As the New Year begins, a lot of people inevitably start thinking about the career goals they would like to achieve over the coming 12 months.
So if this is true in your case, here is a curious question for you: To what extent do you believe that your intellect and aptitude are fixed abilities that you are born with rather than traits that are within your power to develop and improve? In other words, are you born with a certain level of ability that is set in stone, or do you believe that you can enhance it through effort and experience?
While it may seem like a strange question, how you answer it can have a profound effect on how you approach your career development efforts how easy or difficult it feels, and whether or not you are ultimately likely to achieve your career aspirations. As the New Year begins, a lot of people inevitably start thinking about the career goals they would like to achieve over the coming 12 months.
Do you have a fixed or growth mindset?
According to world-renowned Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck, who has done decades of research in the areas of achievement and success, people who believe their qualities are set in stone have a “fixed mindset”, while those who consider their basic qualities can be cultivated through application have a “growth mindset”.
Here is why you should care which camp you are in: Dweck’s research reveals that a fixed mindset compels someone to prove themselves over and over again. The onus is on documenting intelligence or aptitude instead of developing it, based on the belief that talent alone creates success – without requiring any additional effort. This attitude brings about the following behaviours, which can seriously hamper your career trajectory:
• Fear of failure – Nothing ventured, nothing lost because it is important not to look or feel inadequate
• Disdaining effort – Effort is for people who do not have talent
• Self-judgement – If at first you don’t succeed, it means you are a failure, a loser, an idiot etc etc • Compare and despair – Other people’s success is your failure
• Blame – If at first you do not succeed, it is someone or something else’s fault.
Famous people such as tennis player John McEnroe and Jeffrey Skilling, the chief executive of Enron at the time it collapsed, both demonstrated this kind of fixed mindset.
By contrast, someone with a growth mindset trusts that success is not all about natural ability and talent. This viewpoint puts a very different spin on how individuals approach their career goals as they tend to cultivate learning and the qualities of application and resilience in order to support their own career progression:
• It is not failure, it is feedback – Learning from failure fuels growth
• Anyone can improve – Continuous effort and experience is the key to self-betterment
• Self-respect – If things are harder than you thought, you just need to work harder
• Compare and compete – Other people’s success is a bar to meet and jump over
• Bounce back-ability – If at first you do not succeed, try and try again – the challenge is exciting anyway.
Famous people who have demonstrated a growth mindset include Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Jackson Pollock, JK Rowling, Walt Disney and Lou Gerstner.
Now, if you personally tend towards a fixed mindset, do not worry. The good news is that it is entirely possible to change your perspective. Here are three practical ways to do so:
1. Overcome fear of failure by going for it
While this statement might sound ridiculous, the psychology behind it is clever. Think about obstacles that are preventing you from moving towards your career goal. For example, are they related to skills, asking people for help or worrying about what your colleagues will think?
The aim of the exercise is to undertake 100 actions that could potentially lead to knock-backs or failure. For instance, you could fill out numerous course applications to learn a new skill; ask industry gurus if they would consider mentoring you, or test out your career aspirations on work colleagues to see what feedback they give you – all without expecting to succeed.
The idea is that by anticipating possible rejection rather than immediate success, any knock-backs or outright failures are less likely to lead you to give up. But the reality is that by making lots of attempts, some things will inevitably work. One of the courses you apply for will accept your application; one or two gurus might respond positively or you could receive encouraging feedback from a supportive co-worker in relation to your career ambitions.
By not expecting to win, you will turn fear of failure on its head and build that all-important momentum towards the career you really want.
2. Play to your strengths
Although this statement might seem obvious, strengths are not usually at the front of most people’s minds when it comes to career development.
Strengths are the natural talents that we all possess, but at work we are usually encouraged to spend time on plugging the gaps relating to our weaknesses. Think about annual reviews or training that you have had in the past. Was the focus on enhancing the things that you are instinctively good at or improving on the not-so-good? The majority of people experience the latter.
But the more you focus on developing your strengths and seek roles where you can use them every day, the more likely you are to enjoy your work, want to learn more about it and find the challenge of self-development exciting - all of which contribute greatly to career success.
