I can't believe I missed writing this post last week when Groundhog Day was upon us. Someone employing a fixed mindset might say, "ah well, it wasn't meant to be," while someone using a growth mindset might say, "you know what, I'm going to blaze forward because I see an opportunity here, regardless of my inappropriate timing. " So, dear reader, let's jump into the Wayback Machine and go a short ways back to seven days ago...Groundhog Day!
Regardless of Punxatawny Phil's Prognostication that there will be six more weeks of Winter, I'd like to consider the movie Groundhog Day. This movie's theme has become a metaphor for Albert Einstein's famous quote, "The definition of insanity is repeating the same behaviors and expecting a different outcome."
In the film, Bill Murray plays weatherman Phill Connors, a cranky, cynical man who sees himself as entitled and not needing change, the perfect definition of a fixed mindset.
Fixed mindsets and growth mindsets are opposites of the various mindsets that have been studied throughout time. There are those of us who do not want to change. We feel entitled. This is very difficult to admit and often more challenging to recognize. In the movie, Phil relives the 24 hours off Groundhog Day, again and again. He wakes to the same music and DJ on the radio. He sees the same people, experiences the same things. He takes his memory with him. He soon doesn't question why this is happening, so he tries to leverage it to his advantage. He attempts to impress the girl, seemingly knowing her reactions, and he tries. But, she never entirely takes the bait. Slowly, and over many cycles, he changes. It takes deep self-reflection and the application of iteratively learned lessons, but he changes. Once he has fully admitted his faults, sees his entitlement, he no longer looks at his interactions with the various townsfolk with disdain. He looks at them as opportunities to learn.
For those with a growth mindset, there is no better place to start than at the bottom. In any organization, if we look at our interactions with our colleagues as merely time spent getting what we want, we will ultimately fail or fall short. However, if we grasp building relationships and helping others develop, it is then we come to know the nuts and bolts of the organization. Any leader knows the nuts and bolts. To learn the organization, it's best to start at the bottom. Consider the bottom as the ultimate opportunity. But, like Phil Connors, understand that the path is long. The goal is the destination, but life, and loving life, is the path.
Be well, dear reader.
