What is Mindset? Know the two basic types

Hello friends!

From time to time we see words emerging and becoming popular. A word that has appeared a lot, especially in areas related to (digital) marketing, administration and financial psychology is the English word mindset. In this text, we will define what a mindset is and show the two most fundamental types to understand the concept.

We recommend – Success Mindset

What is mindset?

Mindset has several possible translations: attitude, mentality, mental process, way of thinking, paradigm, beliefs. In cognitive psychology and NLP, we understand beliefs as a set of thoughts that govern other thoughts or the interpretation of external stimuli and situations.

For Doctor of Psychology Carol Dweck and author of the famous book Mindset: how you can fulfill your potential, mindset should be understood in this sense. She writes in the introduction to her book:

“My work is part of a tradition in psychology that shows the power of people’s beliefs. They may or may not be aware of their beliefs, but they strongly affect what we want and whether or not we are going to be successful in getting what we want. This tradition also shows how changing personal beliefs – even the simplest ones – can have profound effects.

In this book, you’ll learn how a simple belief about yourself – a belief we discovered in our research – guides a large part of your life. In fact, this belief permeates every part of your life. Much of what you think of as your personality stems from this mindset. Much of what prevents you from realizing your full potential grows from your mindset” (My translation. Editora Objetiva published the Portuguese version of the book, with the title Why are some people successful and others no).

Therefore, we see that one of the most renowned researchers in the area defines mindset as a set of beliefs. In her book – which is very interesting, I recommend it! – she focuses her attention specifically on two types of mindset, which are beliefs about one’s own personality:

The fixed mindset versus the growth mindset

Of everything we don’t know that happened in the past, in history, we managed to keep a snippet of what initiation into the Pythagoreans’ school was like. Pythagoras, this incredible being who created not only a mathematical formula but our conception of music (the mathematization of music) and influenced Plato and other philosophers who created our culture, established a very peculiar form of selection in his school.

If you wanted to enter the Pythagorean school and be initiated into its mysteries (mystai – which gives the word mystic – is one who initiates) you would have to go into an isolated room and spend a night alone. During this night, you would have to solve a mathematical problem.

So you stayed up all night trying to solve that riddle. What you didn’t know is that that problem had no solution. At least, no one – not even Pythagoras – had managed to solve it.

The catch of the selection process was precisely this. How were you going to deal with not knowing? How would you feel and what would you say after the long night of trying?

The people who passed the selection process were those who could handle their not-knowing well. In the morning, they would say: “Look, I couldn’t solve this problem. I tried a lot, but I couldn’t. I’m sorry. Anyway, I would like to know how to solve it…”

People who couldn’t handle their not-knowing well became aggressive. They thought it an affront that they hadn’t been able to. It was like failing a test. The bad grade represented that they were a bad person or a flawed person or a stupid person. Therefore, the most common reactions of these people who were not selected were anger, anger, sadness, disappointment. They said: “This test is absurd. How dare you apply a question like that to my person? I think your posture is ridiculous. You have to close this school! I will never come back here again”.

If we look closely, we will see that there are two basic beliefs behind these very different and opposite reactions. We can see that the group of people that are selected have the growth mindset. They don’t imagine that their personality is fixed. Therefore, it is possible to make mistakes. Making mistakes is a part of the learning process. As not-knowing is temporary, they don’t appreciate that admitting not-knowing is an affront to who they are.

People with the fixed mindset, on the other hand, see their personality as static. Either they are dumb or they are smart. As the test would show that they are stupid (because they didn’t get it right), they get angry, between aggressiveness and sadness. As they realize they wouldn’t be good enough, they don’t even ask to know the answer and, thus, remain closed in their world and are not selected.

But like I said, the catch is that nobody knew the answer. Therefore, the way they deal with their not-knowing, based on a fixed, static, unchanged mindset, is what will make them choose to leave school. For in fact, it is not the school that selects. They are the ones who exclude themselves because they think they are ready (they are the way they are, by genetics, destiny, birth or whatever) and therefore cannot improve or change.

Two basic mindsets: the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.

In this case, we evaluate from the point of view of intelligence. Those with the growth mindset recognize that their intelligence is built over time and constantly. Those with the fixed mindset think that their IQ is forever and that when they fail a test they have proof that they are not really that smart, maybe that’s why it’s not even worth trying…

However, the two basic types of mindsets, of beliefs, will be present in all areas of life. Someone with the fixed mindset thinks that they are always the same, that they are a fixed type. Thus, you don’t think you can improve your vices and defects. If you earn X per month, you think that this will not change either, that the effort is in vain.

Now, those with the growth mindset believe that they can improve not only their own intelligence (as in the example). He believes he is capable of improving in all sectors. You can overcome your addictions, defects, fears, uncertainties. It can help yourself and others. You can earn more, raise your socio-economic, academic, spiritual level.

And here it is inevitable to quote again Ford’s phrase: “If you think you can or if you think you can’t, either way you’re right”. “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Is it possible to change our beliefs, our mindset?

Yes sure! The first step is always to recognize and realize where we are. If you realized that you have a fixed mindset, that you believe that your personality, your way of being is just like that and always will be – and that’s why there’s no point in trying – you’ve already taken the first step.

Changing is not difficult. Believing it’s hard is actually a fixed mindset assumption. Basically, everything changes all the time. In order not to change and remain still, we need to make a great effort.

The second step to change is to start cultivating different thoughts. For a person with a fixed mindset, everyday mistakes, difficulties and small disasters are a sign that they are incapable, bad people, failures or any negative value judgment.

The outside world will not always agree with what we want. The natural thing is that things happen independently of us. You want it to be sunny. Start to rain. This is not to say that life sucks and everything goes wrong for you.

There are simply things you can control and things you cannot.

And it’s up to you to notice the thoughts that pop into your head and agree with them or not. If you get a 6 on a test worth 10, that doesn’t mean you’re dumb all at once. (Fixed mindset). It just means that you have to study more, that a part of the material is not understood. That is, progress is possible. It is possible to research more, ask more questions, make more mistakes until you do it right and get a higher grade.

In summary, the big difference between the two types of mindset is related to the fear of making mistakes. Because for the fixed mindset, for those who believe that their personality is immutable, making mistakes means that they are a wrong person, a failure, with many faults and problems. For those with the growth mindset, making mistakes is just a step towards greater achievement.

It’s like learning to walk. You make a mistake and you fall. But keep trying. If he stopped on the first fall, he wouldn’t have learned to walk.

In the financial area, it is quite curious how people attempt a venture. It doesn’t work and because it didn’t work the first time, they stop trying. Well, but in almost everything, to learn, we have to make mistakes. Make mistakes until you get it right. As people who specialize in public tenders say: “You don’t do a test to pass, but until you pass”.

In other words, if you don’t pass, that’s fine. You have to keep trying. Keep trying. Keep trying. In the process, you will learn a lot and you will have changed, improved a lot of your characteristics.

We’re done here today. I suggest Carol Dweck’s book for further clarification and examples. Questions, suggestions, comments, please write below!

We recommend – Success Mindset

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