Life Is About Steps Along the Way, Not the Place You End Up

Something I think that can help change your perspective on things each day that I have been thinking about lately and have heard people talking about: growth mindset. Let me give you an example.

Two friends, Fred and Gerald, both have similar careers. They both are about the same skillset. Both about average skill.

About the 2-3 year mark, Fred is laid off. Gerald is not, he keeps his job. Each day Fred texts his friend Gerald about how much he hates looking for work. It’s a grind. He talks to people every day for just a chance that maybe he will find work. When he gets an interview, he stresses all day until he gets on the call, and he is so nervous that he can barely remember what happened during the interview after.

Would you be surprised to hear that Gerald isn’t having success finding work?

Let’s take the reverse. Instead of Fred losing his job, Gerald does. Gerald decides to take a chance and build something small in the time he has, a new website to show off his portfolio. He also decides to look for opportunities online, but when he does get an interview, he spends the morning working on some other changes to his website, and gets distracted. When it comes time to do his interview, he remembers because of a calendar alarm. He gets on the call, and the call goes great. Gerald enjoys talking to the person, and asks some questions specific to the website changes he was making this morning. Excited, Gerald learns a new thing he can apply his problem from earlier in the morning.

Of course this is an oversimplified example. But this is a great simple way to demonstrate the power of a growth mindset. In the same situation, with the same set of skills, Gerald is very likely to perform better. The reason why is growth mindset. When faced with a challenge, rather than first being worried about what could go wrong, take a minute to consider what might go right. Take each change in life as an opportunity, and you will find more opportunity.

Here is a greate quote: “The Harder I Practice, the Luckier I Get”. And another, from Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. This is what separates growth mindset from scarcity. When you have a growth mindset, you will increase your preparation. As a result, you will get more opportunity.

THe other fact about life that I think is interesting about having a growth mindset is that it naturally forces you to think about your life in terms of habits and routine and goals rather than milestones. Think about how often we say “I will do X when Y” instead of just doing that thing. But when your goal is “I am going to get better at this skill” you realize that you need to actually practice and put the work in to get there. That is what a growth mindset is to me.

We learn the best by doing and pursuing. But we suffer when we actually reach our goals. The logical conclusion is that the pursuit is what we really enjoy.

What are things you are growing toward? Do you need to change your mindset?

• Jared