Tag: growth mindset

How to Develop a Growth Mindset Effectively, And Grow Baby, Grow!

When I was a little boy, I had a piece of needlepoint art in my bedroom. It depicted a little cowboy, like me, and the words, ‘Please by patient. God isn’t finished with me yet.’ It was my first reminder that who I was as a young boy was not who I was going to be as a full-grown adult. I just didn’t know that I would never outgrow my love for potty humor.

The Growth Mindset

As I grew older, I recognized how much I was changing, learning and growing. First, in elementary, middle and high school. Then, the growth and learning continued at The University of Wisconsin, where I majored in psychology, journalism and cheese curds.

But I liked learning, growing and developing so much that when I graduated from college, I enrolled in Adam Albrecht’s Self-Directed School of Life Long Learning. It’s where I have received all of my advanced degrees. The tuition at AASDSLLL is a great value. But our basketball team couldn’t beat a drum.

Lessons I Have Learned Along The Way.

I have learned that everyone adopts 1 of 2 mindsets.

Those with a fixed mindset believe their knowledge, skills, abilities and limitations are fixed and unchanging.

People with a growth mindset believe that they are continuously growing, evolving and improving. Which sounds way more hopeful. (Pro Tip: It’s also the mindset they are looking for at your parole hearing.)

A growth mindset means you recognize that what you know now is just a tiny percentage of what you could know.

A growth mindset means that you believe that you can feed your brain, your body, and your emotions with better inputs and get better outputs.

It means that if you currently stink at stuff, you are not condemned to a life sentence of stinkage.

It means that you have the superpower to transform yourself into a much better and more powerful version of yourself. Like Ironman.

A growth mindset means that every time you spend time with someone better than you are, their knowledge, skills and mindset rub off on you and make you better.

A growth mindset means that when you read a book, you reach the back cover smarter and more capable than you were when you lifted the front cover.

A growth mindset means you don’t say things like, I can’t or I don’t. And you don’t say Popeye stuff like, ‘I yam what I yam.’ What kind of sweet potato nonsense is that?

A growth mindset means that you see your self-improvement journey as an infinite staircase. The level, step or stair that you are on today is simply where you are today. You have the ability to take another step up in any area of your life, and by any measure you choose, any time you choose.

A growth mindset means having faith in the self-improvement process. Like George Michael. It means that small incremental gains will add up to have a transformational effect. Like compound interest in every area of your life that you invest time and energy into.

Leveling Up

When I entered high school, I was a 6-foot-tall, 150-pound freshman. During my 4 years at Hanover High School in Hanover, New Hampshire, no one spent more time in the weight room than I did. As a result, I graduated as a senior who was 6 feet tall and 215 pounds. (I couldn’t seem to do anything about the height. Maybe I have a fixed heightset.)

In my first track meet as a high school shot putter my freshman year, I finished 28th out of 30 throwers. My senior year I was the state champion.

During my freshman year, my coach didn’t think I was good enough to throw the discus in a meet. But, by the time I was a senior, I was a state champ, New England champ, and held the all-time state record in the discus. All of this happened because I could imagine it happening. So I put in the work to keep climbing that staircase.

How To Develop A Growth Mindset

The first step to developing a growth mindset is to visualize the best version of yourself. Imagine the greatest version of yourself you can conceive of. That is your ideal self. What you are today is your real self. It is the version of you that you have already realized or attained. Now, your job is to simply put in the effort to close the gap between your real self and your ideal self.

The Model And The Path

A growth mindset is simply having an open mind to your ability to improve yourself into someone greater than you are today. One of the best ways to do this is to find a model and a path.

A model is a person whom you aspire to be like. Pick a person you think has the skills, abilities, success, character or mindset that you want to have. (They don’t have to be an actual model, like Heidi Klum, Bella Hadid, or a T Ford.)

Then, examine your model’s path. Learn what work, steps, opportunities and influences helped them develop into the person they are today. (Or, if you choose a historical figure, focus on the path they traveled before they died. And decomposed.) Learn their helpful habits and routines. Learn about their knowledge sources. Which could be books, coaches, teachers, and role models. Learn about their experiences and influences.

Next, reproduce or approximate the helpful forces that pushed them to grow into the model you admire. This provides both a great recipe for improvement, and prevents you from having to reinvent the wheel. Or become a psycho stalker.

A Few Final Thoughts

A growth mindset is about experimenting. It is about adjusting variables to get better results.

A growth mindset means you give yourself permission to be an amateur. You can’t beat yourself up over all the things you don’t yet know or can’t do yet. By giving yourself permission to be an amateur, you allow yourself to start and put a premium on all the growth you experience along the way.

A growth mindset is about developing great habits. You are a product of your habits. Growth-focused habits have the power to help you improve every day. These include reading, practicing the skills you want to develop, time management, exercise, sleep, and gratitude.

