Unlock Your Potential: Cultivating a Growth Mindset

Ready to transform your mindset and unlock your full potential? Discover the transformative power of adopting a growth mindset, the essential mental framework that separates those who flourish from those who stagnate.

The English Sisters use a powerful garden metaphor to contrast fixed versus growth thinking. When faced with a garden full of weeds, do you say "it's too far gone" and give up (fixed mindset)? Or do you roll up your sleeves and begin cultivating, knowing your efforts will eventually yield beautiful results (growth mindset)? The choice fundamentally shapes how you approach every challenge in life.

Throughout this conversation, we explore how embracing the philosophy that "there is no failure, only feedback" can revolutionize your approach to learning and personal development. We share personal stories of overcoming technical challenges and stepping beyond our comfort zones, demonstrating how growth-oriented thinking leads to greater creativity, confidence, and fulfillment. You'll discover practical strategies for developing your own growth zone – that sweet spot between comfort and panic where true development happens – and learn why even seemingly "natural talent" isn't enough without the persistent effort that comes from growth-oriented beliefs. Whether you're tackling a new language, developing a skill, or facing workplace challenges, this episode offers the mindset tools you need to approach them with confidence and persistence. Join us in cultivating the mental garden that will help you flourish in every aspect of life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Growth vs Fixed Mindset Explained
• 1:47 Failure Is Only Feedback
• 4:02 Embracing Challenges Outside Comfort Zone
• 7:31 Setting Goals and Seeing Results
• 10:53 Untapping Your Hidden Potential

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Fixed mindset or growth mindset? What's the best kind of mindset to have in life? We certainly believe the growth mindset is the best place to be at. Growth mindset is the way to go to live a happier and healthier life, and that's what we'll be talking about in this week's episode of Get Real with the English english sisters. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 0:30

What is a growth mindset? Yeah, and how can we cultivate it? I know, I think it's something we do have to cultivate, like a garden, yes, so I mean, if a garden's empty or full of weeds, what do we do? We? Well, we go and take care of it. We'll go and cultivate it. We'll go and cultivate it where, if you know you, you want to make your garden look nice, you want to get rid of the weeds, you want to make it flourish and continue growing, because you nobody wants just to have one very small lemon tree like now I planted it. You will hopefully want the lemon tree to grow and flourish and flourish and and and. Yeah, but give you fruits.

Speaker 1: 1:10

I think what we have to think about is that what's the opposite of a growth mindset. It's a fixed mindset, isn't it? Yes, so a fixed mindset is saying, no, I don't want to do. I've got a garden full of weeds. It's just going to stay like that. How can I deal with this? I mean, it's got, it's gone too far. Now there's no way I'm going to be able to clear these weeds exactly. Yeah, there's no way there's. They're invasive. Yeah, there's nothing. I'm not good at it. I mean, I don't know how to do this. I'm not a gardener, I'm no expert. I don't understand it. This is so frustrating, I'll just give up. Yeah, I'll give up. Yeah, that's what a fixed mindset is. A giving up mindset, yeah, and, and you may. Maybe you tried once to clear up the garden and you didn't do it right. No, and you think that, okay, I failed at this. Yeah, so a fixed mindset believes that failure is bad. Yeah, thus it. There is nothing. You know it's bad. I failed it once and so that's it. And a growth mindset is there is no failure, only feedback. So, with everything that where you fail at, you get feedback from it. So if you failed at the doing the garden once, the next time you learn from what you did wrong and you and you learn again and you continue growing with your mindset. You grow and you grow every day in life.

Speaker 1: 2:32

Having a growth mindset is essential, I think. Well, I think, if you want to live a happy and healthier life, it is because otherwise, you're just going to get stuck in your ways. You know how you hear that, that you hear that people are just stuck in their ways, yeah, or that they just don't want to do things, and sometimes I think that it's easier said than done developing a growth mindset, because it can be very overwhelming if you've tried to do something and then it just you fail at it, and then you might need help though you might, you can ask for help, can't you? Well, I think it's like you know, if you do have that growth mindset, if you believe that you can learn something if you set your mind to it, you know that is a kind of growth mindset. You say, okay, I don't understand this at the moment, but I can learn how to understand it, doesn't matter how long it takes. That's a kind of mindset that's really going to set you off. Yes, that's towards a quest for excellence.

Speaker 1: 3:33

So to think I'm no good at this now, but I can get better, I will get better, yes, as opposed to I'm no good at this now. So there's no sense trying. Yeah, there's no sense trying, I'm just gonna give up or I don't know how to do that. There is no point me even even attempting that. Yeah, you know, that's the kind of stunted mindset or fixed mindset that it can kind of creep up on you throughout the years. Well, I think it does creep up on you and you don't even realize. Yeah, you don't even realize.

Speaker 1: 4:09

But you know, sometimes, even once you finish your school years, and then you get, like you get into your 20s and 30s, you might just think, well, I've done that, I've tried that, and then that's I can't, you know, I can't learn anything new, or that's too difficult, oh no, my brain can't cope with that. Yes, yeah, or I'm too stressed or anxious to cope with that, whereas in truth it's the opposite, because a growth mindset sets you free to be able to explore things that you wouldn't have normally done before, and it actually makes you very creative, creative. Creative and creativity enables you to feel calmer, exactly. It's odd that you think like I mean, let's take up any challenge, learning a new language, for example, doesn't matter what age you are. Learning a new language can be a challenge. But if you just say no, that's, I'm far too old for that or I've never been good at languages, there's no point me even trying. You're not. You you've got that fixed mindset that's not going to allow for any kind of growth at all. However, if you say, okay, let me just have a little laugh with this, let me just start. I'm just going to start listening to this language, perhaps while I'm watching films, or get a little app that's going to help me, let me listen and let me challenge myself to try this. It's going to make all the difference and slowly, instead of feeling anxious about it, you can start to have fun with these new challenges, which is essential. I believe that's true. I think you do have fun and you do.

