How resilient are you? Do you bounce back quickly from hardship, or does it take time to return to normalcy? We all have varying degrees of resilience. The good news is that you can enhance your resilience. There are specific actions you can take to become a more resilient person.
Adopting a growth mindset is essential to improve your recovery from setbacks. Psychologist and best-selling author Carol Dweck is known for her work in mindset. She has identified two major outlooks: fixed and growth.
Fixed Mindset
A person with a fixed mindset believes growth is impossible. Their qualities are carved in stone. Their life has been predestined, and nothing they can do will change that. If they aren't good at something, that's how it will be. They have to accept their limitations.
A person is born with a certain amount of talent and intelligence, which can never change. These people hide their flaws and are ashamed of their failures. They give up quickly due to a lack of resilience that comes from a belief that if they don't have the skills necessary to overcome an issue, they can develop it.
A fixed mindset causes a person to be unmotivated. They don't set and pursue goals because they believe they have limited abilities. Why set a goal if they are virtually guaranteed to fail? These people avoid challenges and don't believe making an effort is important. Temporary setbacks are seen as permanent failures.
Growth Mindset
A growth mindset believes talent, intelligence, and skills can be developed. It doesn't matter where a person starts in life; possibilities are limitless. People with a growth mindset embrace setbacks and failures and see them as opportunities for growth.
Their limitations don't define them and are temporary. They can do and become anything. They happily embrace challenges and risk failure because they believe knowledge-based effort can lead to success.
A growth mindset promotes resilience. Setbacks are seen as nothing more than life events, not indications of a person's value. Mistakes and failures are learning opportunities. Unlike a fixed mindset, a growth mindset allows someone to view other people's success as a source of motivation.
Develop a Growth Mindset for Quicker Recovery
A growth mindset can help you build resilience. Embrace the belief that you can recover from any situation, no matter what life hands you. Your intelligence and skills are unlimited. If you don't have a skill, you can develop it.
If there is something you need to learn, it's possible. Your destiny wasn't fixed at birth. It's possible to make great things happen. The most difficult situations are nothing more than life events. They don't define you. Learn from them. See them as opportunities for growth.
One core outlook of resilience is self-belief, which is at the root of a growth mindset. When you believe you can improve your situation and recover from hardship, you will.