Boost Your Wellbeing with a Growth Mindset

To improve your wellbeing, you have to believe you can make a change.

Psychologists have found that our beliefs about our abilities and potential can shape future outcomes — including our wellbeing.
Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck identified two key belief systems related to these mindsets: fixed and growth.

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset

If you have a fixed mindset, you assume that your character, intelligence, habits, and abilities are static and can’t be changed.
You believe an old dog can't learn new tricks.
You avoid challenges or give up easily when things get hard.
When you make a mistake, you feel defeated.
Feedback feels threatening.
When you think about your future, you believe there’s not much you can do to make things different — or better.

If you have a growth mindset, you believe in your capacity to change your habits, strengthen your skills, and do hard things.
You believe an old dog can learn new tricks!
You see challenges as opportunities for growth.
Mistakes are opportunities for learning and improvement.
Feedback helps you grow.
When you think about your future, you believe your wellbeing can be enhanced through effort and by developing new skills and strategies.

Research shows that a growth mindset helps people navigate stress and challenges more effectively and leads to higher levels of wellbeing. People with a growth mindset tend to achieve more in academic settings and are more productive, engaged, and innovative in the workplace.

Mindset in Action

Fixed Mindset:
I can't make a mistake!
I give up! It's too hard.
I can't do this.
I can't do any better.

Growth Mindset:
Mistakes help me learn.
I'll try it another way.
I can train my brain.
I can't do this — yet!
I improve with practice.

With a Growth Mindset, You Lean Into Your Growing Edges

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
— Anaïs Nin

Growing edges are the places in your life where there’s potential for significant change and personal growth — and where you also feel discomfort or fear. It’s the space between where you are and where you want to be. Because these places are challenging, you may feel the urge to walk away.

But when you lean into your growing edges, you allow yourself to change, learn, and grow into a better version of yourself.

To do this, you must step out of your comfort zone and fixed mindset — and meet the challenge with a growth mindset. When you do, you open the door to learning, resilience, and transformation.

So the next time you meet resistance or self-doubt, pause and ask yourself: What would a growth mindset do here? Lean in, stay curious, and trust that change is possible — because your wellbeing is worth the effort.

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