growth mindset activities

After the concept of growth mindset was postulated by Dr. Carol S. Dweck, a major question emerged what are some growth mindset activities that a person can use for developing a mindset? Are there any such activities?

The answer is a big YES!

In this post, we will look at 15 exercises to develop a growth mindset. These activities are such that you can do them anywhere and without much use of resources.

15 top exercises to develop a growth mindset

A growth mindset is developed through exercises. Most of them are related to increasing your brain’s thinking power. In the coming paragraphs, you will read about those exercises which help in developing the mindset. So let’s learn about them one by one.

1. Learn a new skill

The first growth mindset activity I shall recommend to you is learning a new skill. It can be anything dancing, singing, coding, or anything that you like and want to learn.

Learning a new skill will have a very positive impact on your mindset. You will not only grow but also have a sense of confidence in you.

2. Read Books

There is a famous proverb that “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” Got the point?

Reading is one of the best growth mindset activities I can recommend to anyone. When we read a book, we take into account the knowledge of various authors who have written those books.

In fact, I suggest reading autobiographies and histories of famous people more because they will help you to learn about how they went in their life from a struggler to a successful personality.

One thing you will find common in all of them is that they never let setbacks overpower them. They kept working despite rejections and got successful one day.

3. Develop a routine

This is a very important growth mindset activity that you should definitely embrace. A life without routine is like a ship moving in the ocean waters with no direction to go.  To prosper in life you will need the element of discipline and to do that a daily routine is no no-brainer.

You can start by making a chart where you can write your daily schedule and can act according to it. This will not only help in growing your mindset but will also help in learning time management.

This daily planner will come in very handy for this purpose.

4. Play Logical Brain Games

Logic and reasoning are the building blocks of an open mindset. If a person can’t logic things then he is said to be in a fixed mindset.

So for improving the logical part of the brain what can be a better mindset activity than playing games that require logic and reasoning? Games can be like Rubik’s cube, sudoku, chess, color matching, etc.

These Logical games will help your mind to think more and ultimately improve your reasoning abilities.

5. Take up a 30 day challenge

You might have seen various people taking up 30-day challenges. Why do they do that? Is there a purpose behind those 30-day challenges?

The answer is yes. They take up challenges to grow their mindset and become a better version of themselves.

When you take up a challenge, your mind becomes active. You come into a do this challenge mode. For this, a discipline automatically builds up in you, and after that, you put all the energy and effort required to complete the challenge.

You can take the help of this kind of challenge journal to track your progress.

These 30-day challenges have many benefits. You become a better version of yourself, you power to take control of your mind increases, you don’t get easily distracted from your tasks and your overall personality takes a positive upturn.

6. Teach others what you already know

You grow when you give to others. This is a very simple concept of teaching. When you teach someone you give them the knowledge that you have and try to make them better.

You study more than to teach more effectively and do proper justice to your teaching. This learning more and teaching has dual advantages.

One you are learning more curiously and deeply about your subject and the second due to that learning, your mindset is improving. The more you do it the better you get it.

7. Approach mistakes in a positive way

This is a general human tendency when we make a mistake our mind directly moves in the direction of fixed mindset. This is something that needs to be worked upon.

 When you make a mistake, don’t think about it in a negative way. Give a positive direction to it. Think about it as a learning opportunity. Ask yourself why you made this mistake and what improvements I can make to correct it, to not repeat it in the future.

One thing to note here is that mistake is not something that you will make only once. You will make mistakes again and again but you don’t have to be disheartened by them.

You just need to slow down and repeat the same process of reflecting. If you are making the same mistake again and again then it’s time to check your strategy and make necessary changes to it.

8. Don’t think yourself smart

Yes, you read that right. When we start thinking that we are smart and know everything we go into fixed mindset. We stop learning new things. You have to avoid it if you want to grow.

This is a great open mindset activity. You just have to reject being smart. You have to consider yourself as a constant learner ready to learn from all those who are willing to teach you something. You don’t have to let your ego come into between you and your growth.

Just tell your mind that I don’t know everything, I want to learn more. And that’s it you are on the journey of growth mindset.

