Distraction keeps us occupied.

Bright shiny things compete for our attention until we’re blinded by it all. Then they go low-key, and they make it stand out again. They get our attention eventually. They have figured out, you see, that we don’t really take conscious control of our attention faculties; they can almost capture it at will.

And so, keeping our attention on what’s really important is one of our biggest challenges. We’re not present; we’re constantly somewhere else, trying to make something happen or avoid something nasty, doing someone else’s work or following through on their demands.

They say everyone is answerable to someone, but I’m not sure this is a helpful way to process this situation. It’s hierarchical—there’s a big boss somewhere to whom everyone is ultimately answerable. It’s the ceramic or hydraulic view of the world and of nature, but it’s too simplistic because if you trace it all the way to “the top”, so to speak, there’s no one there.

The office on the top floor is empty.

It’s like when Dorothy pulled back the curtain—such a great metaphor. There’s nobody bloomin’ there. We invented it all! And besides, no one you’ve ever worked for gives a fuck about you anyway. They only care that you follow through on your tasks, and when you get sick and can’t work, they’ll just find someone else.

“Everyone is answerable to someone” simply allows us to forego personal volition and control. It places the power to decide our own lives in the hands of others.

And in the meantime, we invent all kinds of madness around why we must keep doing it. The mind chatters away about everything we need to do, and we worry about getting it wrong or missing the target.

I wrestle with this myself, even though I’m conscious of how detrimental the behaviour is.

I’m not on my own here, right?

The constant chatter inside the dome of the skull: I should be doing this or that, I’ll miss this deadline, she thinks I’m not up to it, I’m going to be found out, I won’t pull this off, I don’t fit in here, I need to get milk and break, I’m going to strangle that bastard, have I everything I need for this thing…

It goes on and on and on.

Imagining scenarios that never happened and most likely never will, I cast myself off into some created place in my head and away from the only time I can ever be effective.

It’s madness.

That said, it doesn’t happen all the time or in all situations. On some occasions, like when I’m teaching familiar subjects, I get into the flow of it. It just rolls off the tongue; I don’t even need notes or slides.

And I reckon it’s the same for you.

So, do you think we could get control of the thoughts we think more often?

What would be the benefits?

Do you think we can prevent our minds from taking us to places we don’t really want to go?

I don’t mean we should ignore problems when they arise. Like, for example, if the building was on fire, you’re not going to make a cup of tea and pretend that all is well. That would be delusional.

What I mean is, we should refuse to entertain and become obsessed with negatively oriented future or past scenarios. This is what breeds anxiety. We should also refrain from giving our attention away for free.

I don’t accept that it’s an innate habit, either, and I also don’t accept that it can not be reversed.

To be explicit, this completely obvious thing we cannot see is that Now is all we have. It’s the only moment that has, and will ever exist, and it is the only time we can be effective.

You can’t be effective yesterday or ten minutes ago because it’s gone. You can’t be effective in ten minutes’ time because the future never gets here. In ten minutes’ time, it will still be Now. And if you had a time machine and could travel to any time in the future or past, it would still be Now.

The clock on the wall ticks and tocks—that’s all it does. It counts. It doesn’t measure anything. Time—future and past—is a psychological construct, and I think at the base of it all, we know this. But we’ve hypnotised ourselves to the contrary, and as such, we are pushed and pulled by our fixation on and our belief in it.

Staying present is a key mental skill to develop if we want peace and happiness and to achieve the things we say we want. I am so completely convinced of this by my own experience and by working with many people who struggled with the challenges of their lives.

In fact, there’s a second mental skill that is inextricably linked to staying present, and that’s taking control of one’s thoughts.

Being present with children is key to their forming healthy relationships in the future.

Being present in our work is key to doing it well.

Being present in sport is key to Flow state and high performance.

For Christ’s sake, if you’re having surgery, you’d better have a surgeon who’s present, or you might not make it out alive.

You get the picture.

If you only focused on one mental skill, it would be this one—staying present.

30 Days of Mental Skills

Get The Free Course

Successful application of mental skills can be observed in the achievement of goals, the winning of championships, obtaining a promotion, the increased bottom line on a balance sheet, or completing your first 5k. Success is whatever we define it as, and it is different for everyone, regardless of the domain or the level of expertise. Our performance is not decided just by our technical ability or perceived talent. Neither is it a gift from the Gods. Instead, we achieve success through internal mechanisms governing attention, motivation, emotional regulation, and behaviour. The external game unfolds in full view–movement, technique, tactics, skill execution, timing, etc. On the other hand, we play our inner game in silence, often unseen. It is private and unique to each individual, whether a team or an individual enterprise. There are common aspects too, and arguably, these are a combination of shared thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and other psychological factors. Let's examine these factors.

