aims of social sports onto competitive sport doesn’t work and the people trying to force it on do not understand or choose to ignore the positive aspects that come from competitive sport. I know not everyone is cut out for competitive sport, though the majority are.

Approach to Coaching

I know competitive sports can get a bad rap through its approach though what normally happens is; people are looking at it through the perspective of the negative and then using that to base their assumptions on, yet the positive approach has so many benefits though they normally get lost because it is the negative that gets focused upon.

 Negative Approach to Sport                                 Positive Approach to Sport

Win at all costs                                                         Work

Stress                                                                          Discipline

Pressure                                                                     Commitment

Unsportsmanship behaviour                                  Team Work

Co Operation

Learn to overcome adversity

Builds Character

Mental Toughness

Self Esteem

Drive

Study

Focus

Responsibility

Preparation

Time Management

Goal Setting

Perseverance

Fitness

Build skills for Sport

Build life skills

Learn to deal with stress

Learn to deal with pressure

Learn Sportsmanship behaviour

 

Essence of Coachiiing

 There are many aspects to coaching, yet like most things they can be distilled down to key points and get at the heart of the matter. Sport is no different and the essence of coaching can be broken down into 4 aspects.

You need to look at what type of culture/environment that is created and working within, The type of inspiration to encourage, what innovation goes on, what new ideas are bought in and what improvements are your players or organisation implementing to get better.

 

Essence of Coaching

       Culture           Inspiration         Innovation      Improvement

Culture/Environment

For competitive sport, since the aims are winning and improvement, the culture of a successful organisation, team and person who wants to achieve those aims has to be for growth and betterment.

How do you achieve a culture of growth and betterment?

The way to achieve a culture of growth and betterment is to build a growth mindset in people.

Inspiration

The key to getting better is inspiration, so how do you inspire people and can you?

I believe that you can’t inspire people; they have to inspire themselves, though you can build the conditions for it to happen and provide examples for people to follow.

The conditions required for people to inspire themselves is built on a growth mindset and the reason why people inspire themselves is normally built around three concepts.

Examples of inspiration are:

The people you are looking at has self confidence

And or

The people you are looking at had the courage to challenge and or rise above adversity

Or

The people you are looking at have done something you want to do or achieve.

There is a fourth way, though it is a negative and it is

You want to prove someone wrong

 Innovation

To get into innovation is quite easy, though hard to implement.

Are you copying or creating and are you forging the path or waiting for the lead?

Most people are copying and waiting for the lead.

How do you develop innovation? Again it’s a simple concept, set challenging aims or even sometimes crazy aims and go out to achieve them.

Improvement

We’ve covered quite a bit in improvement already; again it comes down to improvement in yourself, your players and your organisation.

The way to achieve improvement, at its core is to build a growth mindset.

 Develop a growth mindset

Cultivate a growth mindset

Positive approach to sport

Set challenging aims

Find inspiration

 

Summary of Mindsets

 Whether you have been coaching for 20 years or starting out, having an understanding of the two mindsets and their implications to what you do plays an important role in determining how well those under your charge go and your enjoyment in sport. The key to enjoyment is to develop a growth mindset.

The greatest gift you can give your players is that of a growth mindset.

With mindsets bought to the fore and its implication for sport, you are now ready to learn about and begin coaching and reap the benefits of your efforts.

 

Imagine if the growth mindset was more well known

 Imagine if everyone learnt about growth mindset from the beginning rather than just leave individuals to come to their

own conclusions

 Imagine if a growth mindset was to become part of

everyone’s philosophy

 Re read this section on mindsets again. If you go yeah, yeah I get it and then proceed without understanding the material and not implementing it, then you do not understand how important mindsets are. Most people will acknowledge the need to keep improving but unless the growth mindset is deliberately kept to the fore front, it will get pushed to the background, a case of out of sight out of mind. If things are out of sight, out of mind, they get forgotten about.

Having a growth mindset is a prerequisite to anything you wish to undertake for development, growth and continuous success, plus it will save you a lot of headaches in the future, for the most successful coaches are the ones who can instil and cultivate a growth mindset in all of their players.

 The combination of forming a Growth Mindset and

practicing so you insulate the brains circuitry is

crucial and are powerful tools for improvement

 

 

• «Previous Post
• Next Post »

---