H O W D O E S M I N D S E T I M P A C T P E R F O R M A N C E ?

A mindset is a set of underlying beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions that serve as the foundation for how you view, engage with, and interact with the world Mindsets are powerful: They create your realities, and shape your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in important ways. They can also create blind spots, fuel biased thinking, and when left unchecked, can be hard to change. For many, aspects of your mindset remain outside of your consciousness. It takes effort and intention to learn about and become more aware of how those mindsets show up in both productive and counterproductive ways in our personal and professional lives.

Awareness and acceptance begin with knowing what your mindsets are. Change is brought on by opportunities to practice subtle mindset shifts to benefit performance and well-being, both in and out of the workplace. Knowledge is developed through a deep and nuanced understanding of the complexity of mindsets and their role in shaping your everyday experiences

How Do Mindsets Work? It’s the Confirmation Bias

Your mindset acts as a lens through which you see the world. It impacts what you notice and how you interpret different situations. This takes place through the confirmation bias.

It causes you to notice the information that supports your beliefs and fail to notice anything that contradicts those beliefs.

The confirmation bias makes you only remember the evidence that supports your beliefs—and if you notice any information that contradicts your strong beliefs, you don’t remember it.

Finally, if somehow you do notice and remember information that contradicts your beliefs, you discount it by saying it’s the “exception to the rule,” so you can hold onto your beliefs.

What makes the confirmation bias so difficult is that you’re not doing it on purpose and you don’t even know that it’s happening So it seems like only the evidence that supports your beliefs is out there, and it’s as if the evidence that contradicts your beliefs doesn’t even exist. The effects of the confirmation bias happen to everyone all the time. People have a belief, and something happens that you interpret as an example that what you think is right, true, and accurate. Really, it’s just the confirmation bias at play.

The confirmation bias itself isn’t a bad thing. Your brain evolved to have the confirmation bias because there’s an endless amount of things you could be attending to at any moment in time. So our brains had to create a filtering system to let in the information that’s most important to our survival. Otherwise, they’d be overloaded with information

Most of the time, this serves you well Let’s say you deeply believe your spouse is the greatest person in the world You’ll notice, remember, and give more weight to all those things that confirm that they’re the best. And that's great because you’re already married. However, when accuracy matters, the confirmation bias can cause problems. For example, if you think your wife has an amazing voice, and you’re going to sell your things to move to Nashville to start her singing career and she really sounds like a drowning ostrich you’re in trouble.

The confirmation bias isn’t bad, but you need to be aware of your mindset (that is, your beliefs, values, and goals) and understand that it’s human nature that you’ll be more likely to notice, remember, and give greater weight to the evidence that supports your mindset That’s why it’s important to be aware of your mindset and make sure it’s helping you to be accurate and productive when it matters.

Performance-EnhancingMindsets

Scienceshowstherearecertainmindsetsthatcanimproveperformance,increase yourwell-being,andenhanceyourresilience.Hereare3popularexamples:

Growthmindset.Agrowthmindsetisprobablythemostcommonlyknown mindsetIt’sthebeliefthatyourbasicqualitiescanimprovethroughhardwork anddedication.Intelligenceandtalentarejustthestartingpoint.Ontheflipside, thosewithfixedmindsetsbelievethattalentorintelligencearepermanent.You can’timproveit,andyoueitherhaveitoryoudon’t.Peoplewithgrowthmindsets aremorelikelytoperformbetteraswellaslearnandgrowfromfailure,and they’relesslikelytogiveup

StressMindset.Stressmindsetisthebeliefyouhaveabouttheroleofstressin yourlife.Thisgreatlyinfluenceshowstressimpactsyoumentallyandphysically, andhowwillingyouaretofacechallengesandreachoutforhelptonavigate throughadversityItturnsoutsimplybelievingstressishelpful(andthatitbrings outthebestinyou)canhelpyougrowfromtoughexperiencesandimproveyour performance,health,andrelationships.Ontheotherhand,ifyoubelievestress isbadforyourwell-being,performance,andabilitytogrow,thentheexperience ofstresscanbecomeastressoritselfandwilllikelyharmyourhealth, performance,andabilitytogrow

OptimisticMindset.Anoptimisticmindsetisthebeliefthatthingscangetbetter andyouhavesomecontroltomakethembetter.Incontrast,peoplewitha pessimisticmindsetaren’tabletoseewheretheyhavecontroltoimprovethings. Ifoptimisticthinkersdon’thaveanycontrol,theythenrefocustheirenergyon somethingwheretheycantakeproductiveactionThosewithoptimistic mindsetstendtohandlestressandperformbetterthanpessimisticthinkers. Theyhavestrongerrelationships,greaterresilience,andimprovedwell-being too.

Source:HPRC:HumanPerformanceResourcesbyCHAMP

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