Introduction To Mental Skills

In sports and performance psychology, this “inner game” is cultivated through a process known as Psychological Skills Training (PST). It refers to the systematic development of mental skills that help professionals and non-professionals prepare, perform successfully, and persist regardless of outcomes. Just as one trains the body to run faster or move gracefully on stage, the mind, too, can be trained to stay focused, remain composed, recover from setbacks, and approach challenges with purpose and commitment.

This article draws from the work of Dr. Jack Lesyk and his lecture at the Annual Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology titled “Nine Mental Skills of Successful Athletes” (1988)1. It also draws on the work of Carol Dweck, Martin Seligman, Steven C. Hayes, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and others in the Positive Psychology movement. So, this framework applies not only to sportspeople. It is a practical framework developed through clinical and applied psychology, applicable to all domains where human beings are required to produce their best. The framework also connects these ideas to broader psychological principles and theories relevant to high performance. The aim here is to bring clarity to Mental Skills Training and show how it may serve not only the athlete but anyone navigating the uncertain territory between high demand and meaningful outcome.

Defining Mental (Psychological) Skills

Practitioners continually debate the definition of a psychological skill; for example, Behncke (2004)2 refers to psychological skills as cognitive-somatic techniques, such as imagery, relaxation, and self-talk. In contrast, others include trait and non-cognitive components such as confidence, motivation, and focus (Vealey, 2019)3. Dohme et al. (2017)4 systematically reviewed terms used in empirical studies to describe psychological components thought to facilitate peak performance. They defined psychological skills as “an athlete's ability to use learned methods to regulate or enhance their psychological characteristics”. Of course, psychological skills do not only apply to sport–they apply everywhere human beings perform.

Conversely, researchers have also defined psychological characteristics as “trait-like dispositions that can be regulated or enhanced through systematic development despite their relative stability.” As such, psychological skills such as mental imagery, for example, may be used to enhance psychological characteristics, such as self-efficacy, self-confidence, and a growth-oriented mindset.

Mental Skills Are Learned, Not Gifted

A common misconception is that elite performers possess some innate mental toughness—an unreachable, mystical ability that separates winners from everyone else. However, as Dr Jack Lesyk (1988) points out, mental skills are not inherited traits and are not unknowable to ordinary people. They are behaviours, attitudes, and ways of thinking that can be learned, practised, and improved with effort and focused intention.

This idea reflects the principle of neuroplasticity—the brain’s capacity to change and adapt in response to experience and environmental demands. As motor skills improve through repetition, so do cognitive abilities and emotional responses. Thought patterns and beliefs are at the core of cognitive responses, and with deliberate psychological practice, you can shift from reactive responses to reflective, from impulsive to composed, and from passive to purposeful. With these nine mental skills, you may begin to reorient your thoughts and feelings about your influence on the world and your own life. You may feel increased personal volition, a sense of purpose and choice about the direction of your life circumstances, and ultimately become more optimistic about your future.

Get The Free Course

The Nine Mental Skills

Jack Lesyk’s framework outlines nine core skills used by successful performers. He says that for the most successful people at all levels, their work or sport is important to them. They’re committed to being the best that they can be within the scope of their limitations, other life commitments, finances, time, and ability. Lesyk notes that these skills are not standalone, discrete techniques but interconnected and complementary elements that support performance across learning, development, work, training, competition, and everyday life. Lesyk suggests we tend to build these skills in three layers, from a lower order of intensity to a higher. They are foundational, preparatory, and performance-specific.

1. Mindset

Mindset can be said to underpin everything and captures our individual approach to the world and others in it. It shapes how we interpret setbacks, receive feedback, and engage with new information and learning opportunities. A productive and positively oriented attitude is grounded in growth—the belief that effort and learning lead to improvement. Carol Dweck’s (2006)5 work on mindset supports this, showing that individuals with a growth mindset are more resilient, persistent, and adaptable. They embrace challenges and see criticism as opportunities to develop and refine skills and abilities. Those with a fixed-oriented mindset are more closed. They believe ability is essentially a fixed quantity, don't like to be tested too far, and would rather sit one out than risk not winning.

2. Motivation

Lesyk frames motivation as a sustained commitment to pursuing excellence. While external rewards (medals, contracts, recognition) can initiate effort, they often fail to maintain it. This is because extrinsic rewards usually have a limited impact on people's motivational efforts by forcing our conformity under the threat of punishment or the promise of reward. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is internal, requires little if any external push, and gives us the energy to pursue our goals. Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) suggests that intrinsic motivation — driven by autonomy, competence, and relatedness — leads to deeper engagement and longer-lasting performance. Edward Deci says motivation is “the energy for action. It's what gets us up in the morning and moves us through the day”.

