As humans, we are constantly experiencing failure, it is unavoidable and part of life. From infancy we are taught to see failure as a bad thing. We are told that we should always strive as far away from failure as possible. This forms a toxic root in our lives that automatically acts out when experiencing failure.

The growth mindset and the fixed mindset are two kinds of mindsets that influence how we deal with failure as well as our success in life. In most insistence’s where we deal with failure poorly is in situations where we try our best and it is not enough, we begin to doubt everything we do and start to hate on our selves. There is no need for this because the word says

and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” Matthew 3:17

Your Father does not say, this is my Son who tried his best and it wasn’t enough, but He says this is MY Son with whom I am WELL PLEASED.

Our mindsets are the most important part of our success. Today I will explain the difference between a fixed mindset and growth mindset and how to step out of the chains of a fixed mindset.

The Fixed Mindset

The fixed mindset is known as the mindset that is ashamed and afraid of failure. This kind of person gives up when God places them in a situation for growth, but more importantly feels threatened by others success. The fixed mindset has a 20% lower amount of growth rate then a growth mindset. The way this mindset begins to form is by the way you saw others handle failure. Maybe your parents told you that 2nd place was first place loser instead of being proud of your efforts, or maybe you were influenced by how others described failure. I am here to tell you that failure is okay and is needed for growth.

Dealing with failure is like dealing with a split end. When you do your hair with a curling iron or a straightener and put effort into it, it looks great, but there is a side affect, you burn it. Although it looks healthy, you failed at taking care of it. One way you can handle this by ignoring the split end and letting it break until it reaches your roots or you can realize your hair is dead, cut it and allow growth to happen. The way you handle failure is the same way you should handle a split end, by understanding you failed (noticing your split end), cutting the dead end off (starting over) and using heat protection or oils on your hair while using heat (improving the area you failed in).

The fixed mindset allows the split end to reach the scalp and stop growth. In other words, the person denies the failure and allows depression and doubt set in and finally they give up.

We should never deny our failures but understand our failures make our growth and make us who we are, as the word says…

“Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distress, for Christ sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong” – 2 Corinthians 12

The Growth Mindset

This mindset is the mindset we should all strive for. This is the mindset that tries their best and gives God the rest. This mindset is the mindset of the righteous man.

“For though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.” – Proverbs 24:16

This is a perfect example of a growth mindset, although the man falls, he still gets up. Not just once, not just twice but seven times! He acknowledges his failure and continues on. Someone with a growth mindset does not tare themselves down when they fail but instead say “Where can I improve?” or “What is my next challenge?”

To show how effective this mindset is, let’s take a look at this neuron graph.

As you can see the graph on the left is shown as a solid green, what this means is that the person has little drive to grow. This mindset has no drive, that’s the reason the color is so solid. On the other hand is the growth mindset, this mindset is colorful and lit up. The reason for this is because this person is active and hustling, they fall and they get back up. This is the person who gets shot down and gets picked up again.

The way we deal with failure is so important. We should all strive to have a growth mindset and learn how to accept failure instead of reject it. Next time you fail, understand you took two steps forward and one step back, you grew and you will continue to grow.

Prayer

Father we pray that you help us remember that we are righteous and worthy. Help us to see that failure is a form of growth and not a form of shame, we pray that when we fail we lay out burns onto you and not ourselves in Jesus name. Amen.

Blog by Helena Landin
Facebook: @helena.landin1