In line with the changes happening in Saudi Arabia, we’re witnessing many enlightened leaders who employ a flexible mindset to easily embrace and lead the country’s development. Perhaps the most important of all is the initiative undertaken by the crown prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has established Vision 2030 to ensure both short and long-term development is prioritized in Saudi Arabia. It’s also a great testament that shows how the Kingdom is embracing a flexible and open mindset, which is also known as a growth mindset.
Saudi youth today are also adopting the country’s same growth mindset of leadership in a variety of forms, and this is evident in the youth’s many successes and achievements. Here we’ll discuss ways and tools that help people embrace a growth mindset that will eventually lead to their success.
Transforming failure into success
Your mindset will be able to grow when faced with any situation if you’re flexible and open to change. On the other hand, an anti-growth mindset, also called the fixed or rigid mentality, is the one that rejects anything new and is defensive when it comes to change.
In an effort to instill a growth mindset, Jamaican author Dr. Raquel Palmer talks about how she succeeded through harsh conditions in her book “Networking: How to Develop a Growth Mindset?”. She fought the odds to finish her university studies, and became an investigator - despite rejections and challenges - in the forensics department. Dr. Palmer asserts that she presented her experience to readers to encourage them to be the product of their decisions and not their attitudes, and that those with a growth mindset have the power to bring about the change they seek, and believe that they can succeed in anything they set their eyes on, and that they view every failure as an opportunity to learn and develop.
Are you flexible?
After reading these words, you may be wondering, am I resilient? Do I have a growth mindset or is my mindset fixed and hard to change? Will I stay where I am and not change my reality? Sit back, relax, and learn more about what Carol Dweck has to say about a growth mindset. She showed that without a doubt, everyone can have a growth mindset, even if they now have a fixed one. But how do we develop it?
Having a growth mindset
Now we’ve arrived at the most important steps which we must follow to enjoy a growth mindset. This mindset will ease the life ahead of us and makes the experience a beautiful adventure full of wisdom and transformation:
1- You have to know and accept that human beings are imperfect and everyone has flaws and mistakes. Only God is perfect.
2- You must face your challenges with great courage by considering them as learning opportunities. Don’t panic when facing them, but look at them from a larger picture and deal with them calmly.
3- There is no doubt that the unknown carries feelings of fear, but it's necessary to realize that everything is easy when you’re armed with knowledge. By embracing new experiences, developing new skills, and interacting with new groups of people, you’ll be able to discover abilities you never knew you had.
4- You have to pay attention to your words. Carefully take note of what you say and think about how it’s affecting your self-esteem. Monitoring our behaviors and our words is vital.
5- Replace negative thoughts with more positive ones by surrounding yourself with successful people, watching self-development videos, or reading books related to those topics.
6- Learn to trust yourself. It’s good and well to observe social standards, but you must be bold in order to find success. You may face resistance from people when you have new ideas or want to pursue new ventures.
7- Develop a sense of purpose and set your sights on a specific and achievable goal. Don’t be afraid to start with small goals and eventually your goals will get bigger step by step.
8- Change your definition of the word genius. We all have our own set of strengths and weaknesses. Explore and appreciate your strengths, while simultaneously improving your weaknesses.
9- Accept criticism with ease. You can easily develop a growth mindset if you’re open to hearing suggestions and constructive criticism from others.
10- Be realistic and patient. Any form of personal development involves challenges, disappointments, and difficulties. Don’t despair, it’s all about the process and it will all pay off in the long run.
People tend to look at things from a different angle when they have a growth mindset. They no longer see disappointments as failures, but look at it all within a framework of challenges and experiences that inevitably contribute to their development and progress.