9. Combat negative self-talk

This is a problem I believe everyone go into everyday. Our mind will tell us that you are a loser; you can’t do this, etc. You have to stop listening to it.

Whenever your mind starts negative self-talk, you have to stop it immediately and replace it with positive self-talk. This book can help in changing this attitude.

Also Instead of saying I can’t do this! Say I can’t do this, YET!. This word “YET” has a super power to convert a negative mindset into a positive open mindset. So use it as much as you can.

10. Do things that are not easy for you

This is something similar to negative self-talk. There are some things that you are afraid to do. You may want to do them but your mind tells you that this is a very big thing for me and I can’t do this. You listen to your mind and sit back.

This is a challenge your mind is giving to you. Take it and do it.

You won’t believe when you are taking up that task, you are making yourself more fearless and strong. Of course, you will face challenges while completing the task but that’s the interesting thing about doing this. This growth mindset activity will change your brain to a growth mindset. You will feel more confident, strong and accomplished.

11. Learn to listen

There is a general nature of human beings that we are not good listeners. Our “we know everything” tendency comes in between. But this is a fixed mindset characteristic and needs alteration.

I want to share my personal experience here. When I read books and watch podcasts of successful persons, one thing I found common in all. They say that to grow yourself you should develop the art of listening to others in your field. This simple growth mindset exercise will help you to learn from their experiences, and you get to learn new ideas from them.

This is the thing I want to tell you. Never hesitate to listen to others. Their vibrant experiences will open your mind, you will be able to think of a situation from a different perspective and that’s the point when your mind will grow.

12. Feedback is important

This is one of those growth mindset activities which almost all ignore. We can’t hear about our shortcomings! If we can change that then we are on the path to a growth mindset.

You should always be open to take feedback from others. They can be your peers, your workplace colleagues, your partner or anyone else from your network.

Never judging the other person who is giving feedback is also an important point to remember while taking feedback. With feedback in your hand you can make necessary changes to your behaviour and shortcoming and it will hugely impact your growth.

13. Self-reflection

This list on growth mindset activities is incomplete if it doesn’t have the self-reflection activity.

Self-reflection is a very important tool which you can use to have a healthy and open mindset. You should make this habit of self-reflecting daily. What I mean by self-reflection is that at the end of the day ask yourself some questions and try to answer those questions. These questions can be like:

  1. What I did in the whole day?
  2. Did I complete that task?
  3. Why I was not able to complete that task today and what improvements I can make?
  4. Was my behaviour friendly with others?

When you will answer these self-reflecting questions, you will find those weak points where you need improvement and also those areas where you are already good.

There is a great book for 365 days of guided self-reflection training. You can check that here.

14. Exercise

Doing exercise regularly can have a very good effect on our mindset. When we exercise our brain releases various chemicals through which we feel happy and relaxed.

When our minds are happy and relaxed we will be able to think more clearly and our attitude will remain positive.

Just 30 minutes of exercise is all you need in a day.

15. Learn about neuroplasticity

Last but not least is you should learn about neuroplasticity. This is a concept researched by Dr. Michael Merzenich, a renowned professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

He says that our brains can change. With the right efforts and learning, your brain’s neurons can rewire and make you smarter.

He also researched that practicing one activity can improve the performance of other unrelated activities.

topic wise activities

Growth Mindset Activities For Middle School StudentsGrowth Mindset Activities For Primary School Students
Growth Mindset Activities For EmployeesGrowth Mindset Activities For Preschool
Growth Mindset Activities For Kindergarten StudentsGrowth Mindset Activities For Team Building
Growth Mindset Activities For ManagersGrowth Mindset Activities For The Workplace
Growth Mindset Activities For High School StudentsGrowth Mindset Activities For College Students
Growth Mindset Activities For TeachersGrowth Mindset Activities For Athletes
Growth Mindset Activities For HomeGrowth Mindset Activities For Business
Adults Growth Mindset Activities

conclusion

So this was the post on the best growth mindset exercises one can do. This list is not exhaustive and more exercises can be added to them.

I hope you liked these exercises to improve your growth mindset. Practice them, make them a part of your life, and you will see a change in your thinking and mindset.

reference

https://www.khanacademy.org/college-careers-more/learnstorm-growth-mindset-activities-us