After some deliberation, you decide to make a career change and begin working online as a virtual assistant. You’ve done your research and picked up some new skills, and you’re all ready to go. Or are you?
Some doubts start to creep up on you and you think that maybe this just isn’t possible for you. You think that maybe you should just stay put in your current job.
Deep inside you are scared to fail.
You’re not the only one that feels this way! Trying something new and stepping outside of your comfort zone is no easy feat.
Not only do you need courage and self-motivation, but you’ll also need to work on your mindset, which can be the biggest obstacle between you and your dreams.
There are two mindsets (fixed and growth), and in this blog post, we’ll give you 6 ways that you can overcome a fixed mindset so you can start living your remote work dream life asap. But first let’s get into what the differences are between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
Fixed vs Growth Mindset: What’s the Difference?
There are two types of mindsets according to Carol Dweck, the psychologist who introduced and coined these terms.
“In a fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you’re not the best—it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome”.
With a fixed mindset, people assume their intelligence and abilities are predetermined and cannot change. They believe people are born with certain traits that allow them to reach success, and that working to develop and improve their lives will not make a difference in the outcome.
As a result, they view shortcomings and failures as personal and often give up to maintain their sense of being smart or skilled.
On the other hand, people with a growth mindset believe their intelligence and talents can grow and improve with time and experience. They view failures as challenges that bring them closer to their goals if they put in the extra effort to overcome them.
You can start fine-tuning your internal conversation and start approaching life with a growth mindset with some work. First, let’s look at how to identify a fixed mindset and then get into the 6 ways to overcome it to continue rocking your virtual assistant career online.
How to Identify a Fixed Mindset
The very first way to overcome a fixed mindset is by simply identifying that you have one.
For example, if you believe your qualities are already carved in stone, you feel like there’s no point in trying and want to return to what feels safe and familiar, this is what we call a fixed mindset. And it’s secretly holding you back from everything you’re capable of doing!
A fixed mindset can affect every area of your life from how you approach work, dreams, and even your personal relationships.
It can negatively affect your motivation when faced with any obstacle. It can leave you feeling insecure about your capabilities, especially when starting a new career.
But how does this relate to working online?
While making the transition to a new career can be frightening, it can be done. If you have a fixed mindset, don’t worry! It isn’t permanent. The brain can form new connections and adapt to new information.
Now, let’s talk about how you can overcome this and get on the road to success!
1. View Failure as an Opportunity for Growth
First things first, start by changing your perspective towards failure. Those with a growth mindset have a passion for learning rather than a desire to prove their traits and abilities.
Approaching failure with an educational component enables us to ask ourselves helpful questions such as “What mistakes did I make so I don’t make them in the future?” and “What are new solutions I can use to get better results?”
When you start viewing failure as an opportunity to grow and to learn, you will begin to change your mindset towards challenges in a more positive way.
2. Stop Seeking Approval
OWN WHO YOU ARE RIGHT NOW.
Take a moment to be grateful for who you are and for all of your positive traits. When you start to pour love into yourself and see yourself through a different lens, you won’t perceive failure as evidence of not being smart or talented.
Sometimes when we approach challenges, we have a desire for others to praise what we’ve done correctly. We push for rewards to validate our self-worth and when faced with the opposite, it hurts us more than we expected.
But when we prioritize learning and growth over approval, our potential and success will both increase. Life will open up in different ways than we ever previously imagined.
3. Value the Process Over the Outcome
Recognize that failure already brought you to where you are right now. All of the experiences in your life, positive and negative, have brought you to this exact moment.
You graduated school regardless of your teacher’s criticisms, you applied for all of those jobs despite the rejections, you met and fell in love and broke up and fell in love again. Each time you fell you rose again.
You did this.
For every skill you attempt to learn, take a moment and realize this is an opportunity for you to cultivate new skills or to refine the ones you already have.
You may fail but that is okay.
Every rejection and challenge you face is another opportunity to learn and grow. Each time you fail, you are learning and sharpening your skills. You are becoming a stronger and more resilient individual with each attempt.
4. Listen to Yourself
Don’t listen to those who doubt you, listen to yourself. We have been conditioned since childhood to view failure as a setback.
Getting a bad grade or not receiving the job means you are not smart or talented. So, we are told to give up and focus on something we’re good at.
But failure is a good thing. It exposes our flaws and highlights what we need to work on and improve. Failure is key to helping us reach our potential and success.
If your friends, family, and society question what you are doing then it’s okay. Remind yourself that you are investing in your success, your future, and you are growing into the individual you always envisioned yourself to be.
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
We are wired to fail and to fail often, but as we get older, we start to fear failure. As children, learning to walk takes a great deal of effort amidst constant failure.
Each time a child begins to walk, they fail but they keep trying. Every time you hear an inner doubting voice creep in, we want you to listen to your inner child and keep getting back up.
The problem that most people have is that they believe failure is a bad thing. So, once we’ve inevitably failed, we see ourselves as “failures.”
But my question to you is, what did you learn from that failure?
6. Foster a Sense of Purpose
Focusing on the bigger picture will help you to stay motivated when you start to feel defeated. Remind yourself why you’re learning a new skill. Ask yourself “will this bring me closer to my goal”?
When you cultivate a sense of purpose towards a new task or new opportunity, you are more likely to keep the big picture in mind. Those with a growth mindset have a larger sense of purpose and keep going when times get tough.
Remind yourself daily of what you are ultimately trying to achieve.
What Mindset Will You Adopt?
If you’ve been scared to fail and feel like no matter what you do that’s just how it’s meant to be, I hope this post shows you that you are just stuck in a fixed mindset and that you can take the steps to change that!
Adopting a growth mindset will help you to view setbacks and perceived limitations as opportunities to learn and grow, and that will help you stay motivated and on track toward your goals in the long run.
Do you still feel unsure of how capable you really are?
My 90 Day VA program was created to help people all over the world realize their dreams of working online. It will help you gain in-demand remote work skills, and we even have lessons specifically for working on your mindset.
The private Facebook community just for 90 Day VA members is also there for you when you need some extra support.
If you’re interested in learning more about virtual assisting check out my FREE CLASS where I break it all down for you.
Hope to see you there!