How to help your athletes avoid a fixed mindset

Many in the self-improvement field know of Carol Dweck's book Mindset, which describes the difference between two mindsets that people walk around with.

Our growth mindset – the mindset we strive for – consists of a constant orientation toward getting better, focusing on ourselves, learning from mistakes and more.

However, many of us live stuck in the fixed mindset, selling our potential short.

Research consistently shows that those who spend more time in growth mindset do better in sport and other performance. Anecdotally, athletes prefer playing with growth-minded players, who make for better teammates than the occasionally difficult fixed mindset players.

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By the way, there's no shame in starting in fixed mindset. We all spend time there, and someone along the line probably encouraged your player to interpret the world through that lens. However, it's still good to learn how to be in growth mindset.

Here are five ways to tell if your athlete (or you!) is stuck in fixed mindset:

1. Like diamonds, talent is forever. A fixed mindset player knows that they have a special gift. Their gift can't be replicated, removed or stopped. It came from the heavens, or from their genetics, but never from practice or hard work. It's Smash Williams drinking Michael's Secret Stuff every night. Fixed mindset tells the player that trying is for suckers. The true greats just walk onto the court as the best. However, there's a reason LeBron James spends millions on his conditioning every year and Steph Curry rebuilt his jumpshot from scratch. The greats take natural talent and grow it exponentially. Players who expect to be great without effort are stuck in fixed mindset.

2. Constant comparisons to other players. Where a growth-minded player mostly looks to past performances for comparsion, a fixed mindset player generally looks to others. While this seems beneficial to athletes – why wouldn't you want to be better than the person or player next to you? – it creates problems on several levels when they cannot also be motivated by internal factors. It can cause jealousy when an athlete notices her teammate receiving more shine from the coach. If a coach has eight basketball players who consider themselves starters, three of them must sit on the bench. If they're stuck in fixed mindset, they'll spend more time and energy thinking about how they're better than the player they're stuck behind and less on improving themselves. Comparing one's self to others can be beneficial, but one of the first signs of an athlete dealing with fixed mindset is comparing themselves to their teammates, in terms of ability, playing time, treatment by coaches, etc.

3. Focus on how they look. A player in fixed mindset worries about how they look to others more than whether they're improving. From my understanding, this is because a player in fixed mindset faces a threat to their ego when they compete. If their identity is "the fastest player", what happens when they inevitably compete against someone faster than them? Often, fixed mindset players will quit trying when faced with a threat to their ego. This is a defense mechanism – if they don't try, no one can call them a failure. If they succeed without trying, it's another example of their wonderful talent. However, without trying, they won't get better.

4. Never their fault. Pass drops short? The quarterback underthrew it. The cornerback makes a play on the ball? The coach drew up a play that set the player up for failure. The team loses, and your player has no receptions? The rest of the team didn't pick up the slack. When a player is in fixed mindset, NOTHING is their fault. They won't take responsibility for anything. Think about the previous three points – the focus on how you look, the comparison to others, the idea that talent is forever. Imagine how difficult it is to reconcile those things with your own failure. Instead of being able to face failure, fixed mindset turns toward the outside world to pin the blame on the various donkeys around them (in their mind). When a player can't take responsibility for their shortcomings, they're often living in their own private fixed mindset. This can alienate teammates and stunt their own growth, all in the name of protecting the mindset.

5. Refuses to accept feedback. Similarly to "never their fault", a fixed mindset player won't accept advice or coaching, because this means they're doing something incorrectly. It is a threat to their natural talent. They're already great, so why are you, as a coach, parent, fan, expert, etc, telling them a different way to do things? Besides, there are other players/forces who need feedback, because any mistake is their fault! This is a simplification of the fixed experience, but essentially, giving feedback can be perceived as a rejection of the athlete who is receiving the feedback. Look out for this, and these other signals of fixed mindset, to tell if your athlete is dealing with fixed mindset.