What Makes People Different?
“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
From the beginning, it’s been fairly obvious that while each of us has many things in common, there has always been a strong tendency toward individual differences. Scientists have spent their careers examining whether these differences are based on physical attributes, or if they are attributable to our background, our experiences and our education.
Some learned minds consider intelligence to be a fixed thing that we are born with and yet, we have seen the development in increased attention, in memory, in judgment and in our ability to unfold more intelligence than we were at our births. We have seen minds – starting with our own – become developed through training, experience and that unseen force called personal effort. We have seen some individuals exceed all that was expected of them.
Is there one way that is more accurate than any other in considering individual differences? Those of us in business have an idea about whether nature/nurture, or genes, or environment are responsible for the current productivity level of ourselves or of workers in our experience, and about whether anything we do can impact an improvement on our own or on other’s performance.
Your philosophy about all this has a profound impact on your success. If you hold strong beliefs about your capability or your lack of capability, you can keep yourself and your progress locked into place or you can transcend beyond nature/nurture simply by holding the belief that “I can” and thus succeed in ways you may never have envisioned.
If you have a set series of beliefs captioned “This Is How I AM” and you also hold the belief “This Is How’s It’s Always Going To Be”, you have what is referred to as a fixed mindset. You think: “This Is All I Can Accomplish.” This mindset is limiting.
There is another way of being called the growth mindset. The growth mindset can see opportunities; it knows about capabilities; it isn’t afraid of being “caught out” deficient. The growth mindset thinks: I can change and grow through application and experience.
Success in business is aided exponentially when you change from a fixed to a growth mindset.
It’s not possible to see your own end point from here or how far you’ll get along the progress time line, but if you believe “I can develop into much more” you’ll move far along that line. Here are some tips that can help you achieve greater success through utilizing a growth mindset:
- Look for friends who will encourage you to stretch, to grow in areas formerly not even thought of.
- Make a determination that you will stretch, improve, grow and become more than you currently are.
- Promise yourself that you will persevere through thick and thin.
I have always looked for ways to make my dreams, my visions, happen even when it looked like they were impossible. I had a strong support group of friends who loved to explore new ideas, to stay abreast of new technologies, to utilize concepts that had made others successful. I sought out trainings that helped me to improve on my education, to conceive of the next bigger vision. I found my perfect levels of rest, exercise, nutrition to support my own dreams. When I saw how my growth mindset was working well, I decided to share with you what worked for me. I hope you can put these ideas to work real soon.
