The Fixed Mindset vs. Fixing Weaknesses
It’s almost like clockwork. Whenever I write an article suggesting that people avoid trying to fix their weaknesses and instead focus on their strengths, someone contacts me and tells me this is a fixed mindset. This is what happened today after someone read my article yesterday on deciding whether to build strengths or fix weaknesses. This reader believes my perspective is encouraging people to have a fixed mindset.
As a reminder, the fixed mindset is when someone believes your genes carve your characteristics in stone at birth. Furthermore, this means you believe you’re either born good at something or you’re not. If you’re good at something it will be easy, if you’re not it will be hard.
In contrast, the growth mindset is one in which you believe that self-improvement is a product of hard work. When you have a growth mindset you believe the innate talents you’re born with are just the starting point. From this starting point, the improvement you make is 100% dependent upon how hard you’re willing to work.
The Fixed Mindset is Not a Strengths Mindset
At the surface level, I will admit it appears my philosophy on prioritizing strengths over fixing weaknesses appears to be a symptom of the fixed mindset. However, if you go deeper you will understand why it’s not. First, this view is not something I came up with out of thin air. Prioritizing strengths over fixing weaknesses is the strengths based coaching approach developed by psychologist Don Clifton and Gallup’s “Strengthsfinder” system.
The rationale for this approach is much easier to understand after reading Mark Twain’s story about Saint Peter.
A man died and met Saint Peter at the pearly gates. The man knew Saint Peter was very wise so he wanted to ask him a question that he had wondered throughout his life.
The man said, “Saint Peter, I have been interested in military history for years. Tell me who was the greatest general of all time?”
Saint Peter quickly responded, “Oh, that’s a simple question. It’s that man right over there.”
“You must be mistaken,” responded the man, now very perplexed. “I knew that man on earth and he was just a common laborer.”
“That’s right, my friend,” assured Saint Peter. “He would have been the greatest general of all time, if he had been a general.”
The moral of this story is NOT that this man went through life avoiding difficult challenges because he thought he didn’t have certain innate talents. The moral of this story is that this man had a talent that he did not turn into a strength. What’s more, turning a talent into a strength is hard as well as time consuming work, and the fixed mindset is a mindset that avoids this work.
Working Hard to Get Better is Not a Fixed Mindset
People with a fixed mindset expect things to come easy. On the other hand, a strengths mindset encourages hard work, albeit hard work applied strategically.
The example I always use to explain hard work applied strategically is writing. No one is born a good writer. However, some people are born with a love of writing. A fixed mindset person who loves writing, but struggles with it would never work to improve this skill. They would give up at the first sign of negative feedback. I was one of those people. However, after taking the CliftonStrengths Assessment, I made a change. I now use my love of writing everyday in this blog, and consistently make an effort to improve.
There are many other things I could work to improve other than writing. I could work on getting better at cooking, graphic design, or carpentry skills. But I don’t love doing those things.
Investing time to get better at what you love to do is the essence of the “strengths” philosophy. This is also the main reason why it discourages the fixed mindset. The fact is, no one is born with a strength. A strength is the product of hard work over time. Deciding whether or not to develop a strength by applying your time working hard to an area that naturally interest you or to an area that requires external motivation is the question.
When you use the strengths mindset, the answer to this question is easy. When you have self-motivation because you naturally love to do something, it’s by far easier to work hard. Therefore, is far more likely to reach your potential working hard in these areas. That is why these areas are characterized as your strengths.
Spending as little time and energy as possible in areas of weakness is a matter of time management not a fixed mindset. With only so much time in life to pursue your potential, your best bet is to find that potential by working hard to get better at those things you love.