How to Keep Learning Maintaining a Growth Mindset Throughout Your Career

How to Keep Learning Maintaining a Growth Mindset Throughout Your Career Article by Cecilia MeisChildren learn how to walk in phases. First they discover their toes, gripping and pointing and kicking. Then come a few unsuccessful crawls as they test out the strength of each foot, realizing a knee is better suited for the task. Finally they stand a few times, gaining confidence and takingsome video-worthy spills.Dozens of falls later, theyre still at it, figuring out the best way to start and how to stop themselves when the heads momentum outpaces the legs ability. Eventually they succeed, surrounded by smiling and cheering adults. Now, its time to run.We are born with an innate desire to learn new concepts notonly those expectedin the course of prototyphuman development, but also those that bring us happiness or satiate our curiosity, and even those that have no measurable benefit at all.Somewhere along the way, however, we stop learning more than is required of us. Maybe our friends said it welchesnt cool to study.Maybework keeps us busy enough to forget the simple joys of learning. Whatever the case, we begin to ignore those challenges that dont fit our current skill sets. Instead, we look for ones that show off our strengths and hide our weaknesses. We become fixed in our ways, and because of our fixed mindsets, wegive up at the first sign of struggle.However, knowing that our best growth happens in times of struggle is the basis of having a growth mindset. With agrowth mindset, we meet challenges with How can I learn to do this? instead of I cant do this.Carol Dweck, one of the pioneers of growth-mindset research,found that unwarranted praise can promote a fixed mindset in children. The saatkorn is true of ourselves. While we should respond with self-encouragement after failing, we should also hold ourselves accountable. At its core, a growth mindset isnt blind positivity, but the understanding that knowledge and achievemen t come from hard work and practice.A growing body of research shows that adopting growth mindsets can stabilize existing neural pathways in our brains and even construct new ones, allowing connections between information and response to happen faster and more reliably. The application of a growth mindset has shown promise at nearly every stage of life.Students who understand the concept of brain plasticity outperform their peers. Lifelong learning programs in retirement communities are becoming increasingly popular as research finds correlations between learning new skills that require mental and physical focus mastering a new card game, for example and preventing the onset of dementia and other neurological diseases.Commit to agrowth mindset by allowing your own curiosity to grow and lead you in new directions. Start with the following tips1. Feed Your CuriosityAsk questions and spend time researching the answers. Frustrated that you hit that same red light every day on the way t o work? Research how traffic flow maps are built. Remember that learning new things isnt always about getting a raise or earning a promotion. Learning in all forms is inherently beneficial.2. Target Your WeaknessesCommit to conquering one new thing each month. Never learned how to dance? Sign up for a swing dance club.3. ReadEven if you dont consider yourself an avid reader, dive into books.Research has found that reading not only helps us learn new concepts, but it can also improveour emotional intelligence and social awareness. When we connect with the characters on the pages, we are working through complex social situations, and we become better prepared to handle future ones as a result.Along with these tips, you have to take care of your mind and body in buchen to be ready to take in new information and apply it in meaningful ways. Get plenty of rest, eat a balanced diet, increase your heart rate for 20 minutes a day, and try meditation to clear your brains junk drawer.Three En trepreneurson the Important of Growth MindsetsA growth mindset involves asking a lot questions and trying to work through the why, what, and how of situations, people, and systems. Young kids ask a lot of questions. Part of a growth mindset is channeling a childs innate curiosity and applying it to your work.One of my companys principles is We dont take ourselves too seriously.If you take yourself too seriously, you shut off avenues through which you can learn and grow. An unfortunate side effect is that youll start watching a YouTube video at 11 p.m. on how to make tiramisu and before you know it, its 3 a.m. and you somehow got to a Wikipedia article on Johannes Gutenbergs first iteration of the printing press.When youre in the right environment, every situation can be a learning opportunity. Weve implemented a management/business book club at Fresh Prints. This allows us to learn together on a company-wide level. We send each other short videos and articles and share books we find interesting. Its not a bad use of company time if we watch helpful videos on the job. Our company principles allow us to do so. In fact, they encourage that. Most young entrepreneurs start out with a growth mindset. Thats the only way to get your feet off the ground.- Jacob Goodman, co-owner and CEO of Fresh PrintsI started my first business when I was 12 years old. Being young, I knew there was a lot I didnt know, so I spent time around people who knew more than I did and absorbed their knowledge. But it was when I went to my first motivational speaking event with Jim Rohn, Tom Hopkins, and Brian Tracy that I got the real drive to learn as much as I could.Now I have a very consistent lifestyle. I get up at 445 a.m. every day to do my studies, read a business book, and read about Aspergers syndrome (to gain knowledge to help with my son). After that, I listen to an audiobook while getting ready for the day or doing household chores. While working on my latest book, 12Books12Months, I find inspiration and additional supportfor my own theories with examples from other books and content that I find helpful in expressing what I have to share. Make learning one of your non-negotiables and be sure to create an effective schedule so you will receive all the benefits of the process.- Vicki Fitch, author, speaker, and business consultantWhen I became an attorney, I realized that to be great at the profession, it wasnt enough to learn just what was required. Additional knowledge resulted in having an advantage over my opponent and served my clients better.I have to build my learning into my day. I listen to business podcasts daily, during any driving as well as any house chores. I also take zugreifbar business courses to constantly improve the performance of my companies. Every summer, I travel with my family mostly to Europe and I learn art and history related to our destinations. I interact with several business mentors on a regular basis. Currently, Im also studyi ng style and have hired a consultant to help me understand it better.I feel like Im constantly growing, and my circle of friends includes fascinating and likeminded people who are committed to learning. I look at learning as a tool to make life less stressful and less busy. It helps in organizing systems and processes to avoid chaos. One of the main reasons I love entrepreneurship is that it involves constant learning. I use any setbacks or challenges as triggers to learn how to overcome them. One of the most successful people I know once told me that his life motto was established to put himself in uncomfortable positions If Im too comfortable, Im not learning, not growing.- Elena Ledoux, founder and chief mommy of MommyGo.comA version of this article originally appeared on SUCCESS.com and in the Spring 2019 issue of SUCCESS magazine.Cecilia Meis is a full-time writer and editor based in Dallas, Texas. Besides SUCCESS, her work has appeared in Time Out Dallas, Rewire, Healthline, a nd others. Outside of work, she plays beach volleyball, attempts home cooking, and is ardently working toward making her cat, Nola, Insta-famous.

