Growth Mindsets for Writers - As Easy as Riding a Bike

I love learning weird things.

I also love learning about how the brain works.

Sometimes, those two things go hand-in-hand.


Did you learn how to ride a bike when you were a child? Did you realize that mastering that skill is actually the result of a complicated mental process?


If you've got a few minutes, please take the time to watch this video. It boggles the mind. 

Are you intrigued yet?

Are you wondering what that has to do with writing?

In my mind, the connection is simple. Many people think writing is intuitive. If you love to read, you can write. Two sides of the same coin.

And then you sit down to do it and .... oops. Not so simple.

I do believe if you're an avid reader, you start out as a writer with a leg up, because there is a certain amount that you absorb. But writing is work.

Repeat after me

Writing is work.

Darn hard work.

So what is all this about Growth Mindsets?

Growth Mindsets is a theory that was developed by Dr. Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.  It's a big buzz phrase in education, but I think it also translates well to writing.

Essentially, Dweck's theory relates to how we deal with failure (or fear of failure).

If you have a fixed mindset, when you encounter failure, you assume you're just not good (talented, smart, etc.) enough and give up.

But if you have a growth mindset, you see failure as a challenge. It makes you want to try harder, to strive for success.

Think of it the way I saw it in my classroom when I was teaching 4th grade math. If a student had a really difficult problem to complete, did they give it a try, and then give up if they couldn't solve it right away (or got it wrong)? Or did they really dig in and struggle with it until they figured it out?

That 4th grade math problem can be equated with the struggle an author faces when a writing challenge comes along. Maybe it's a rejection, or a request to revise and resubmit (R&R). Maybe it's a revision letter from your editor on a contracted book. Or maybe it's a yawning plot hole in the current WIP. How do you handle it? Do you give up and mutter, I guess I'm not mean to be a writer? Or do you dig deep and work through it?

It's hardly rocket science to figure out which author is going to succeed.

But what about talent? You might ask.

In a video I will link below, Carol Dweck talks about the difference between talent and success. Often people assume if you are a success at something, you're just lucky enough to have been born with a superior talent.

Dweck says (paraphrasing here) that sure some people are born with talents or passions. But those talents are just the raw materials. It's what you do with them that matters. And she wants you to be
FEROCIOUS! Believe that you can. Then work at it. Struggle with it. Practice.


I was listening to a panel of best-selling authors on a Zoom chat a few weeks ago. The point they all made was that no matter how talented, how successful you are, writing is hard work. Success is just proof that you did the hard work, that you kept trying, even when it was daunting.



When I work on Growth Mindsets with my students, we start with a video series from Class Dojo  about Mojo and his friends. It might seem a bit simplistic for adults, but the kids love it. This clip is from Episode 3 - The Power of Yet.

The power of YET is what is so intriguing, and what I think applies most for writers. When the rejections roll in, don't give up, just remind yourself that you're not there - YET.

Yet doesn't mean never.

Yet means you need to rise to the challenge, keep your nose to the grindstone, keep on trying.

Think about that rejection or revision request that arrives -

If you have a growth mindset, you will do the work to fix it and send it out again.
If you have a fixed mindset, you will give up.

Which person do you think ends up with the contract?

Which brings us back to the bicycle.
A child wanting to learn to ride, keeps at it - starting with the training wheels, learning the necessary skills, practicing and practicing until they can ride. And they succeed because they never doubted they would.

We need to be like that child - believing that we can do this, not being afraid of the struggle, persevering when we're not there yet. Expecting the triumph and working towards it.


So let's talk. Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed one? According to Dweck, most of us are a mix. We can learn to develop a growth mindset, just like the man in the video learned to ride the new kind of bicycle.


If you're at all intrigued by the power of growth mindsets, you might be interested in listening to this Google Talk with Carole Dweck.