How to Achieve Goals with a Growth Mindset
Achieving your goals takes hard work and perseverance, but sometimes that’s not enough to succeed. For some people, success seems impossible because they have limiting beliefs about what they can and cannot do, even if they try their hardest to prove otherwise. In fact, recent research has revealed that the way you think about success might be more important than the action you take towards achieving it, so keep reading to learn more about how to achieve goals with a growth mindset.
Set Realistic Goals
Because those with growth mindsets don’t see their abilities as fixed, they are more likely to push themselves harder. You might feel like your goals are unreachable now, but learning how to set realistic goals can help you achieve all that you want. From here on out, keep in mind that it’s always possible to expand your skills and develop new ones—you just have to apply yourself and be willing to learn. So go ahead and make some SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. And then make sure your goals align with what we know about achievement—achievements that are earned through hard work tend to last longer than those gained simply by chance or luck.
Change your mindset about failure
Entrepreneurs often see failure as a necessary learning experience. But, for many people, especially those who aren’t used to failing, failure can be paralyzing. If you feel like you’re about to hit an impenetrable wall when trying to reach your goals, use that feeling of impending doom as an opportunity for growth. After all, success doesn’t come from winning—it comes from how we deal with adversity and growth is what gives us power over our own lives. Instead of letting fear stop you in your tracks, take it as a sign that it’s time to push yourself outside your comfort zone so you can begin climbing again.
Reframe your view of success
Accomplishing your goals involves more than simply setting them and trying to achieve them. Accomplishing any goal you have, whether it’s finishing college or working out three times a week, requires skills and behaviors that are developed over time. Remember, there’s no point in setting goals if you don’t work hard enough to get there. Accomplishing anything requires a growth mindset: You need to believe that your abilities can grow—and you need to practice often so they do. Instead of thinking of failure as something that sets you back, focus on how it helps you improve. Just like weight lifting helps build muscles (and makes muscles stronger), trying and failing at things helps build character and also makes us stronger for future challenges.
Measure Yourself Differently
If you’re approaching goals with a growth mindset, you are likely motivated by mastery. You want to be good at something so that you can feel accomplished. For example, you might want to exercise regularly so that your clothes fit better or your strength improves—whatever that means for you. While there is nothing wrong with these types of goals, if they are what keep you going when it gets tough and prevents failure from sending you into an emotional tailspin, keep in mind that it isn’t exactly…honest?
Don’t let negative people drag you down
This tip goes hand-in-hand with following your heart. There’s a lot of negativity out there in our world, so you need to do your best to remove yourself from it as much as possible. Surround yourself with positive people, not just people who are positive themselves but also those who don’t subscribe to negativity at all. The more time you spend around others who only have good things to say about life and those around them, the more likely you are find yourself behaving similarly. This can be hugely impactful in helping you achieve both personal and professional goals because positivity is contagious! It spreads like wildfire!
Focus on learning from mistakes, not avoiding them
The most successful people are those who learned how to overcome failure and use it as fuel for success. Celebrate your mistakes, because without them you’ll never move forward or get better. Thomas Edison famously said, I have not failed. My new goal is to find the 10,000 ways that will work. So quit wasting time thinking about all of the things that went wrong—because if you can’t learn from them, then they were meaningless in your growth. Always look ahead and always keep trying until you achieve your goals. There is no such thing as failure—just learning what not to do next time around!
Keep going when things are tough
When it comes to goals, failure is inevitable. In fact, it’s quite common. More than half of people who set out to achieve their goals will give up by year’s end and only one in ten will ultimately reach their mark. But how you react when things get tough matters. So what happens when you fail? Rather than beating yourself up for not meeting your goal, view each failure as an opportunity to learn. When you begin again, try thinking about your new approach as if it were your first time trying it—it might be uncomfortable at first but that doesn’t mean that you should give up. If anything, it means there’s room for improvement!
Celebrate the small wins along the way
Most goals involve reaching milestones that are broken up into smaller, more manageable steps. Each of these mini-milestones is an opportunity for celebration and a chance to pat yourself on the back. Plus, celebrating little wins along your journey helps keep you motivated. As you reach those small wins, take a few moments to celebrate—even if it’s just for 5 or 10 minutes in bed before bedtime! Doing so gives you a psychological boost and keeps you moving toward your goal. So let yourself enjoy it! Even better, make it something big: treat yourself to dinner out or tickets to see your favorite band.