How Independent Workers Can Utilize the On-Demand Economy to Find Work

How Independent Workers Can Utilize the On-Demand Economy to Find Work How Independent Workers Can Utilize the On-Demand Economy to Find Work The life of the independent worker, although rewarding, has always been plagued with uncertainty. Whether one has decided to embark on a mora flexiblecareer path by choice or hasarrived there unwillingly (through loss of full-time work or the inability to find a full-time job in their field), the struggle to find steady gigs and earn a decent living while doing what youre passionate about never really ends.According to a study conducted by Intuit, there are an estimated 3.7 million independent workers vying for jobs in the market right now. This number is expected to grow to more than 60 million people by 2020 in the U.S. Thats more than 40 percent of the U.S. workforce.The good news? This steady growth of the independent workforce has fostered the rapid growth of the on-demand economy and the emergence of hundreds of exciting startup compani es thatexist to deliver timely and efficient services to the masses. This means hundreds of companies need to hire candidates in pretty much any field in order to meet the demands of users.The results of a Burston-Marsteller survey show that 45 million Americans (22 percent of the adult population) have offered their services in the on-demand space, and 51 percent of those people have said thattheir financial situations have improved in the past year, which suggests that the on-demand economy is helping people earn more.It is fair to say that the days of calling in every week to see if X company has freelance work availableare slowly dwindling. Now, with the mere push of a button in an app, one can be connected instantly to a paying job or two, or three.The even better news is that behauptung on-demand companies have fairly easy vetting processes. All one needs to be considered for most jobs isa pair of sturdy feet, access to a computer or a car, and, of course, a strong desire to provide excellent customer service. Once theyre on the platform,these independent workers have 24/7 access to on-demand jobsrights at their fingertips, choosing when to respond to a request and just how many requests to respond to in any given day. Independent workers can offertheir services across several platforms to maximize their exposure and their profit.Crowded.com spoke with active independent workers and gathered intel on how they are taking advantage of the on-demand economy to find work and maximize their earnings.The following are three ways these workers are getting ahead in this new economy1. Lean on HR Tech Companies for HelpEmerging HR tech companies are making it super fast and easy for job seekers to stay on top of on-demand and hourly job postings, with some even going so far as to match independent workers with hiring managers.Many of these companies also aim to educate job seekers on all things related to the on-demand economy. For example, independent workers st ruggling with affordable health care can turn to Stride Health, an awesome tech startup thatoffers affordable health benefits previously denied to the independent worker.2. Market Yourself in an On-Demand Marketplace to Increase VisibilityFreelance marketer, yoga instructor, graphic designer, and plumber? One-stop shops that offer all these services and more are popping up all the time.Fiverr, Thumbtack, andTaskRabbit, to name just a few, are growing their task forces every day and you can join these platforms to sellyourtalents to the world.You may be surprised by just how much a person can earn in these marketplacesOne freelance worker, for example,makes full-time money while working part-time through Fiverr. Its not unheard of for a freelance worker to gain a loyal following of clients just by providing fast and efficient services through these platforms.3. Be CreativeThis jewelry designer figured out a brilliant way to reach potential customers by perfecting his sales pitch on his Uber passengers. His $250,000 a year in profits is proof of how the on-demand economy is bringing immeasurable opportunities to the independent worker.The rise of the on-demand or gig economy has brought with it a way a new way of living and earning money for the independent worker. Stats and surveys have shown that there are legitimate opportunities to earn a decent living by putting yourself out there on multiple platforms, getting creative, providing excellent customer service, and leveraging the help of HR tech companies geared towards the on-demand workerJoe Rubinis cofounder and director of corporate development at Crowded.com.