“Strive for more and never give up. Where are the borders of human potential?”

27/ 09/ 2017

Author: Marianna Khonina, director, DEVELOR Ukraine How often do we hear from our colleagues, subordinates or close friends ‘I cannot do it’, ‘It was more than I could handle’, ‘I don’t have enough skills to deal with it’, ‘I am not able to make a decision’, ‘I don’t want to take on responsibility for this’, ‘Will I succeed or will I fail?’ No doubt – we hear these things rather often. Such attitude and understanding of where human abilities come from prevent us from growing and achieving more. People used to think that our talents are static and that we cannot do anything to change our ‘builtin’ abilities. Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, thinks differently. During 20 years of research she has been studying two types of mindset: fixed mindset and growth mindset. These are two main worldviews which form our life. One of the main and important belief is related to how we see and assess ourselves. A sense of ourselves, which we deeply absorb in the early childhood, influences on how we live and what we do. People with fixed mindset believe that our intelligence and creative abilities are static and success – is only a proof of your intelligence. On the contrary, Growth mindset flourishes when dealing with problems and challenges and sees failures as a springboard for growth and development. The advantage of the Growth Mindset concept is that it has strong scientific background on how our brain works and how we can learn to fulfill our potential. It helps not only to dig out key factors of developing ourselves but also possibilities of reprogramming our thinking.

Author: Marianna Khonina, director, DEVELOR Ukraine

How often do we hear from our colleagues, subordinates or close friends ‘I cannot do it’, ‘It was more than I could handle’, ‘I don’t have enough skills to deal with it’, ‘I am not able to make a decision’, ‘I don’t want to take on responsibility for this’, ‘Will I succeed or will I fail?’

No doubt – we hear these things rather often. Such attitude and understanding of where human abilities come from prevent us from growing and achieving more. People used to think that our talents are static and that we cannot do anything to change our ‘builtin’ abilities.

Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, thinks differently. During 20 years of research she has been studying two types of mindset: fixed mindset and growth mindset. These are two main worldviews which form our life. One of the main and important belief is related to how we see and assess ourselves. A sense of ourselves, which we deeply absorb in the early childhood, influences on how we live and what we do.

People with fixed mindset believe that our intelligence and creative abilities are static and success – is only a proof of your intelligence. On the contrary, Growth mindset flourishes when dealing with problems and challenges and sees failures as a springboard for growth and development.

The advantage of the Growth Mindset concept is that it has strong scientific background on how our brain works and how we can learn to fulfill our potential. It helps not only to dig out key factors of developing ourselves but also possibilities of reprogramming our thinking.