Unlock Your Potential: Cultivating a Growth Mindset

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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.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fixed mindset or growth mindset?
What's the best kind of mindsetto have in life?
We certainly believe the growthmindset is the best place to be
at.
Growth mindset is the way to goto live a happier and healthier
life, and that's what we'll betalking about in this week's

(00:21):
episode of Get Real with theEnglish english sisters.
Thanks for joining us today.
Thank you so much.
What is a growth mindset?
Yeah, and how can we cultivateit?
I know, I think it's somethingwe do have to cultivate, like a
garden, yes, so I mean, if agarden's empty or full of weeds,

(00:42):
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, youwant to get rid of the weeds,
you want to make it flourish andcontinue growing, because you
nobody wants just to have onevery small lemon tree like now I
planted it.

(01:02):
You will hopefully want thelemon tree to grow and flourish
and flourish and and and.
Yeah, but give you fruits.
I think what we have to thinkabout is that what's the
opposite of a growth mindset.
It's a fixed mindset, isn't it?
Yes, so a fixed mindset issaying, no, I don't want to do.
I've got a garden full of weeds.
It's just going to stay likethat.

(01:22):
How can I deal with this?
I mean, it's got, it's gone toofar.
Now there's no way I'm going tobe 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 dothis.
I'm not a gardener, I'm noexpert.
I don't understand it.
This is so frustrating, I'lljust give up.

(01:44):
Yeah, I'll give up.
Yeah, that's what a fixedmindset is.
A giving up mindset, yeah, and,and you may.
Maybe you tried once to clearup the garden and you didn't do
it right.
No, and you think that, okay, Ifailed at this.
Yeah, so a fixed mindsetbelieves that failure is bad.
Yeah, thus it.
There is nothing.
You know it's bad.

(02:04):
I failed it once and so that'sit.
And a growth mindset is thereis no failure, only feedback.
So, with everything that whereyou fail at, you get feedback
from it.
So if you failed at the doingthe garden once, the next time
you learn from what you didwrong and you and you learn

(02:24):
again and you continue growingwith your mindset.
You grow and you grow every dayin life.
Having a growth mindset isessential, I think.
Well, I think, if you want tolive a happy and healthier life,
it is because otherwise, you'rejust going to get stuck in your
ways.
You know how you hear that,that you hear that people are

(02:44):
just stuck in their ways, yeah,or that they just don't want to
do things, and sometimes I thinkthat it's easier said than done
developing a growth mindset,because it can be very
overwhelming if you've tried todo something and then it just
you fail at it, and then youmight need help though you might
, you can ask for help, can'tyou?

(03:05):
Well, I think it's like youknow, if you do have that growth
mindset, if you believe thatyou can learn something if you
set your mind to it, you knowthat is a kind of growth mindset
.
You say, okay, I don'tunderstand this at the moment,
but I can learn how tounderstand it, doesn't matter
how long it takes.

(03:26):
That's a kind of mindset that'sreally going to set you off.
Yes, that's towards a quest forexcellence.
So to think I'm no good at thisnow, but I can get better, I
will get better, yes, as opposedto I'm no good at this now.
So there's no sense trying.

(03:46):
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 evenattempting that.
Yeah, you know, that's the kindof stunted mindset or fixed
mindset that it can kind ofcreep up on you throughout the
years.
Well, I think it does creep upon you and you don't even

(04:06):
realize.
Yeah, you don't even realize.
But you know, sometimes, evenonce you finish your school
years, and then you get, likeyou get into your 20s and 30s,
you might just think, well, I'vedone 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, mybrain can't cope with that.

(04:28):
Yes, yeah, or I'm too stressedor anxious to cope with that,
whereas in truth it's theopposite, because a growth
mindset sets you free to be ableto explore things that you
wouldn't have normally donebefore, and it actually makes
you very creative, creative.
Creative and creativity enablesyou to feel calmer, exactly.

(04:53):
It's odd that you think like Imean, let's take up any
challenge, learning a newlanguage, for example, doesn't
matter what age you are.
Learning a new language can bea challenge.
But if you just say no, that's,I'm far too old for that or
I've never been good atlanguages, there's no point me
even trying.
You're not.
You you've got that fixedmindset that's not going to

(05:15):
allow for any kind of growth atall.
However, if you say, okay, letme just have a little laugh with
this, let me just start.
I'm just going to startlistening to this language,
perhaps while I'm watching films, or get a little app that's
going to help me, let me listenand let me challenge myself to
try this.

(05:35):
It's going to make all thedifference and slowly, instead
of feeling anxious about it, youcan start to have fun with
these new challenges, which isessential.
I believe that's true.
I think you do have fun and youdo.
The growth mindset does make youhave more fun, because you're

(05:57):
going to be doing new things andexperiencing new things in life
, which is what life is allabout really, because that's
what we all want in life,absolutely.
We may think we want to stay inour comfort zones, but actually
, the challenges and getting outof your comfort zone is what
makes you grow and feel betterabout yourself.
It gives you more confidenceand self-esteem.