Key Takeaway

To become the greatest version of yourself, you have to adopt a growth mindset. Imagine a version of yourself far greater and more capable than you are today. Then continuously work to close the gap. Allow yourself to be an amateur. Develop great habits that help you learn and grow. Experiment. Stay curious. Find someone who you want to be more like and discover their path. It will help you discover your own path to an even greater you.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

I have finally developed a skill I was never good at.

There are some things that I am good at. And other things I am not good at at all. (Like folding fitted sheets and stopping myself from thinking, ‘That’s what she said…’ a thousand times a day.)

One of the things I haven’t been good at at work is entering my time into our time-tracking software at the end of each day. (I also wasn’t good at avoiding that at-at thing in the previous sentence.)

To be clear, I keep a detailed to-do list each day that lists my activities. Plus, I schedule my daily activities on my calendar, which provides a detailed log of my time. So I have records of how I spent each day for great reference. In fact, when archaeologists someday discover my notebooks, they will have a strong understanding of how I spent my days and could enter my time for me. But I expect it will be too late for us to invoice that time.

Still, I have never liked walking away from the office without completing my time entry for that day. Yet the tight demands on my schedule often meant that I did anyway.

One of my goals for 2025 was to enter my detailed time each day on the day I did the work. So, I added something new and simple to my long list of habits.

On my daily Success List (what you might call a to-do list, and what Scooby Doo might call a Scooby To-Doo list), I have added a line that says, Enter Time in Harvest. Harvest is The Weaponry’s time-tracking software.

As we started February, I noticed something interesting. I entered my time each day for the entire month of January.

The key to my behavior change was simply writing Enter Time in Harvest on my daily Success List.

I love crossing things off my list. It makes me feel accomplished. Having a list keeps me productive and focuses my time on my most important activities throughout the day. Because I already had a strong list-making and list-crossing-off habit established, I simply utilized my habit of doing the things on my daily list daily to create this valuable new habit.

The key was right in front of me all along. Or should I say, write in front of me?

Bonus: Another valuable thing I added to my daily Success List last year was the line No Social Media Before Lunch. This prevented me from falling down social media rabbit holes and wasting precious time during the golden morning hours of productivity. Again, because I love crossing things off my list, I avoided the socials between 9 am and whenever I stopped for lunch. As a result, I got more important work done each day.

Key Takeaway

You are a product of your habits. If you use a daily to-do list or Success List, try adding the behaviors you want to modify to your list. Remember, those may be behaviors you want to add or eliminate. By writing them on your daily activity guide and crossing the actions off your list at the end of the day, you may discover the easiest way to get the results you want.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

What’s far more important than your physical age.

Are you worried about your age? Are you concerned that you are too old for the types of opportunities that now interest you most? Do you feel that you are too old to learn the new thing that is transforming your industry? Do you feel like you are too old for the dream you have been dreaming your whole life? Do you think you are too old to cut the mustard and not realize that mustard no longer needs to be cut?

Or do you think you are too young? That you don’t know enough and that you are not ready for the opportunities that are at your doorstep? Do you feel too young for the next level of responsibility? Do you find yourself singing, I don’t wanta grow up. I’m a Toys R Us kid?

I am currently reading Curtis Jackson’s book Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter. You may know Curtis better by his monetary name, 50 Cent. Fifty talks about how some people have a difficult time transitioning as times change. Then he dropped these 2 cents (which may mean he is now 48 Cents):

“Age isn’t about what year you were born in. It is about how you approach the year you are in right now. “

-Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson

This is a good reminder to face today as if you belong. As if the changes, advances and technologies are coming for your benefit. Not to leave you behind, like Nicolas Cage and Lea Thompson.

Approach this year and every year with a growth mindset. As a learner. As a Curious George, ready to get into new trouble. Or as a Sponge Bob, ready to soak up new ideas and new possibilities, instead of simply becoming a Krabby Patty.

Key Takeaway

Your mindset should be an asset, not a liability. Approach each year with a youthful spirit and you will learn, grow, explore, and take advantage of all the new opportunities available. Recognize the new roles and opportunities afforded to you. Don’t get stuck in the good old days mindset. There are great things in every day. You simply need to adapt to take advantage of them.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The best way to respond to those who are better than you.

There’s a good chance that you are not the best at what you do. At least not the very best in the whole wide world. After all, there are 8 billion people squished on this planet. Which is why the line at the deli sometimes takes so long.

You will often find yourself surrounded by people who are better than you are at all kinds of things. Dancing, basketball, school, entrepreneurship, parenting, juggling, wearing clothes, or wearing no clothes.

When you find yourself surrounded by people who are better than you at something, use it as a source of inspiration, not intimidation.

Recognize how much more potential you have.

Study those who are better than you. They are an excellent resource. They are showing you what is possible. Borrow their approach. Steal their moves. Or be inspired by their originality.