3. Values-Based Goals Setting

Successful people set clear, realistic goals and hold themselves accountable, or they have others, such as coaches or peers, who help them with accountability. Their goals are often process-oriented rather than purely outcome-based. In other words, they find a way to focus on the here and now and pour all their energy into what they're doing with little attention to externalities. Take Lizzy Yarnold, for example, the GB female Skeleton Gold medal winner in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She said in an interview after her race, “I'd go to bed every night and I'd visualise my dream, but I don't visualise winning, I visualise the process”. Goal-setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990)6 was foundational in its proposal for the attainment of goals, and highlights that specific, challenging goals enhance performance more than vague or easy ones. But beware; there is a dark side to goal setting.

4. People Skills

Wherever people gather and for whatever purpose, there is social interaction. Relationships shape performance, whether in a team, with a coach, or against an opponent, on the stage, in a business; our capacity to read ourselves and others effectively is an essential skill. These people or social skills include communication, empathy, compromise, leadership, and cooperation and are central to team cohesion and psychological safety. This safety is the feeling that you can speak openly without fear of judgment or reprimand. In high-stakes environments where we need to be at our best, interpersonal trust often determines the strength of team culture and, as a consequence, performance outcomes. Ask yourself before reacting to circumstances in a knee-jerk fashion, what's the best way to respond here? What does this person or this group need most, support or criticism?

Get The Free Course

5. Thinking Skills

How you speak to yourself from moment to moment matters, and most people have little sense of personal control in this regard. Thoughts occur, and we assume they are accurate and valid. We give no second thought to the truth of what we tell ourselves. It's easy to act on impulse, and appropriate in certain circumstances. In others, however, more deliberate thought is required. And so, the degree to which we can direct our thoughts with purpose will significantly influence our behaviour.

In his analysis of peak performance in sports, Lesyk notes that positive self-talk helps athletes maintain focus and confidence, while negative self-talk can lead to doubt and distraction. Cognitive behavioural approaches in psychology teach us to recognise unhelpful thought patterns, critique automatic negative thoughts, and reframe situations in a more helpful yet truthful light. With practice, this process, called cognitive restructuring, can often help shift our focus from paralysis to positive action.

6. Mental Imagery

Connected to self-talk is mental imagery; the mental rehearsal of the required performance, and requires the employment of all five physical senses. Close your eyes and picture the scene in which you will perform; the room, the audience or crowd, the temperature of the air, the familiar smells, the sounds you expect to hear, everything in your visual field. Using all five senses in mental imagery has been shown to activate similar neural pathways as physical execution (Decety, 19967; Jeannerod, 2001). These studies have shown that athletes, for example, who visualise effectively report greater confidence, reduced anxiety, and improved concentration.

Not only that, but mental training procedures can be applied as a therapeutic tool in rehabilitation and in applications for power training. In a study by Van Gyn et al. (1990)8, after a 6-week training period, groups that had received either power training or a combination of power and mental training did better on the power training task than the control group. When sprint performance was tested, only the group with a combination of physical and psychological training showed significant enhancement.

7. Managing Stress & Anxiety

According to Yerkes and Dodson (1908), pressure and stress are not only a part of performance but are almost necessary. However, they become detrimental when they are out of our control. The pressure to perform and our anticipation of negative consequences can lead to anxiety, and when anxious, we often cannot perform at our best. We become overly focused on avoiding what we don't want and, therefore, are focused upon it. The stress curve offers a helpful way to view stress.

The goal isn’t to eliminate anxiety, but to manage it effectively. Self-talk and visualisation help orient our inner conversation, but at times, it's better to shut off this internal monologue completely. Techniques such as breathing regulation, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness can reduce physiological arousal and bring the athlete back to the present. Attentional Control Theory (Eysenck et al., 2007)9 suggests that anxiety disrupts working memory and focus, unless counterbalanced by these self-regulation strategies.

8. Psychological Flexibility

Emotions are not bad or good; they are reactions to experience, and they are something we do not consciously choose. They are data, feedback from the organism about what we've been thinking and imagining about a given circumstance. If we are truly present in the moment, without thought or analysis, the organism may provide an adequate response, as represented in Flow State. If we can begin to “read” our emotional responses and teach ourselves to interpret them objectively, we may be better prepared to respond favourably.

Unmanaged emotions can hijack attention and decision-making. However, many people misunderstand what emotional regulation asks us to do. It is not about burying emotions and denying our feelings. Instead, it is about accepting our feelings and choosing a better informed response. A seminal paper by JJ Gross (1998)10 models of emotion regulation identifies reappraisal as especially effective in sustaining performance. Emotional regulation strategies such as naming, reframing, or expressing emotions constructively can help performers stay composed under stress.

