growth mindset

How to Develop a Growth Mindset at Work

A person who loves continuous learning is driven by a growth mindset. They take on challenges and wear the hat of an adventurer, in manoeuvring twists and turns that life has to offer. 

They live with the complete opposite mindset to someone who is stuck in life, rejecting opportunities to eradicate negative emotions that have held them back.

Globally, the rise in mental health issues has escalated to dizzying levels. Young people choose to commit suicide while others live in depression, not knowing how to move forward. 

The future seems hopeless and people don’t know the way forward. There is help today from Governments to up-skill your mindset and begin to create purpose in your life.

These are skills that are not taught at school – how to install a growth mindset. Instead, students are piled with more and more technical knowledge that isn’t where success lies.

​IQ, our intelligence quotient, only gets us so far. Beyond that we need to tap into our emotional and spiritual quotients. Only then do we have strong mental health and can build towards a growth mindset. Let’s look at each of these individually. 

Emotional Quotient (EQ) 

This is our ability to relate, emote and communicate. Some questions to ponder on; 

• How do we build relationships if our EQ is strong or ruin them if we don’t do this well?

• Do we inherently connect well with people or have altercations often? ​
• Are we stressed or at peace with ourselves? What is our relationship to self? 

Spiritual Quotient (SQ) 

This is our ability to come from passion, meaning and purpose. A person who has high SQ takes the bull by the horns and is unstoppable. Some questions to ponder on; 

• Is your identity strong that you live peacefully with gratitude and generosity of spirit?

• Are you driven by purpose? Do you have a legacy to leave behind?

• Is there meaning in your life that you value the friendships around you? Do you love life? 

All questions that most with a growth mindset have pondered on and continue to deliberate.

Many years ago when I left banking, I was on my journey of soul searching, wondering what would enthuse me enough to make me feel like I was living a meaningful life. 

I wanted to create purpose in my life. To have something so magnetic pull me to that future. This type of propulsion can only surface once you up-skill your mindset and embrace growth philosophies.

This is how you stabilise your mental health and begin to live life to the fullest. I see too many people drag their feet to work and live daily life in an automatic way of being. 

This is not life. This is a dead man or woman walking. What is controlling people like this is fear and other negative emotions like anger, sadness and guilt. So if you are reading this article and wondering where to start, here’s how you do it. 

Steps To A Growth Mindset 

1. ​Eradicate negative emotions – you have to remedy the past before the future can be available to you in full force, with open arms. Find yourself a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Trainer - attend a course or do some one-on-one coaching.                                                                                                   
2. Up-skill your mindset – listen to your heart to feel what resonates. Would you like to do something totally different that has always called out to you or pick up skills that will enhance your current job?          
3. Sign up for mental health and wellbeing programs – NLP is a great place to start. Programs teach you self-management tools which is the ultimate aim to reach. People who have an emotionally strong disposition are people who self-manage towards a balanced life.                                                            
4. Create purpose – once you are doing what you love and are self- managing, purpose will be quite evident to you. You will know the direction that is calling out at you and will have many options to choose from to make it happen. 

In today’s world there are many coaches available to help you journey through these stages. Amazingly, you will find that not only will work improve, all aspects of your life will play out in empowering ways too. 

The most important step in all of this is to re-focus your mind from being driven by the past, to looking forward to the future. It is surprisingly easy when you have a guiding hand and once you gain momentum, the spirit of this just takes off. 

I know from my experience that the journey was hard at times but joyous at the same time. Many unexpected surprises came to me - people who were on the same path soul searching for their purpose. These are some of my most treasured friendships today.  

Looking back today, I am so glad I took that first step.