(06:17):
Ideally, what you want to do isto have your comfort zone and
always be able to go back to it,but to have another circle
which is like the growth zoneand which is not completely out
of your comfort zone, but it's azone in which you can grow and
learn.
And so you do have to take astep out of your comfort zone to

(06:38):
get into this other zone, butyou're not feeling excuse me,
you're not feeling completelyuncomfortable, frightened or
panicky.
No, and if you, if you do havethose feelings of fright, those
frightening feelings or panickyfeelings, you can say well, what
, what do I need here to toenable me to do this without

(06:59):
feeling those feelings?
Because you might just need ahelping hand, you might need a
friend to help you, or you mightneed to ask someone for some
advice, and you'll, you'll know,you'll know that feeling when
you, when you feel it you mighteven it might be at work you
might have to ask your managerfor help or a colleague.
And when you do, when you doask for help and you and you do

(07:22):
do that little extra bit ofgrowth, you're gonna feel so
good about yourself, you do, youfeel amazing, you feel proud
that you managed to do thatthing, even though it was so
frustrating, because a lot ofthe time, these things are
frustrating and we can have agood mindset.
The important thing is, eventhough it's frustrating, that we

(07:43):
persevere Instead of thinkingthis is frustrating, I'm going
to stop.
Yeah, you say to yourself thisis frustrating, but I will
persevere.
So it's all about that.
If you have that mindset, youwill continue doing it.
You say I've got it wrong.
Now I've got it wrong again.
I've got it wrong again, butI'm persevering at this.

(08:03):
Yeah, and I'm under.
I'm accepting that I'mfrustrated.
It doesn't mean that I'mcompletely, you know, going nuts
about this.
It's frustrating, but I'mlearning.
I'm in my growth zone.
Exactly, to be in your growthzone, that's a good one.
Yes, and so you've got yourcomfort zone there, but you're
in your growth zone.

(08:24):
Yes, the growing the importantthing is, I think, is that we've
learned it in life, is thatwe're always growing and that
it's lifelong learning thatenables you to stay like that,
with that growth mindset,because once you say, once you
say I've been there and I'vedone that and I've done it all
kind of thing, well then that'sthe end of it.

(08:44):
You won't learn new tricks, youwon't learn new things.
No, you won't, whereas if youif constantly saying, well,
that's a challenge, but let mesee how I can have a look at
that.
What angle can I take to tacklethat?
What do I need to be able to dothat?
You know, sometimes you need tolook online or you need to take

(09:06):
a course or you need to justask a friend, but it's so
rewarding and so challenging.
The challenge is the rewardingpart.
It's a contradiction to whatyou may think, because you may
think no challenges.
You know, I don't want to bechallenged, I've got enough on
my plate, I don't need thatextra challenge, whereas that

(09:27):
extra challenge will be whatwill make you grow.
And I think that's what we needto embrace.
Embrace even though sometimesit may seem hard or difficult.
Sometimes we really don't wantto do it and we think, no, no,
we don't want to go through thatextra challenge.
What's the point?
Yeah, what's the point?
Well, the point is that youwill be growing and you'll have

(09:50):
you'll, you'll be able to setyourself goals and see if you
can meet those goals, and whenyou do meet them, it's so
rewarding and so so fulfilling.
I mean, I remember when we, whenI, when we first started all of
this, we said we don't know howto.
I mean, I didn't.
Even back in the day, I didn'teven write emails.
I was a stay-at-home mom.

(10:10):
I didn't even know how to do anemail and I remember the first
time I had to write an email Iwas what is this is?
I mean, it seems like thedinosaur ages now that we're
online all the time, but even orlearning how to do a podcast,
how do you do that?
What technical?
The technical difficulties ofit all.
And they've all been learningchallenges.

(10:31):
They've all been growthchallenges that have set us on
this path of self-discovery andthat have helped us become
better people in the end.
Haven't they absolutely betterpeople?
It's it.
It's really essential.
You have a frog in your throat.
Is there anything else?
Well, there was something elseabout you know is that if you

(10:53):
have a fixed kind of mindset Ithink it's important to remember
that if you think that talentalone creates success, you know,
and if you make that effort, itwon't actually help you.
You know, that's a kind offixed mindset you think, oh no,
it's easy for him or for herbecause they're talented.
So I'm not talented.
So you mean that when you havea natural talent for something

(11:15):
you might have a natural talent.
Some people just seem to bereally good at things and you
think I'm no good at that, sothere's no point me making that
effort because I can't speaklanguages like he or she can, or
I can't play the guitar.
It's easy for them, yeah, it'seasy.
But that's that kind of fixedmindset that you know it's like

(11:37):
an excuse.
You're saying I'm not talented,so I'm not going to bother.
It stops you from doing things,doesn't it?
It stops you absolutely.
Yeah, they're limiting beliefs.
In the end, that will they willcome back and bite you because
they'll stop you from actuallyliving 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 wethat is, we don't even know

(12:01):
that we have.
I know it's untapped, we don'tknow it.
It's really quite excitingbecause if you start thinking of
how much untapped potential youhave within you, you can begin
to really, um, look insideyourself and think, oh, actually
I would have liked to do that.
Maybe in those days I didn'tthink I could.
Maybe now I could try it and gofor it, because we're forever

(12:23):
changing, we're growing all thetime.
We're not the same people nowwe were when we were 16 or 18 or
24.
We're always growing andchanging and evolving.
So I think if you think aboutthat, that will really help you
develop this growth mindset.
That will really truly be yourally.
So let us know what you think.

(12:45):
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 andjoin us on youtube too, where
you can see the video versionand you can see our short.
See you next week.
Lots of love and smiles fromthe english sisters.