9. Focus & Attention

Focus is the ability to direct and sustain attention on what matters. In dynamic, high-stakes environments, this skill becomes crucial. Elite athletes often speak of “flow states“, periods of complete absorption where action and awareness merge. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1990)11, when we perceive that our skills and experience can meet the challenge, Flow will most likely arise. Psychological skills like cue words, routines, and refocusing can support concentration when it wavers.

Like all the other skills mentioned here, concentration takes practice. Concentration may often be automatic, but those who perform best can bring it under their control at will. Lesyk suggests that successful performers;

• Know what they must pay attention to during each game or sport situation.

• Have learned how to maintain focus and resist distractions, whether they are internal or external

• Are able to regain their focus when concentration is lost during competition.

• Know how to play in the “here-and-now”, without regard to past or anticipated future events.

Get The Free Course

Mental Skills Development Beyond Sport

Despite its benefits, Mental Skills Training is often misrepresented and utilised. Some athletes resist it, fearing it’s a sign of weakness or perhaps consider it woo-woo. Others who may appreciate its advantages simply don’t know where to start. Coaches and others in leadership may feel unqualified to address mental aspects or worry that it detracts from the time spent in physical preparation. This latter concern, in particular, is a mistake.

The key to successfully applying mental skills is integration. Mental skills are not a separate bolt-on module or an afterthought, but part of a holistic training, learning and development environment. And so, we must embed these skills in the rhythm of daily practice, discuss them openly, and tailor them to the individual. Over time, these tools become second nature.

What makes mental skills training so powerful is its transferability. In other words, these skills are not confined to the pitch, track, workplace or classroom. They are life skills—tools for managing stress, building motivation, setting goals, and navigating relationships.

In my work with clients, athletes and non-athletes alike, these psychological strategies are as relevant in boardrooms, classrooms, and personal lives. The athlete struggling with pre-match anxiety is not unlike the professional preparing for a high-stakes presentation. Both benefit from conscious breathwork, rehearsal, and a reframed inner narrative. When we invest in mental skills training, we are shaping not only performance but also our identity—the kind of person who can show up fully, stay present, and respond deliberately under pressure.

How To Apply Mental Skills

Knowing what psychological skills are is one thing, but putting them into practice is another. Many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by the breadth of techniques, and we feel unsure how to start. The key is not to do everything at once, but to take a structured, developmental approach. Here’s how a performer — whether an athlete, artist, or executive can begin integrating these skills into their routine.

1. Start with Self-Awareness

Before we can train or develop any skill, we've got to become aware of our skill level. Begin by observing how you respond under pressure, how you talk to yourself after mistakes, and how focused you feel during performance. Keep a simple journal for a week, noting what mental and emotional patterns emerge. Self-awareness is the entry point to deliberate change.

2. Prioritise One or Two Skills

Trying to train all nine skills at once may be counterproductive. Instead, identify the area that you think most impacts your performance. If anxiety spikes before competition, start with focused breathing and calming routines. If you lose concentration mid-task, try introducing cue words or short focus drills to refocus your attention on the present moment.

3. Embed Skills in Daily Practice

Psychological skills work best when not reserved for the specific performance situation, but integrated into your existing daily routines. For example, start and end your day with positive mental imagery or end with a goal-reflection exercise. Use your self-talk script during drills, not just in competition. Consistency is more important than intensity.

4. Track Progress, Reflect, Tweak Your Process

Reflection creates feedback loops and the opportunity to modify your process. Every week, evaluate your processes and examine what’s working and what’s not. Adjust techniques slightly so that you can more easily notice what changes are effective. Keep what serves you and abandon what doesn’t. Use a journal and/or a digital record to help manage things, and just like physical training, mental training will evolve over time.

5. Work with a Professional If Possible

Not everyone has the resources to work with a professional. However, according to eminent researchers into elite performance, such as Anders Ericcson (2004)12, working with a more knowledgeable other is often the difference between elite and ordinary. A coach, mentor, or sport psychologist can provide structure, accountability, and objectivity. They help translate generic techniques into personal practices tailored to your context and needs.

Get The Free Course

Final Thoughts on Mental Skills Development

Psychological Skills Training is not a quick fix. It doesn’t guarantee medals, nor does it immunise us from failure. But it equips athletes and anyone else committed to growth with the mental scaffolding required to learn, adapt, and persist.

This framework

offers a practical and research-informed starting point. By attending to attitude, motivation, goals, people skills, self-talk, imagery, anxiety, emotion, and concentration, athletes build a foundation for consistent performance.

In a culture that often glorifies talent and output, PST reminds us that the true work is internal. It is quiet, deliberate, and deeply human. And in that, perhaps, lies its greatest strength.