If you would like some help in identifying your own innate strengths, consider taking the Clifton Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment. Based on 40 years of research to understand what makes the best in their respective fields so successful, this 20-minute online test will tell you what your top five strengths are, what they really mean and how best to use them.
As an added bonus, your ‘Strengths Finder’ data will also give you a means of assessing jobs or roles that fit your talents and provide an easy way of articulating what you are naturally good at during interviews.
3. Challenge your own beliefs
Career aspirations are often hampered by our own unhelpful thought patterns about what we are capable of or what is even possible. For instance, people tell themselves: I’ll never make a good manager; it’s all about who you know; my age is against me and many other things besides.
But such thoughts can lead to self-doubt and procrastination and compel us to give up before we have made any significant strides towards our desired career goal.
Luckily, these thoughts are only self-limiting beliefs rather than reality and, on closer examination, often show themselves for what they are – imagined rather than fact-based fears conjured up by our mind in a well-meaning but misled attempt to protect us from failure.
So if you find yourself putting up mental barriers to achieving your career aspirations, ask yourself one question: can you absolutely, 100% know that your fears are grounded? If deep down the answer is ‘no’, your mind is likely to be entertaining a limiting belief.
One way to prevent such beliefs from breeding inaction is to challenge yourself with finding proof points for the opposite situation. For example, if you turn ‘I’ll never make a good manager’ into ‘I will make a good manager’, you can look for proof points to back up that thought.
The more you challenge the beliefs that hold you back, the more likely you will be to stop judging yourself negatively, take action and progress in your career. So which mindset is the one for you? Choose wisely as it will make all the difference in the world.
Alison O’Leary is a certified Martha Beck life coach who specialises in career coaching. She helps bright, spirited people find their way to a career that is meaningful, purposeful and fulfilling. If you’re interested in discovering more about who you are, what you want and what you are capable of, sign up to Alison’s free service, The True You Experiment, which went live in December 2016. You can contact Alison at alison@livetrue.co.uk.
As the New Year begins, a lot of people inevitably start thinking about the career goals they would like to achieve over the coming 12 months.
So if this is true in your case, here is a curious question for you: To what extent do you believe that your intellect and aptitude are fixed abilities that you are born with rather than traits that are within your power to develop and improve? In other words, are you born with a certain level of ability that is set in stone, or do you believe that you can enhance it through effort and experience?
While it may seem like a strange question, how you answer it can have a profound effect on how you approach your career development efforts how easy or difficult it feels, and whether or not you are ultimately likely to achieve your career aspirations. As the New Year begins, a lot of people inevitably start thinking about the career goals they would like to achieve over the coming 12 months.
Do you have a fixed or growth mindset?
According to world-renowned Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck, who has done decades of research in the areas of achievement and success, people who believe their qualities are set in stone have a “fixed mindset”, while those who consider their basic qualities can be cultivated through application have a “growth mindset”.
Here is why you should care which camp you are in: Dweck’s research reveals that a fixed mindset compels someone to prove themselves over and over again. The onus is on documenting intelligence or aptitude instead of developing it, based on the belief that talent alone creates success – without requiring any additional effort. This attitude brings about the following behaviours, which can seriously hamper your career trajectory:
• Fear of failure – Nothing ventured, nothing lost because it is important not to look or feel inadequate
• Disdaining effort – Effort is for people who do not have talent
• Self-judgement – If at first you don’t succeed, it means you are a failure, a loser, an idiot etc etc • Compare and despair – Other people’s success is your failure
• Blame – If at first you do not succeed, it is someone or something else’s fault.
Famous people such as tennis player John McEnroe and Jeffrey Skilling, the chief executive of Enron at the time it collapsed, both demonstrated this kind of fixed mindset.
