David Baldwin, CEC 3 years ago

Believe it or not, one has a positive mindset or fixed positive mindset, why is that and what does this mean? Well, let me break it down for you. 

Having a positive mindset means that you try to stay positive no matter what situation you are in. Now take the example from a man who is trapped in a pit, but he doesn't just give up; instead, he looks around and knows that come nightfall it will be freezing and he could freeze to death. Instead of looking beyond to find the larger problem, he focuses on what he can do to stay positive and comfortable.

In this case, he stays warm, he sees a ladder made of wood but instead of using it to climb out and find his way to safety. He decides that his first priority is to stay positive and use what's around him to stay warm. He probably thinks if he can last the night he's sure that someone will come along and rescue him.

This positive mindset gives him a sense of false security and clouds his judgment because it only helps him to cope with the problem but not actually solve it! Now I'm not saying that having a positive mindset is bad. It's important to stay positive and look on the bright side. In this case, at least he's warm, he still has some wood to feed the fire and he's sure that if he can stay positive everything will work out and someone will eventually come by to save him.

Being positive is good as long as it's not fixed positivity, meaning that no matter the situation you're sure there is are some positives but because your mindset is fixed you can't see the reality, the fact that you are in a pit and should focus on how to get out not how to stay comfortable.

Having a growth mindset is different. The growth mindset doesn't focus on the positive but how to understand the full situation, what is the actual problem, what needs to be sacrificed so he can get out of this challenging situation. A growth mindset will not seek comfort but seek opportunity and sacrifice comfort, if this means climbing the ladder in the dark to first solve the main issue, then what can he do once he's out, he can explore what's beyond the pit or he could pull up the ladder and focus on staying warm.

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The growth mindset looks at the situation, explores his options, and how to understand what is the main learning opportunity in this situation? He first figures out that he can't focus on comfort but challenge himself to rise above into unfamiliar territory and be able to then adapt based on the situation, say he can't see anything around him, his first instinct would not be to stay warm but to look at what can guide him to safety, in this case, he could navigate using the stars, look for the north star and find which way he should go, he could then pull up the ladder and chop it up or carry it with him as he learns to navigate the new terrain and find his way to safety if there is nowhere in sight, he could then use a few parts of the ladder to start a fire and some other parts to build a shelter, or a spear to protect him from dangerous animals or even help him hunt so he can cook something over the fire and eat. 

So what's the difference between a positive mindset and growth mindset? A positive mindset just reframes a bad situation and looks for ways to make it better whereas a Growth mindset analyzes the situation and tries to find the real problem and how to solve it even if that means he'll face some challenges and difficulties along the way, at least he'll learn from them and can take corrective action to get to safety, where as a positive mind set might just start a fire and say well at least I'm not cold, at least I'm not somewhere unfamiliar, at least I can still break off some more wood and I'm sure sooner or later someone or something will save me. 

So what's the lesson here? the lesson is that we need to take action, explore the unknown and give up temporary comforts if we want to grow or in this case get back to safety. We can't just focus on staying comfortable and waiting for something or someone to help us, we need to take action, be realistic and think out of the box to see the bigger problem and what are some new things we can try that will help us learn how to overcome the situation and ultimately find a long term solution and permanent comfort.

So make sure you first have a growth mindset, then stay positive, don't give up and take action!

Don't just blindly think that things will work out as long as you look on the Brightside and passively wait! or your so-called positivity will positively end you!

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