Growth Mindset

7 Growth Mindset Habits That Can Change Your Life

Having a growth mindset is such a buzzword thrown around these days as something that’s “revolutionary” and “life-changing”, but more often than not the advice that follows tends to just be fluffy Instagram quotes like: “think positive thoughts, write in your gratitude journal, know your worth.”

However, there actually ARE growth mindset habits that have absolutely changed my life. And all of the biggest changes have come about not just because of WHAT I think, but HOW I think.

As a teen and young adult I faced a lot of adversity and it showed up in my mindset. Escaping all that and figuring out how to change my life and not repeat those patterns meant developing some SERIOUS growth mindset character traits.

Here are 7 of those transformational growth mindset habits for success and how they impacted my marriage, my parenting, and my business.

7 Growth Mindset Habits for Success and Happiness

1. Taking Radical Responsibility

This is not the same as taking the blame for things, but basically the way that I started to view “responsibility” was “the ability to respond”. If I could take action, it became my responsibility to do so.

2. Assuming Positive Intent

Someone else is doing the very best they can with the tools they have (or have access to in that moment). It may look like and feel like the contrary, but I’m going to assume that they’re intent is actually in some way, shape, or form them trying to do their very best to create a positive outcome.

3. Assuming Positive Outcomes

This is assuming that there is a solution, that there is an answer to the question, or that a win-win scenario is possible. I don’t quit when it gets hard. And that’s the secret to my success.

4. Getting Curious

When others get stuck, I get curious. I explore by testing things, researching, and asking more questions.

5. Feelings Aren’t Facts

Emotions aren’t the same as facts, nor are they always helpful. They don’t always need to be acted on and sometimes don’t even need to be paid attention to at all (gasp! I know! Heresy!). No longer allowing my emotions to be in charge meant the difference for me between joy, love, and emotional freedom and…well, being a hot mess.

6. Breathing

The reason I’m calling this a mindset habit is that breathing is the only part of our autonomic nervous system, which is what controls the stress responses, that we have any control over. So when you take control of one aspect of your stress response it starts to tell the other stress responses to calm down as well.

7. Radical Honesty

I admit to still working on this one as I’ve always thought myself to be honest, but when being faced with a direct, challenging question there are times I struggle to not sugar coat things to avoid causing the other person to be uncomfortable. Instead of taking responsibility for their emotions and for their reaction, I’m really learning how to just be radically honest, under the philosophy that the truth will set you free. (Even if it does piss us off first.)

What about you? What shifts in your own mindset habits have made all the difference for you? Comment below to let me know!

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Article Author

Tara Wagner

Tara Wagner

Tara Wagner is a Belief Breakthrough coach with nearly a decade of experience helping women overcome their limiting beliefs, Imposter Syndrome, and overwhelm so they can crush their goals, not their soul.
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