You can be overt or covert in your approach. You can spy on them in secret. Or you can approach them and ask for their advice. Both work. I know. I’ve experimented. But if you get too close, the spying in secret is more likely to end with someone calling the cops. #thingsIlearnedthehardway

It is a gift to be exposed to those better than you. They force you to reevaluate and recalibrate. Allow yourself to be propelled by their positive peer pressure.

But to benefit from exposure to people who are better than you, you have to adopt a growth mindset. You have to believe that you are capable of more and better. When you do, the superior doesn’t make you feel inferior. It expands your mind and helps you see what you are capable of achieving.

Key Takeaway

Seek out other people who are better than you are. Surround yourself with them. They are a gift. They demonstrate what is possible. They provide a model for you to follow. It is your mindset that interprets the greatness in others as inspiration or intimidation. Always choose inspiration. It is the source from which all great improvement flows. Follow its path. And soon you will find others following you.

Writer’s Note:

At the Nike Outdoor National Track & Field Championships 2 weeks ago my daughter Ava threw against some of the best competition in the country. She had her second farthest throw ever in the discus. When I told her how proud I was of how she performed on the big stage she’s said. ‘When you find yourself surrounded by people who are better than you at something you have to use it as a source of inspiration, not intimidation.’ Which was the inspiration for this post.

+ In the cover photo for this post the man to the left of the podium is my legendary college track coach Ed Nuttycombe. It was a great full-circle moment for me to watch Nutty hand my daughter Ava her medal at the Myrhum Invite meet earlier this spring.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Remember that even your small steps move you forward.

There are days when you can put massive effort towards your goals.

You have time.

You have energy.

You have inspiration.

You ate your Wheaties for breakfast.

You’re cranking the Rocky theme song on repeat on your Airpods, headphones or boombox.

Those are days that you feel like you are taking one giant leap forward for you-kind.

But…

On other days you don’t have the same resources.

Your schedule is challenging

Your energy is low.

You can’t find your Airpods. And your boombox is out of batteries.

Your motivation has secretly been replaced with slowtivation or notivation.

On those days, lower the bar.

Do something small.

Invest a few minutes instead of hours.

Move forward a few inches instead of miles.

Read a page, not a book.

Spend a few quality minutes not the full day.

Remember, small steps save the day.

And they set you up for bigger, better steps forward tomorrow.

Key Takeaway

Don’t be an all-or-nothing person. All-or-something keeps you moving forward. Do what you can. Support your habits. Maintain your momentum. Tomorrow, you will be glad you did.


*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Why no one else can see the most important work you do.

Your self-improvement work is not obvious work. It is not showy. No one can watch you do it. It would be pretty boring to watch in a zoo. Or in a red-light district. Because it happens on the inside. In fact, the most important work you do is changing your mindset, your beliefs and your habits. And not just changing. Upgrading.

Upgrading Yourself

Upgrading your thoughts is big. Upgrading your responses is huge. Upgrading your whole operating system changes everything.

This is why education is so important. It exposes you to new ideas that you can incorporate into your own thinking. But it is not enough to educate. The application is where the value appears. So you must first understand that there is a better way, then act in that better way. This is the basic plot of the movie Billy Madison. (This classic film also includes important reminders of the power of nepotism and some top-shelf potty humor.)

The More You Learn…

Develop the habit of learning new ideas. This is done through curiosity and a desire for self-improvement. It will lead you to seek and find new and better sources of information. You’ll find it in classes, books, articles, podcasts, blogs, videos, experts, and fortune cookies. (And even in books about fortune cookies.)

Apply Your Knowledge

Once you have better information, it becomes knowledge. Applying your knowledge in your various roles makes you a more valuable contributor.

Think about everything that you know you should do today. Eat right. Sleep well. Exercise. Read. Work in focused and productive ways. Invest in your relationships. Invest your money. Give back. See a doctor. Floss. Close your barn door. You and everyone else on the planet know that you should be doing those things.

But are you doing them?

There are two types of people:

  1. People who know the basic actions they should take. (This includes nearly everyone.)
  2. People who take the basic actions they know they should take. (This includes far less than everyone.)

This means that basic action is the great separator of people. But go beyond the basics. The things everyone knows they should do. Self-education helps you level up. It helps you discover the other things should you be doing if you want to be even more valuable in your career, as a spouse, parent, or friend. What is the next level of health and fitness? What is the next level of investing? Or productivity? Or spiritual enlightenment? That knowledge comes from more curiosity and more self-directed learning.

Just like a pyramid, that may or may not have been built by aliens, there are fewer and fewer people at each level as you ascend. Which means that the success pyramid is really a matter of attaining knowledge and then applying that knowledge. To take a full step higher you have to do both: attain and apply. Because it is the person who applies their new knowledge and self-improvement that is ultimately successful.

