Growth Mindset Versus Fixed Mindset: How to Make Lasting Healthy Life Changes

In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck talks about the two different types of mindsets people fall into: a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset.

People with a fixed mindset — those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset — those who believe that abilities can be developed.

I think of a growth mindset as being open and willing to try new things without being attached to the outcome. It’s about reaching for goals that stretch you a little, and believing you have the power to change things. 

A fixed mindset says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but a growth mindset says you can if the dog is willing!

How Your Mindset Affects Your Progress

When you’re trying to change something about your health or your lifestyle, your mindset is one of the most important factors in whether you’re going to succeed. 

But health and lifestyle are the areas where I see a fixed mindset emerge most often. If your self-talk says, “I’m not the kind of person who could ever do meal prep” or “I’m not good at working out” — by committing to that narrative about your identity, you cut yourself off from amazing possibility that you could do those things. 

A fixed mindset also cuts you off from being able to tolerate failure. If you believe that you failed at something (say, sticking to a new workout plan) because you are innately lazy, unreliable or unfit, it’s going to be extremely hard for you to get back on the wagon. Why even try?

But if you can cultivate a growth mindset, you give yourself space to fail, but that failure is just an indicator that you’re growing and adding to your capabilities. 

And you are going to fail — not because you personally are bad at what you’re doing, but because you’re human and failure happens for a whole host of reasons. Having a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset turns this into an opportunity rather than a disappointment.

Your job is to turn up and do the best you can with the resources you have available, and to keep doing that over and over, even if you fail every now and then. 

How to Cultivate a Growth Mindset

And even if you realize that you have a fixed mindset right now, there’s good news. You can change it! 

This isn’t just some woo-woo positive thinking either. 

In his insightful book, The Brain That Changes Itself, Dr. Norman Doidge delves deep into neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to rapidly evolve in response to trauma, stimulus or even to our own thoughts.

Your brain can change itself, grow new cells, change its patterns, and you can choose if you want to take advantage of that. That’s so exciting, and means that no matter where you are starting from, you’re not stuck. 

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to start that shift:

“What feels possible? Am I open to trying this new thing? What would happen if this thing changed?”

If you can imagine what life might be after this change, you’re more likely to put in the work. It’s important to recognise that what you’re doing takes work, it isn’t easy, and it requires energy.

Remember that it’s not about waking up every day and asking yourself very seriously how you can evolve into a better person, but staying aware of what you’re accepting for yourself and where you could stretch a little further. 

This shift is very much tied to mindfulness, and there’s even progress to be made just in noticing that you have a fixed mindset about something. 

You don’t have to start working on it immediately, you can just acknowledge that and come back to it when it’s a priority. 

Not everything needs action right away — you have to prioritize and you can only put your energy in so many places. 

The trick here is to understand why you’re trying to make these changes, to have a firm grasp on the purpose that’s driving all this work (and it is work — it takes sustained effort over time and a lot of perseverance through discomfort and tedium). 

If you know that you’re trying to change your eating habits so that you set a healthy example for your kids, that’s going to keep you going. 

If you know that you’re trying to stick to a workout routine so that you can look after your aging parents instead of having to put them in care, you’re going to be very deeply motivated. 

It doesn’t even have to be such a big reason — just to feel good in your skin and that you are prioritizing your own wellbeing is a powerful driver. 

Of course, prioritizing your own wellbeing doesn’t sound like a big deal… but it can be, right?

What to Do When Your Loved Ones Have A Fixed Mindset

 It’s hard when people don’t want you to change — they like you as you are, and if you change it means that your dynamic will change. 

Even if they don’t make any change themselves, they will be impacted to some degree by your changes.  Your decision to eat more veggies doesn’t make anyone else a bad person, but it can make them feel bad anyway. 

The key here is communication. If people around you do get upset about the changes you’re making, be clear that you’re making these changes for you. Let them know that it’s not about them and that making a change for yourself doesn’t mean that you’re judging them. 

This is not easy. Most of us care a lot about what our loved ones think about us. I know I care deeply what people think, and even though I try really hard to worry less about it, I know I just have to acknowledge it and keep going anyway. Eventually it just comes down to taking a hard look at your own life and understanding what the cost will be if you don’t make this change.  

Still, it’s important to be sensitive to how people are responding to you, to use language that’s as non-judgemental as possible and that will ultimately help them to support you — or at least to give you the room to do what you need to do.

In all, developing a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset is about recognizing what’s possible and giving yourself permission to reach for those possibilities.  

It’s about choosing to see yourself as a beautiful work in progress, to appreciate how far you’ve come and to look forward to where you’re going. 

It’s work, it takes time and energy and discipline, but developing a growth mindset is one of the most empowering and exciting things you can do for yourself. 

When you believe that you are capable of change, that you are in control of how your life unfolds — that’s exhilarating and opens up a whole new world of opportunities. 

So I’d like to invite you to start shifting towards a growth mindset today, and to get a little help if you need it. 

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