Speaker 1: 5:51

The growth mindset does make you have more fun, because you're going to be doing new things and experiencing new things in life, which is what life is all about really, because that's what we all want in life, absolutely. We may think we want to stay in our comfort zones, but actually, the challenges and getting out of your comfort zone is what makes you grow and feel better about yourself. It gives you more confidence and self-esteem. Ideally, what you want to do is to have your comfort zone and always be able to go back to it, but to have another circle which is like the growth zone and which is not completely out of your comfort zone, but it's a zone in which you can grow and learn. And so you do have to take a step out of your comfort zone to get into this other zone, but you're not feeling excuse me, you're not feeling completely uncomfortable, frightened or panicky.

Speaker 1: 6:46

No, and if you, if you do have those feelings of fright, those frightening feelings or panicky feelings, you can say well, what, what do I need here to to enable me to do this without feeling those feelings? Because you might just need a helping hand, you might need a friend to help you, or you might need to ask someone for some advice, and you'll, you'll know, you'll know that feeling when you, when you feel it you might even it might be at work you might have to ask your manager for help or a colleague. And when you do, when you do ask for help and you and you do do that little extra bit of growth, you're gonna feel so good about yourself, you do, you feel amazing, you feel proud that you managed to do that thing, even though it was so frustrating, because a lot of the time, these things are frustrating and we can have a good mindset. The important thing is, even though it's frustrating, that we persevere Instead of thinking this is frustrating, I'm going to stop. Yeah, you say to yourself this is frustrating, but I will persevere. So it's all about that.

Speaker 1: 7:55

If you have that mindset, you will continue doing it. You say I've got it wrong. Now I've got it wrong again. I've got it wrong again, but I'm persevering at this. Yeah, and I'm under. I'm accepting that I'm frustrated. It doesn't mean that I'm completely, you know, going nuts about this. It's frustrating, but I'm learning. I'm in my growth zone. Exactly, to be in your growth zone, that's a good one. Yes, and so you've got your comfort zone there, but you're in your growth zone.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Yes, the growing the important thing is, I think, is that we've learned it in life, is that we're always growing and that it's lifelong learning that enables you to stay like that, with that growth mindset, because once you say, once you say I've been there and I've done that and I've done it all kind of thing, well then that's the end of it. You won't learn new tricks, you won't learn new things. No, you won't, whereas if you if constantly saying, well, that's a challenge, but let me see how I can have a look at that. What angle can I take to tackle that? What do I need to be able to do that? You know, sometimes you need to look online or you need to take a course or you need to just ask a friend, but it's so rewarding and so challenging.

Speaker 1: 9:13

The challenge is the rewarding part. It's a contradiction to what you may think, because you may think no challenges. You know, I don't want to be challenged, I've got enough on my plate, I don't need that extra challenge, whereas that extra challenge will be what will make you grow. And I think that's what we need to embrace. Embrace even though sometimes it may seem hard or difficult. Sometimes we really don't want to do it and we think, no, no, we don't want to go through that extra challenge. What's the point? Yeah, what's the point? Well, the point is that you will be growing and you'll have you'll, you'll be able to set yourself goals and see if you can meet those goals, and when you do meet them, it's so rewarding and so so fulfilling.

Speaker 1: 10:00

I mean, I remember when we, when I, when we first started all of this, we said we don't know how to. I mean, I didn't. Even back in the day, I didn't even write emails. I was a stay-at-home mom. I didn't even know how to do an email and I remember the first time I had to write an email I was what is this is? I mean, it seems like the dinosaur ages now that we're online all the time, but even or learning how to do a podcast, how do you do that? What technical? The technical difficulties of it all. And they've all been learning challenges. They've all been growth challenges that have set us on this path of self-discovery and that have helped us become better people in the end. Haven't they absolutely better people? It's it. It's really essential.

Speaker 1: 10:47

You have a frog in your throat. Is there anything else? Well, there was something else about you know is that if you have a fixed kind of mindset I think it's important to remember that if you think that talent alone creates success, you know, and if you make that effort, it won't actually help you. You know, that's a kind of fixed mindset you think, oh no, it's easy for him or for her because they're talented. So I'm not talented. So you mean that when you have a natural talent for something you might have a natural talent. Some people just seem to be really good at things and you think I'm no good at that, so there's no point me making that effort because I can't speak languages like he or she can, or I can't play the guitar. It's easy for them, yeah, it's easy. But that's that kind of fixed mindset that you know it's like an excuse. You're saying I'm not talented, so I'm not going to bother.

Speaker 1: 11:42

It stops you from doing things, doesn't it? It stops you absolutely. Yeah, they're limiting beliefs. In the end, that will they will come back and bite you because they'll stop you from actually living life to to your full potential. And it's a bit of a shame, really, because we all have so much potential within us that we that is, we don't even know that we have. I know it's untapped, we don't know it.

Speaker 1: 12:03

It's really quite exciting because if you start thinking of how much untapped potential you have within you, you can begin to really, um, look inside yourself and think, oh, actually I would have liked to do that. Maybe in those days I didn't think I could. Maybe now I could try it and go for it, because we're forever changing, we're growing all the time. We're not the same people now we were when we were 16 or 18 or 24. We're always growing and changing and evolving. So I think if you think about that, that will really help you develop this growth mindset. That will really truly be your ally. So let us know what you think. Have you got a growth mindset, or would you like to develop one, or cultivate one every day? Water it every day like we do? We hope you would. We certainly hope you will. Let us know in the comments and join us on youtube too, where you can see the video version and you can see our short. See you next week. Lots of love and smiles from the english sisters.