October is not only Healthy Workplace Month, but October 10th also lands on World Mental Health Day.
This is the perfect time to focus on how we can strengthen our mental and emotional well-being at work.
Resilience is vital to this, and building this trait has many benefits. Resiliency is a key marker of good mental health, and it can protect you from worsening mental health conditions or increasing your risk of trauma during challenging situations. While it won’t make your problems go away, it can help you cope more positively, stay hopeful, and keep going when life or work becomes difficult.
A “Growth Mindset,” coined by psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, is an accessible way to build resilience today. Adopting a growth mindset is believing that we can develop our abilities through hard work, continuous learning, and perseverance. This directly challenges the notion of a “fixed mindset,” which believes that we are only capable of the talents and abilities we are born with and cannot change.
This month, let’s explore how to embrace a growth mindset to improve mental health at work.
1. Understanding the Growth Mindset
In essence, the growth mindset is the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through learning, dedication, and effort. Challenges become opportunities for growth rather than a threat to survival.
Fixed Mindset: “I’m either talented at this, or I’m not. I cannot change this about myself. I cannot be as good as someone who is naturally inclined to do this, so I will forgo trying to learn about it.”
Growth Mindset: “I will learn from this experience and use the information I find to improve myself. I may not be a natural at this, but I am capable of helping myself become a better version of myself.”
None of us are naturally talented at everything. However, individuals who learn to accept their shortcomings and encourage themselves to use their setbacks as a learning opportunity are generally able to adopt a more positive and resilient outlook in work and life. They believe that they are capable of moving the needle forward and can build their self-competency along the way.
Resilient individuals can reframe their challenges as opportunities to grow. Instead of thinking, “This is too hard,” they ask themselves: “What can I learn from this? How will it help me grow?
2. Cultivating Self-Compassion
Being resilient and adopting a growth mindset does not mean ignoring your emotions or pushing through stress without a break. Rather, it is the opposite.
A key part of resiliency is self-compassion: to recognize that setbacks and mistakes are an inevitable part of life. Being kind to yourself when things don’t go as planned, such as missing a deadline or making a mistake at work, can help you get back on track faster than being overly critical of yourself.
While accepting constructive criticism is always a positive trait, staying in a negative space with self-deprecating thoughts for too long can do more harm than good, and can always make you feel stuck in your circumstances.
Tips for Self-Compassion
Acknowledge and accept your feelings. Learn how to check in with yourself. Ex. “I am feeling frustrated and disappointed with myself right now.”
Allow yourself to process your emotions in a healthy way. Learn to sit with your emotions without labeling them as good or bad. By choosing to sit with your feelings, you are practicing how to go through them, rather than ignoring or dismissing them. This also allows the chance for reflection and growth.
3. Embrace Continuous Learning
Resilient people and employees don’t shy away from learning—they embrace it. Whether it’s professional development, new technology, or learning from a mistake, continuously seeking knowledge helps you adapt and grow.
The experience of being able to learn new things fuels self-confidence, as you prove to yourself that you’re able to handle challenges and be capable of change. This confidence will also serve you throughout your career, as you inherently have more belief in yourself and your skills to grow and adapt.
4. Seek Feedback
Feedback is one of the most powerful tools for growth. Those with a growth mindset use feedback as a tool to improve, rather than as a way to criticize themselves for doing things wrong. Resilient individuals and employees ask for feedback, reflect on it, and use it as a way to become better at their jobs.
By embracing a growth mindset to actively build up your resilience, you’ll be better equipped to handle the ups and downs of life, in and outside of the workplace. Remember, resilience is not about never failing - it’s about bouncing back and learning from every experience.
If you’d like more support on how to build resilience through adopting a growth mindset, FSEAP’s counselling and coaching services can help. Reach out to your EAP today to learn more.
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