Importance of attitude in growth

Your attitude towards life can make the difference between failure and success. It refers to how you approach your activities, how you work to achieve your goals. Attitude can define how long it takes you to achieve what you set out to do. It influences the way we take rejections and mistakes. It does you no good to have potential, talent, knowledge and even experience if you don't face daily challenges with the right attitude.

Attitude has an emotional, cognitive and behavioral component. In other words, it is an expression of what we feel and think. We evaluate what happens to us all the time, and we use that learning to build our attitudes and direct our behavior. They are part of the responses we give according to our perspective of reality, and therefore if we are attentive we can re-educate and modify them because they are subject to change.

Main types of attitude

Attitudes are predispositions that are formed or acquired throughout life, during interaction with our environment. If we are unaware of a specific event or stimulus it will be difficult to have a definite attitude towards it. Although it is also flexible in the sense that an attitude can be used for more than one situation.

Our attitudes are reinforced by experiences and interactions with others. In addition to the beliefs we have developed. This set of factors manifests itself differently in each person to shape our reactions and responses to life. It is now common to hear about the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and the prejudices of persisting with a negative attitude when pursuing our goals.

Among the best known positive attitudes are the altruistic and emotional, both are interested in people and their value in themselves, they are often empathetic and sympathetic to the needs and feelings of others. This does not mean that components such as ambition, resolution and commitment are not present in this type of attitude.

Among the negative ones are selfish and manipulative. Here people tend to use others as a means to obtain something or achieve a particular end.

But there are many more that can characterize us as critical, interested, proactive, passive, assertive, rational, prejudiced, pessimistic, among others. People adopt different attitudes according to the context and the environment in which they develop.

Types of mentality

Progress is the improvement or advance that a person experiences towards a better, more developed state. It implies a movement, a change towards better conditions, although it is neither linear nor continuous. The attitude we have towards challenges and aspirations is what will determine whether we advance or stagnate and blame external factors such as society, the family, the economy, politics, etc.

The type of mentality a person can have is closely related to attitude. Herein lies the main difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

Fixed mindset: they see their capabilities as limited because they consider them innate and immutable. Failure holds them back because they believe it confirms that they do not have what it takes to succeed in the experience. They tend to think that if they need to insist or work hard to achieve something, it is a sign that they do not have the necessary skills or that it is not for them. They often let the past determine the future.

They are also not clear about their capabilities; what they can achieve depends on their circumstances and the will of others. They feel limited by external factors but actually prefer to act from the security of what they have already achieved.

Growth mentality: what is fundamental is the learning process, intelligence is moldable and all that is needed is effort and dedication. With this attitude, failures do not exist, they are only opportunities to improve, to find another way to obtain the desired result. If they fail, it is not an obstacle but part of the basis to build something better. They have full confidence in their capabilities and can discern between constructive opinions and noise, they use the information to grow and to add value to what they offer.

It depends on the belief system with which you operate. The most effective prison is our own thoughts, which keep us in that place of lack and inadequacy. You can't realize it until we don't know or see other possibilities.

Attitude in the service of our values

In the long run a growth mindset and attitudes in line with it contribute to feeling less frustration and helplessness, and therefore generate greater well-being. But it doesn't really make a difference the mindset if it is not applied to fulfill a purpose that aligns with our values.

Especially if it is taken to extremes;