What Is a Growth Mindset?

You try something new and it goes badly. Maybe it is a presentation, a sport, a language, or a piece of writing. In that moment, one of two thoughts tends to appear. The first: “I am just not good at this.” The second: “I am not good at this yet.”

The difference between those two sentences is the heart of what psychologists call mindset. It is one of the most widely discussed ideas in modern psychology, and also one of the most misunderstood. This article explains what a growth mindset is, what the research really says, and how you can develop it in a practical way.

It is part of our guide on How to Build Resilience.

The two mindsets

The concept was developed by Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford University, based on decades of research into how people respond to challenges and failure. She popularized it in her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

Dweck described two broad beliefs people can hold about abilities such as intelligence, talent, and personality:

Fixed mindset: the belief that these qualities are largely set. You have a certain amount of intelligence or talent, and there is not much you can do to change it.

Growth mindset: the belief that these qualities can be developed through effort, good strategies, and help from others.

Most people do not hold one mindset in every area of life. You might have a growth mindset about cooking and a fixed mindset about mathematics. You might believe you can improve at work but feel that you are “just not a creative person.” Mindsets can also shift depending on circumstances, such as stress or criticism.

Why mindset matters

The beliefs we hold about our abilities shape how we respond to difficulty. Dweck’s research suggested a pattern:

Situation	Fixed mindset tendency	Growth mindset tendency
Challenges	Avoids them, to avoid looking incapable	Embraces them as a chance to learn
Obstacles	Gives up more easily	Persists and tries different strategies
Effort	Sees it as a sign of low ability	Sees it as the path to mastery
Criticism	Takes it personally or ignores it	Uses it as information
Others’ success	Feels threatened	Finds lessons and inspiration

If you believe your abilities are fixed, every failure becomes a verdict on who you are. It makes sense to avoid challenges, because each one risks exposing a limitation. If you believe your abilities can grow, failure becomes information about what to do next.

What the research really shows

Growth mindset became extremely popular, particularly in schools, and in some places it was presented as a simple fix for motivation and achievement. That popularity led to closer scrutiny, and it is worth being honest about what the evidence shows.

A 2018 meta-analysis led by Victoria Sisk and Brooke Macnamara reviewed many studies and found that the overall relationship between mindset and academic achievement was weak, and that the average effect of mindset interventions was small. Some critics argued that the idea had been oversold.

At the same time, a large national study published in Nature in 2019, led by David Yeager and colleagues including Dweck, tested a short online growth mindset intervention with thousands of US high school students. It found a modest improvement in grades among lower-achieving students, and the effect depended on the school environment: it was stronger in schools where peers and norms supported taking on challenges.

The reasonable conclusion is somewhere in between. Growth mindset is not a magic switch. Its effects on outcomes like grades appear to be real but modest, and they depend on context. But the core idea, that how you interpret difficulty affects how you respond to it, remains useful, especially when it is paired with practical strategies and an environment that supports learning.

Common misunderstandings

Dweck herself has written about what she calls “false growth mindset,” ways the idea is often misapplied.

It is not just praising effort. Telling someone “great effort” when they are not making progress does not help. Effort matters, but only when combined with good strategies and a willingness to change approach. Trying harder at something that is not working is not a growth mindset.

It is not just positive thinking. A growth mindset does not mean believing you can do anything if you think positively. It means believing you can improve through the right kind of work.

It is not something you either have or do not. Everyone has a mix. The goal is to notice your fixed-mindset triggers and respond to them more constructively.

It does not mean everyone can become anything. There are real differences in starting points and in how quickly people learn different things. A growth mindset simply means that wherever you start, you can usually get better.

How to develop a growth mindset

1. Notice your fixed-mindset voice

Start by paying attention to what you tell yourself when things are hard. Fixed-mindset thoughts often sound like:

• “I am not a math person.”
• “I will never be good at this.”
• “Some people are just naturally talented.”
• “If I need to try this hard, I must not be good at it.”

When you notice these thoughts, do not fight them aggressively. Just recognize them: “That is my fixed-mindset voice.” Recognizing the pattern is the first step to changing it. Much of this overlaps with harsh self-talk in general, which we cover in How to Stop Negative Self-Talk.

2. Add the word “yet”

One of the simplest tools Dweck has described is adding the word “yet” to statements of limitation.

• “I cannot speak French” becomes “I cannot speak French yet.”
• “I do not understand this” becomes “I do not understand this yet.”

It sounds small, but it reframes the situation from a fixed state to a point on a path.

3. Focus on strategies, not just effort

When something is not working, ask: “What could I do differently?” rather than “How can I try harder?”

Strategies might include:

• Breaking the skill into smaller parts and practicing each one.
• Seeking feedback from someone more experienced.
• Studying how others approach the same problem.
• Changing the time, place, or method of practice.

Effort is necessary, but direction matters as much as intensity.

4. Treat mistakes as information

After a mistake, ask three questions:

1. What exactly went wrong?
2. What did I learn?
3. What will I do differently next time?

This turns mistakes from evidence of inadequacy into data for improvement. It is the same shift we describe in How to Stop Ruminating and Start Reflecting: from “Why am I like this?” to “What can I learn from this?”

5. Seek challenges at the right level

Growth happens at the edge of your current ability. Tasks that are too easy do not teach you much. Tasks that are far too hard can be discouraging. Look for challenges that stretch you a little beyond what you can currently do comfortably.

The psychologist Anders Ericsson, known for his research on expertise, emphasized “deliberate practice”: focused practice on specific weaknesses, with clear goals and feedback. That kind of practice is one of the most reliable ways to improve at almost anything.

6. Learn from other people’s success

When someone else succeeds at something you care about, a fixed mindset may feel threatened or envious. A growth mindset asks: “What did they do that I could learn from?” Other people’s success becomes a source of strategies and inspiration rather than a comparison that makes you feel smaller.

7. Look at your own history of growth

Think of something you were once bad at and are now reasonably good at: driving, cooking, a sport, a skill at work, a language. How did you get there? What did it take?

Remembering your own growth is powerful evidence that your abilities can change, and it reminds you of the process that worked.

Growth mindset and resilience

A growth mindset supports resilience because it changes the meaning of difficulty. Setbacks become part of learning rather than proof of failure. That makes it easier to keep going, to try new approaches, and to recover when things do not work out.

It is not the whole story of resilience. Relationships, physical health, and practical problem-solving matter just as much. But a belief that you can learn and adapt is a valuable foundation. For the bigger picture, read How to Build Resilience.