In America, we have been raised to believe that anyone can succeed if they are determined enough and work hard and consistently over time.
As a writing coach, I have seen this belief in action. From my perspective, the most determined writers, who never give up and bounce back fastest seem to succeed the most, as opposed to the most talented writers, who often give up quite easily, and therefore don’t succeed as much as you might expect.
Determined writers who enjoy learning and thrive on growth, are also just a lot more fun to work with and to be around than writers who project superiority and entitlement.
Writers with grit spend a lot less time feeling sorry for themselves or thinking that they will never succeed.
If you are a writer, and you are feeling stuck, ask yourself if you have mastered the all-important growth mindset.
According to an uncited handout from my daughter’s school, growth mindset means you embrace challenges rather than avoiding them.
You persist in the face of setbacks rather than giving up too easily.
Growth mindset means you see effort as positive, and as a path to mastery rather than fruitless or worse.
It means you learn from criticism, rather than ignoring it.
And growth mindset means you find lessons and inspiration in the success of others rather than feeling threatened by their success.
People with growth mindset, reach ever higher levels of achievement, because they set their minds on becoming more successful.
The other way of thinking, a fixed mindset, is likely to inhibit you from achieving your potential.
Furthermore, folks with a fixed mindset maintain a deterministic view of the world.
After 14 years as a writing coach, I have had the opportunity to observe many writers in action and I have noticed that it’s not necessarily the most optimistic but the most determined folks, who succeed.
It’s not the most easily inspired, but the folks most willing to do something with the inspiration, who succeed.
It’s the folks who see the journey as a process of give and take, who persist and therefore succeed eventually.
Writing career success is humbling and empowering. There is typically not a whole lot of free lunch for writers.
Writing career success is about answering the question, what are you going to do today with the best of what you have to offer?
The folks who get busy pursuing the answer to that question succeed in the short run and the long run.
So, here’s a question for you? Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?
Are you interested in challenges, obstacles, effort, criticism, and ultimately success…or are you content with keeping things the way they are?
Your answers are more likely to determine your fate than any amount of talent you do or do not possess.
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So interesting! I am just learning about growth mindset in my day job (teaching) and I hadn’t thought about how it applies to writing.
One of the most interesting things about writers who never give up is that, in many ways, writers–and anyone else who WANTS something important to them–are conditioned to NOT be go-getters. Go-getters get accused of arrogance. People who aren’t go-getters aren’t accused of that. Go-getters are criticized when mistakes happen. People who aren’t go-getters aren’t accused because they don’t try anything and don’t have anything that gets pointed at. It’s sad to think how social conditioning has shaped so many individuals into doing nothing and paying the price in dreams never attained. Sad, very sad. Joe
Definitely applies to everything in life, I think. I’m so glad the schools focus on this.
Yes, Joe, and times this by ten if you are woman…because women get it much more from so many directions.
Interesting you point out the differences between men and women, Christina, or more specifically how much more challenging it is for women. (I would agree with you.) But I was also involved in a discussion on Google+ this morning about aging male protagonists in films and I commented how much more difficult it is for aging women to find roles in Hollywood. I’ll tag you in the conversation momentarily…..you might be interested in checking it out.
Great concepts for writing and all endeavours. I do learn from criticism but must confess it’s a challenge to hear it at times.
My answer-fixed mindset.
Hi Luisa, everything I have taught writers for the past fourteen years teaches writers growth mindset. You will find this approach in all of my books and online classes. I think the one that embodies it best is my most recent traditionally published book, The Writer’s Workout. I also provide daily writing/creativity challenges via my site (https://christinakatz.com/work-with-me/) and I am rolling out a steady stream of video classes (https://christinakatz.com/build-your-platform/). I also offer phone consulting to aspiring authors and authors. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions, Luisa.
Thanks, Sue! You have always shown a growth mindset. 🙂
Aging women are going to take over the world, Joe. I know this because I am one of them. Stay tuned! 🙂
Of course they will. One’s quite possibly going to be in the White House in a few years. Probably would do this country some good.