A growth mindset means believing you can develop abilities through hard work. In contrast, a fixed mindset means believing abilities are innate—you either have them or you don’t. A growth mindset helps you take on challenges as opportunities to learn and grow.
Our Developing a Growth Mindset worksheet describes several tips for embracing a growth mindset. These tips will help clients move from simply understanding the mindset to actually adopting it.
Some of the tips included are:
- Confront difficult situations (rather than avoiding them)
- View emotions as sources of insight (rather than running from them)
- Find silver linings (rather than dwelling on the negatives)
This handout can be helpful for clients who feel stuck in an uncomfortable situation, are struggling with a work or relationship issue, or are dealing with depression or anxiety.
Along with this worksheet, try using some of the following discussion questions:
- Describe “growth mindset” in your own words.
- What are two silver linings of your current challenge?
- What emotions are you experiencing, and what are they telling you?
- How can this challenge help you grow as a person?
For an introduction to growth mindset, see our Growth Mindset: Info & Examples worksheet.