I’ve built a free mental skills course. Get free access and lifetime access when you subscribe

Get The Free Course

References

I was in the gym this afternoon. I go a few times per week and lift heavy, and I put myself through it. Nobody forces me to go, I do it because I want to. Why I want to is another question altogether, though. Over time, I’ve developed a pattern of behaviour, and I don’t question it; I am compelled by the force of habit.

For the first block, I focus on a single lift, like a back squat, deadlift, or bench, and gradually work up the weight to a single heavy rep. The early sets in the block are handy, and they allow me to focus on form, and the further I go up in weight, the more difficult it becomes.

As I get closer to my max, it becomes very stressful, both physically and mentally. Sometimes it feels like I’m about to burst. Other times, it seems like I disappear completely. Whatever I am is not there, and all I experience is the physical pressure. Then I come out of it, the lift is done, and I'm sizing up the next rep. Stress fuels negative thought patterns, and I doubt myself.

“Fuck it, let’s go anyway. Whether I make the lift or not, let’s go.”

Today, as I leaned on the bar between reps, composing myself, I noted the difficulty. My heart rate was high, my breathing was fast, and I felt various levels of discomfort and pain in my body, particularly my wrists—signals that could be considered stop signals. The trick is to transpose these stop signals somehow into go signals.

I don’t know how this occurs, but it does, and I go again.

It has always been this way for me. Although I appreciate that not everyone can be energised by stress in this way, I am entirely convinced that this capacity is necessary not only for achieving goals—many of my goals I have failed to achieve, by the way, so it’s not a guarantee—but for successful living and managing all the challenges that come our way.

It builds mental and physical strength, grit, resilience, and mental toughness—the things you need to bounce back from disappointment and setbacks, and it’s all done in a safe and controlled environment.

But that’s not all

I train a group of U18s in the gym weekly. I’m not a qualified PT, but I’ve picked up enough good habits from those who know more than me to pass them on with a degree of confidence. I’ve been actively training this way for over 10 years.

There are four teams in our group at U18: A, B, C, D, and as you can imagine, the most athletic and skilled are with the A team. As you go along the ranks, engagement goes down. I’ve not studied this closely, but it may be fair to say, given what I observe from the less athletic lads, that confidence, familiarity, and comfort with the boisterousness of a gym environment may be a factor. The lower ranks seem generally reluctant to take themselves there. Nonetheless, we managed to get a number of the C and D squads training.

So, one night last week at the gym, I asked one of the lads how he has been getting on, if he is getting stronger, if the lifts are getting any easier, etc. He is one of the groups that would not be considered elite or even close to it, so starting weight training in the first place may have been a significant positive step for him.

He said yes to the above, but the main difference, he said, was “I’m more confident now”. I was surprised and pleased for him, and it was a big win for us as trainers and adults with influence in the lives of these kids. We started in Oct ‘24, and he was there at the start. He kept coming even though, as it was evident to me, the discipline was new to him, and he felt awkward being there.

Today, I examined what the research says about weight training and self-efficacy, resilience, and confidence etc. Here’s an extract from an article I found (Nowakowski-Sims et al., 2023)1;

Resistance training/lifting weights has a positive effect on well-being and can be an effective healing strategy for trauma. Whitworth et al. (2017) found that strenuous intense exercise improved PTSD symptoms. In a meta-analysis of thirty-three clinical trials, including 1877 participants, resistance exercise training was associated with a significant reduction in depressive symptoms (Gordon et al., 2018). Additionally, a meta-analysis of sixteen studies, including 922 participants, showed resistance exercise training improved anxiety symptoms among both healthy participants and participants with a physical or mental illness (Gordon et al., 2017).

Here’s another (Peng et al., 2025)2;

From a psychological perspective, physical exercise provides adolescents with diverse experiential contexts that help them develop positive self-perceptions. In these physical activities, adolescents often encounter challenging tasks such as improving physical skills, strategizing, or achieving team goals. Successfully completing these tasks not only provides immediate success experiences but also strengthens adolescents’ perception of their abilities.

And this one regarding specifically girls who trained from the 80’s (Barrett-Holloway et al., 1988)3

To test the hypothesis that a gain in self-efficacy about strength training could generalize to other areas of life and positively affect self-esteem, untrained adolescent female volunteers were tested before and after participation in 12 weeks of strength training and compared with nonactive and mildly active volunteer controls. Pre-test, post-test results for the treatment group showed improvement in strength (+40%), weight training efficacy, confrontation efficacy, and total efficacy summed over 1 1 tasks. There were related positive changes in perceived physical ability, physical self-presentation confidence, and general effectiveness in life. The treatment group improved posttest over controls on all these variables; controls did not change or worsened. These findings offer preliminary support that weight training for strength can improve confidence about a variety of life tasks in adolescent girls and could provide the basis for new modalities of therapy for low self-esteem.

