What kind of mindset will maximize the odds that you’ll succeed in achieving your vision?
And how can one carry out the goals that are part of that vision?
What we’re really talking about here is the psychology of success.
When it comes to having the proper mindset for success, we need to understand that there are basically two kinds of mindsets: Fixed mindsets and growth mindsets.
People with a fixed mindset believe that their personalities, social skills, and capabilities are the ones that they’re born with, which cannot be changed or improved.
As a result, they tend to discount their real potential, and they tend to settle for things that don’t make them happy because they don’t believe that they have what it takes to succeed.
People with a growth mindset, however, believe in growth and possibility.
They believe that any and all areas of their lives can be improved.
First of all, a growth mindset is more than just having a positive mental attitude. And a fixed mindset doesn’t mean just having a negative attitude.
Rather, people with a fixed mindset believe that their personalities, skills, capabilities, intelligence, and other traits are fixed at birth, and thus cannot be changed or improved. They tend to give up more quickly in the face of difficulties.
People with a growth mindset believe that any and all areas of their lives can be improved upon with hard work. And, most importantly, they focus on learning new skills.
So, as a result, they tend to persevere in the face of most challenges, even seemingly insurmountable challenges.
A person with a growth mindset understands that effort is the price to pay for attaining new success…
Which is a huge advantage in terms of the mental approach to challenges.
Because when you accept that some failures will inevitably happen, you’ll be better prepared to succeed in the long-term. Especially if you understand this nugget of wisdom from a highly successful business man:
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
In other words, accepting that you’ll fail helps you, one, increase the likelihood of success, and two, helps you achieve success faster.
Why is this? First, let’s consider the fixed mindset.
The fixed mindset is motivated only to succeed and to succeed quickly.
The assumption is there’s a “right way to do everything”, and from that limiting assumption follows the natural assumption that any failure is a sign that you did it wrong.
With a growth mindset, you focus more on the effort, more on the process and more on the long-range goal, and not so much on the immediate results.
You’ll need to learn how to cultivate a growth mindset.
To master this, you will want to focus on learning over achievement. That’s something that some folks have trouble grasping.
For example, many older lawyers (who are perhaps naturally more resistant to change) sometimes balk at the idea that new skills can be easily learned.
You should understand that you can learn things at any age, there’s not a fixed age at which you stop learning.
And you can cultivate a growth mindset in the process.
You should also realize that it’s not necessarily the case that you have one single growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Rather you can have a growth mindset in one area of your life, and a fixed mindset in another area.
So, now that you understand the importance of cultivating and maintaining a growth mindset, we can delve into more detail about how you define the vision for your ideal firm.
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