Developing a Growth Mindset

Why is it important anyway?

From the past years of learning English, I found not only myself but also many fellow learners unconsciously set boundaries for themselves. Those boundaries have become huge obstacles that stop us from excelling in learning. How exactly did we put those obstacles in front of us? I believe the answer is our mindsets.

Many things shape our mindsets toward learning a new language, such as personalities, cultures, environments, stereotypes, etc. Unfortunately, from my own experience, I have had a somewhat reserved and passive mindset about English learning. Learning English had always been about passing tests and getting good grades in school, not communication. As a result, I tended to do better in reading and writing than listening and speaking. Having pleasant small talk or a fluent conversation in English? Sounds out of reach to me.

The Enlightenment

However, after leaving school, when I had to talk to foreign customers at work or ask directions when traveling abroad, I realized one thing: English is the tool to make connections with people, get yourself understood, and get things going. I know it already sounds banal, but it is the banal truth. 

So, back to mindsets, I want to blame my late enlightenment on our culture and educational system that led us to become less motivated and less curious learners; however, I am also fully aware that we can make it much better if we want to. In short, develop and embrace a growth mindset.

I started paying more attention to the thoughts and bad habits I had or heard from others. The greatest challenge is to change them, but once you overcome them, you know it is all worthwhile. After all, the last thing I want to experience again is to spend another decade worrying about things I don’t have to and regret not redirecting my focus to the essential things earlier.

How to Develop A Growth Mindset

The quickest and most effective way for me is to look directly into myself and ask, “What exactly is holding me back?” I hence made a simple mindmap about the most common and not-so-helping thoughts or habits I have had or heard of many times in the past. Overall, they fall into these six categories:

• Perfectionism
• Shyness & Fear
• Comparison
• Environment
• Fixed Mindset
• A Lack of Constant Input & Output

I call them the six mind monsters. Some of them are correlated. In the following posts, I would like to share how to develop a growth mindset by bravely facing these mind monsters one by one.