Mental Skills are not only required where you pursue big, hairy goals; they apply in the everyday doing of things and living of life. A can-do mindset, grit and determination, resilience, and willingness to place yourself in complex and challenging conditions teach your organism how to cope.

Your warm-up gives your body the signals it needs to get ready for action. Then, your mind, body, and brain will quite literally reorient themselves to prepare for testing conditions. Your capacity to endure increases, your stress tolerance levels increase, and you develop skills that spill over into other areas of life.

Do it today.

Get into the gym and start lifting. Put on your running shoes, hit the park trails and get out of breath several times per week. You don’t need to be an Olympic-level athlete or anywhere close to it, so just get started.

Test yourself. In a measured and controlled manner, put yourself in harm’s way. Little and often is the key. Embrace the suck. Get stronger mentally and physically and better equipped to achieve life and work goals.

Disclaimer: If you haven’t exercised in a while, and especially if you have never lifted weights, consult your doctor and/or hire a trainer to assess your current level of fitness. Too much too soon can be detrimental to your success. But do start, because every time you work out, your brain gets stronger.

It is my contention that the aims of Positive Psychology are honourable and accurate for the most part. But that’s not enough. All theories of human behaviour have flaws, and to ignore those flaws is short-sighted and naive at best, misrepresentative of the truth and unethical at worst. So in this article, I aim to offer arguments both for and against the merits of Positive Psychology, and in particular, PERMA. As always, some references to open-access material so you can read further.

Most people want to be happy. It’s what we are all after, is it not? Yet, happiness can be elusive, fleeting and difficult to define. You’re happy in your work today because you got a bonus, but you’re unhappy the next day because you didn’t win that contract you thought was a sure thing. You’re happy because you got married last week, but six months later, when the honeymoon period is over, your mortgage is due, and your partner’s farts and dirty underwear are testing you, you’re not so happy. The circumstances of life seem to have an overwhelming influence on your sense of happiness. Corporations know this, and they go to great lengths to have you believe that you can have this happiness at the drop of a hat. We are, in this sense, manipulated and buffered by manufactured circumstances.

So, is it possible to achieve a prevailing sense of happiness regardless of what life and manipulative organisations throw at us? Is that prevailing sense of contentment happiness itself, or is happiness hedonic? Or is happiness something else?

Happiness is a subjective experience, which means it can vary from person to person and between cultures. What brings happiness to one person might not afford another the same level of experience. For native tribes on the Serengeti, for example, meat and honey are what bring happiness, and they’re not always available. For out-of-shape, well-looked-after white Europeans, on the other hand, meat and honey are taken for granted and therefore, not so strongly linked to happiness. It seems what’s rare is wonderful, as the fella says. Regardless, research and, indeed, personal experience have taught us that happiness can be cultivated and developed through conscious effort, and importantly, acceptance of conditions despite their immediate emotional response.

Develop Your Mental Skills

What you think about, how you interpret events and circumstances, and what you spend your time doing from moment to moment matter. Rather than lamenting the less-than-perfect life you’ve been afforded and wondering when the gods will look kindly on you, Positive Psychology, for example, suggests you can do something about it. This is what Mental Skill Development is all about. It’s also about taking a particular view of oneself and the world, and it is why, in developing mental skills, I include acceptance as a critical aspect. Acceptance is a feature of psychological flexibility, and without it, the non-achievement of goals may not be processed in a healthy way (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010).

The PERMA Model of Well-being

Scientists don't like using the term “happiness“ very much because it is difficult to agree on what constitutes it. Subjective well-being appears to be more appropriate. While happiness often refers to a transient subjective state marked by pleasant or euphoric emotions, subjective well-being is complex and multifaceted, encompassing a broader range of experiences like life satisfaction and connections with others. One of the most influential models in the study of happiness is the PERMA Model, which Martin Seligman originally formulated and outlined in his 2011 book Flourish1. PERMA proposes the following five core components that contribute to happiness and well-being:

1. Positive emotions

2. Engagement

3. Relationships

4. Meaning

5. Accomplishment

PERMA is said to be an holistic approach to well-being that addresses multiple dimensions, including emotional, psychological, and social factors, and is said to enhance positive emotions, achievements, sense of purpose, and social connections. The PERMA model can also help people satisfy the three basic human needs, which, according to Ryan & Deci’s Self-Determination Theory2, are key psychosocial conditions for well-being and growth.