Key Takeaway

Always be learning. Educate yourself on new and better approaches to all areas of life and work. This is the invisible work of self-improvement. Then put that knowledge into action. And when you do it will change your life in ways that everyone will see.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

Create a new and improved version of yourself every day.

The world is iterative. There are new and improved versions of everything all the time. Software, apps, iPhones, laundry detergent, and watermelon. It all just keeps getting better, more valuable, and more seedless.

You have to do the same thing. Every day you should go to bed as a better version of yourself than you were when you woke up.

You will naturally learn something new every day. But if you are not actively directing your learning then the things you learn may be of little value. By following the tabloids you might learn that Matthew Perry died. But that won’t help you much unless you are a funeral director, casting director, or tabloid publisher.

Force yourself to learn something new and valuable every day. Read. Study. Subscribe to a newsletter. Listen to a helpful podcast. Get one of those 365-day Calendars. Some of my best learnings have come from those things. Seriously.

Work on your habits. They make improvements automatic. Like that Pointer Sisters song.

Improve your physical, mental, emotional, and psychological fitness too. Never settle. Settling is for dust. And 1800s pioneers.

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. But you are not a dog. Humans can learn tricks and improve themselves all the way to the last station. So let’s do this, dawg!

Key Takeaway

Always be improving yourself. Today. Tomorrow. And every day after that. You do this by starting to do better things. You stop doing bad things. Read. Study successful people. Educate yourself. Learn from your mistakes and missteps. This creates new and improved versions of You every day. And there is no limit to how great you can ultimately be.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The antidote to your ignorance is to keep an open mind.

It is easy to believe that your perspective is right. After all, your perspective is a product of the truth as you know it. But your perspective often has shortcomings. And blind spots. Which doesn’t mean that your spots can’t see. But that you don’t see parts of reality. Like Kanye.

Blind spots come from biases. They develop when you arrive at conclusions prematurely. And just as a premature baby is fragile, a premature conclusion is the most vulnerable of perspectives. Which makes them unlikely to survive outside the conclusion NICU.

If someone challenges your perspective, listen to them. They will often offer more information, which makes you better informed. Be willing to alter your ideas, stories, and opinions when new information is introduced. Adopt a growth mindset. Seek truth and understanding. It’s the wisest choice.

Key Takeaway

Assume there are things you don’t know. Recognize that you are drawing your conclusions based on limited or biased information. The antidote to your own ignorance is openmindedness. Invite new perspectives. Listen to dissenters. They offer you valuable gifts.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

The greatest adapter in the world is already in your home.

Humans continuously innovate. We are always looking for better, faster smarter ways to do everything. And we keep finding it. (Which makes it odd that Bono still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.)

As a result of progress and innovation, our technology and infrastructure systems keep evolving. And to make our old stuff work with the new stuff we need adapters. In fact, there is a huge market for adapters.

But humans are the ultimate adapters. We are equipped with both hardware and software that enables us to adapt to our constantly changing environment. Darwin, Jesus, and David Bowie all knew it.

As your conditions change, always remember that you were built to adapt. You can handle whatever comes next. It is true at work, at school, at home and everywhere else you plug in. Just look at what happened as a result of the pandemic. We didn’t fall apart. We simply adapted to the new set of rules. It’s what we do.

Key Takeaway

Change is constant. Progress is inevitable. With each new wave of change there will be a new you, ready for whatever comes your way. You are not just built to survive, but to thrive. As a human, you are the greatest adapter the planet has ever known. So no matter what tomorrow brings, you will be ready to buh-ring it too.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

For more of the best life lessons the universe is trying got share with you, check out my new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.

When things go bad you are just getting to the good part.

I like it when things go wrong.

I love it when reality departs from the script and improvisation is the only way forward. (I just made that up.) In fact, most of my best stories are born when life doesn’t go according to plan.

It is the plot twist, that creates interesting stories. #ChubbyChecker.

When a wrench gets thrown into your plans it is a gift, not a grenade. Because on closer inspection you’ll see that that wrench is actually a memory maker.

The pop group AJR has a fun song called 100 Bad Days that talks about bad things that have happened to them. But it’s not a sad song. Far from it. It’s delightfully upbeat and positive. And I can dance to it.

Here’s the song’s hook:

A hundred bad days made a hundred good stories. A hundred good stories make me interesting at parties.

-AJR

I love that line. It’s a reminder to adopt a crazy straw mindset. Because when life starts to suck the twists and turns also make it fun and interesting.

It’s all a matter of perspective.

Key Takeaway

The best stories often start with something going wrong. Accept the challenge. Embrace the adventure. And overcome the obstacle that was placed in your path specifically for you to overcome. Then share your story. It will make you more interesting at parties.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.

+For more of the best lessons the universe has taught me check out my new book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.