By contrast, someone with a growth mindset trusts that success is not all about natural ability and talent. This viewpoint puts a very different spin on how individuals approach their career goals as they tend to cultivate learning and the qualities of application and resilience in order to support their own career progression:
• It is not failure, it is feedback – Learning from failure fuels growth
• Anyone can improve – Continuous effort and experience is the key to self-betterment
• Self-respect – If things are harder than you thought, you just need to work harder
• Compare and compete – Other people’s success is a bar to meet and jump over
• Bounce back-ability – If at first you do not succeed, try and try again – the challenge is exciting anyway.
Famous people who have demonstrated a growth mindset include Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Jackson Pollock, JK Rowling, Walt Disney and Lou Gerstner.
Now, if you personally tend towards a fixed mindset, do not worry. The good news is that it is entirely possible to change your perspective. Here are three practical ways to do so:
1. Overcome fear of failure by going for it
While this statement might sound ridiculous, the psychology behind it is clever. Think about obstacles that are preventing you from moving towards your career goal. For example, are they related to skills, asking people for help or worrying about what your colleagues will think?
The aim of the exercise is to undertake 100 actions that could potentially lead to knock-backs or failure. For instance, you could fill out numerous course applications to learn a new skill; ask industry gurus if they would consider mentoring you, or test out your career aspirations on work colleagues to see what feedback they give you – all without expecting to succeed.
The idea is that by anticipating possible rejection rather than immediate success, any knock-backs or outright failures are less likely to lead you to give up. But the reality is that by making lots of attempts, some things will inevitably work. One of the courses you apply for will accept your application; one or two gurus might respond positively or you could receive encouraging feedback from a supportive co-worker in relation to your career ambitions.
By not expecting to win, you will turn fear of failure on its head and build that all-important momentum towards the career you really want.
2. Play to your strengths
Although this statement might seem obvious, strengths are not usually at the front of most people’s minds when it comes to career development.
Strengths are the natural talents that we all possess, but at work we are usually encouraged to spend time on plugging the gaps relating to our weaknesses. Think about annual reviews or training that you have had in the past. Was the focus on enhancing the things that you are instinctively good at or improving on the not-so-good? The majority of people experience the latter.
But the more you focus on developing your strengths and seek roles where you can use them every day, the more likely you are to enjoy your work, want to learn more about it and find the challenge of self-development exciting - all of which contribute greatly to career success.
If you would like some help in identifying your own innate strengths, consider taking the Clifton Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment. Based on 40 years of research to understand what makes the best in their respective fields so successful, this 20-minute online test will tell you what your top five strengths are, what they really mean and how best to use them.
As an added bonus, your ‘Strengths Finder’ data will also give you a means of assessing jobs or roles that fit your talents and provide an easy way of articulating what you are naturally good at during interviews.
3. Challenge your own beliefs
Career aspirations are often hampered by our own unhelpful thought patterns about what we are capable of or what is even possible. For instance, people tell themselves: I’ll never make a good manager; it’s all about who you know; my age is against me and many other things besides.
But such thoughts can lead to self-doubt and procrastination and compel us to give up before we have made any significant strides towards our desired career goal.
Luckily, these thoughts are only self-limiting beliefs rather than reality and, on closer examination, often show themselves for what they are – imagined rather than fact-based fears conjured up by our mind in a well-meaning but misled attempt to protect us from failure.
So if you find yourself putting up mental barriers to achieving your career aspirations, ask yourself one question: can you absolutely, 100% know that your fears are grounded? If deep down the answer is ‘no’, your mind is likely to be entertaining a limiting belief.
One way to prevent such beliefs from breeding inaction is to challenge yourself with finding proof points for the opposite situation. For example, if you turn ‘I’ll never make a good manager’ into ‘I will make a good manager’, you can look for proof points to back up that thought.
The more you challenge the beliefs that hold you back, the more likely you will be to stop judging yourself negatively, take action and progress in your career. So which mindset is the one for you? Choose wisely as it will make all the difference in the world.
Alison O’Leary is a certified Martha Beck life coach who specialises in career coaching. She helps bright, spirited people find their way to a career that is meaningful, purposeful and fulfilling. If you’re interested in discovering more about who you are, what you want and what you are capable of, sign up to Alison’s free service, The True You Experiment, which went live in December 2016. You can contact Alison at alison@livetrue.co.uk.