Autonomy
Competence, and
Relatedness

A Word Of Caution Applying These Ideas

A word or two of caution in advance for those who may be well-meaning yet over-enthusiastic about the virtues and accuracy of PERMA and Positive psychology in general. Critics of Positive Psychology argue that it may set unrealistic expectations of what ‘the good life’ entails, claiming that we will never be able to enjoy a minimum of happiness if we do not have the help of a positive psychology practitioner (Fernández-Ríos & Novo, 2012). In this, positive psychology facilitates the perhaps flawed notion that we can and must function above our possibilities to achieve happiness. Consequently, there may be an overemphasis on irrational optimism and the creation of unrealistic expectations. Irrational obsession with the illusion of happiness may cause significant harm in the long term through unsuccessful pursuits to lead “one’s best life”, a term that, I must add, infuriates me.

Other issues with the theory, according to researchers

Despite its widespread popularity and application across various domains such as education, healthcare, and organisational practice, Positive Psychology has faced increasing scrutiny from scholars across the psychological sciences. A growing body of literature has raised critical concerns regarding its conceptual, methodological, philosophical, and ethical foundations. See van Zyl et al., 20243, for a concise summation of these critiques.

1. Positive Psychology lacks theorising and conceptual thinking

2. There are problems with measurement and methodology

3. It lacks scientific rigour and has been labelled pseudoscience

4. It is absent of novelty and is isolated from mainstream Psychology

5. Positive Psychology is a decontextualised Neoliberal Ideology

6. It represents the commodification of behaviour and is supportive of Capitalist interests

Life is not a bed of roses, and occasionally, many over-enthusiastic people are likely to misinterpret what Positive Psychology promotes. It is not a “happyology”, Seligman insists (Seligman, 2011). Additionally, we must recognise that the PERMA model is not a prescription for well-being but rather a framework for well-being - it is what is present for people who are psychologically and physiologically healthy and high-functioning. In simpler terms, no single measure defines subjective happiness by itself; instead, each of the five key elements of PERMA serves as a foundational block of happiness. In the same way that wind speed, precipitation, temperature, and other measures are compiled to explain the weather, PERMA combines the five measurable components mentioned above. In addition, PERMA is not the end of it. It may not be sufficient by itself, and other researchers, such as Todd Kashdan4, suggest that these focus points fail to capture many of the fluctuating, conflicting forces readily apparent when people navigate the environment and social world.

Kashdan suggests that Psychological Flexibility is another key aspect of well-being that must be considered. It spans many human abilities and situations; for example, psychological flexibility involves recognising and adapting to various situational demands and shifting mindsets or behaviours when these strategies compromise personal or social functioning. How do you respond, for example, when things don’t go your way? What do you do when you fail? Psychological flexibility is essential for maintaining balance and being aware, open, and committed to behaviours congruent with personal values. These values drive behaviour rather than an objective end or material success.

Personality matters too, executive function matters, goal-directed behaviour matters, locus of control and many other factors matter. A life well-lived has many elements at work, so much so that it could be detrimental to try to perfect everything. Building a personal awareness of these concepts and a willingness to self-reflect in a non-judgmental way is required. It seems to me that we’ve got to develop a certain orientation to the world. We’ve got to view ourselves and others in a certain way, and then all the things that psychologists say are required for a happy and fulfilled life will come about as a consequence.

Mental Skill Development may provide a route to this self-realisation.

If taking PERMA as a framework, ask yourself these questions;

1. Do you experience sufficient positive emotion? I don’t mean simply the buzz you get from alcohol, buying a new car or winning gold at the Olympics. That stuff counts, but I also mean the subtle yet unmistakable feeling that life is good and that you and yours are fortunate despite perhaps not having material things. I mean, does the content of your life provide enough challenge and allow you to develop new skills?

2. Are you fully engaged and turned on by what you spend most of your time doing? Your work, play, volunteering, hobbies, etc., do they give you the sense of personal volition and fulfilment you need to sustain yourself? Are you tested by what you do, are you enthusiastic when things don’t work out, and do you get lost in these things?

3. Are your relationships with others mutually supportive and fulfilling? Loving relationships, work, social, etc, are they providing you with what you need, or are they draining you? Do you have a challenging yet supportive peer group?

4. Do you feel you have meaning and purpose in your life? All of the above feed into these feelings. It is the inherent worth in the doing of the things we do beyond extrinsic benefit and reward. No one needs to pat you on the back or pay you to do it. There’s meaning enough in the doing of it. The things you do ar inherently valuable.

5. Do you have goals—what do you want to achieve? Again, this may not be a material reward, but it is a sense of “if I do this thing, it will lead to something good”. Are your pursuits values-based and goal-directed?

These are my interpretations of PERMA in action. I’ll post more from Seligman and Co. over the coming weeks, so be sure to check out the Mental Skills section for more articles and assessments on this idea. PERMA forms part of Mental Skills Development, but for some, it may not be enough on its own.

Thanks for reading, Slán for now

Most of us are convinced of the nature of reality not only by what we see and hear, but by the mental conversation that accompanies our physical senses.

It's the almost relentless background mental narrative that accompanies life experience.

We identify with it completely.

The voice in your head is you; you are the one doing the talking, and it all goes on automatically. Sometimes, you can control what you think about, but most of the time, thought just occurs, and you believe what it says.

It begs the question, who is the one who notices the thoughts?

I'll revisit that question another time...

You may wish you didn't have these thoughts, so you do your best to ignore them and think of something else. You distract yourself by doom-scrolling your phone, binge-watching Netflix, shopping for clothes you don’t need, injecting botox, drinking pints, snorting coke and various other non-complex frivolous activities.

When you're stressed or when your medication of choice is unavailable, it's more difficult to control.

The only time when the mental narrative stops is when you're asleep or wasted.

Two bottles of red wine on a Friday night after work usually did the trick for me. But it didn't last, of course. Sunday night would roll around, and I was right back where I had been.

That was my only solution for maybe a year, and then I found something else.

For one reason or another, I became curious about the reality I was living. I see it now as a natural consequence of pushing too hard in one direction - of forcing things to conform. Eventually, it all collapsed. It was painful, but I was able to see more clearly.

I found meditation during that time, and everything changed.

My mind began to go quiet, and late one night, in an emotion-filled moment, I realised that perhaps I was something other than what I had thought myself to be.

The experience was profound and gave me a glimpse of a new reality.

You see, we human beings live on the surface material world of pleasure and pain. Drama and distraction are everywhere. Everything is for sale, and everyone (almost) is trying to sell you something to help you fulfil either of these primary desires.

I am not immune from this lure of instant gratification or release from discomfort (chocolate is my biggest vice), but what I have discovered is there is a simpler, longer-lasting solution.

It is to become quiet.

To cease the almost ceaseless mental conversation.

To climb down from our heads.

If there is a fundamental requirement for a happy and fulfilled life that trumps all others, it is this.

After we discover this, we can begin to construct our thoughts and ideas towards our benefit and, indeed, that of others. Get quiet first, and then all good things will follow.

In the Mental Skills Program I'm building, I call this purposeful, directed mental conversation self-talk. It can only operate effectively after we learn how to climb down from our own heads and quiet the noisy mind.

More on this soon.

From Dublin, Ireland, on a sunny and warm April afternoon.

Slán for now 👋

Larry

Thanks for being here. I’m Larry Maguire, work psychologist, lecturer in psychology and mental skills development specialist. Peak Performer is a newsletter associated with my work where I share articles on the science and philosophy of peak human performance through the concept of mental skills. If you like this material, consider subscribing. Already subscribed? Share this with a friend or colleague.

Next time you're out and going about your business, look around. Observe the behaviour of people around you, your family, friends, neighbours and, indeed, yourself. You may notice that most people are firmly asleep at the wheel. They have little or no awareness of life beyond the conditions of life experience. Life happens to them. They do not act on life consciously; they are not active agents in their own lives. Instead, things occur, and they react. They have no understanding of themselves beyond surface-level identity and gratification of needs. Most people are buffered by life circumstances and feel powerless to do anything about it, so they indulge in frivolous, non-complex behaviours to relieve themselves of the pain of their existence. These behaviours are then normalised and pervasive, and we become alienated from life itself.

A construction company comes in, for example, turns upside-down a meadow where you played as a child, and all is lost in favour of a shopping centre. The government decides to terminate the Department of Education, and thousands lose their jobs. You discover a life-threatening illness, and you claim life and death is a lottery. You’re taught from the earliest age that you’re simply a pawn in the economic game, and you must make yourself employable. It is as if your very existence must be justified by “earning” a salary, and if you cannot, you’re in a tent on the street. Everywhere you turn, forces and authorities outside you determine your life experience. The environment creates you; you do not create yourself. Although you do, in fact, create your own life by acquiescence to it all.

I want to offer an alternative.

This alternative I propose is to live more purposely and question norms of thinking, belief, and behaviour. It is the development of Mental Skills. Cultivation of Mental Skills does not represent some kind of hack to get what you want. It is not frivolous engagement in short-term material gain. It’s not about goals for the sake of goals. It’s not about medals, money, rockstar status, private jets, gold watches, sports cars, and other material ends, success in careers or business or even something as essential as a roof over your head. Although these things might materialise, they are not the objective I promote.

The objective is peace and contentment, to become a positive influence on others and the world, to make a lasting impact, and to be, dare I say it, happy. Happiness, to me, is peace and contentment, to be stable when all around you is turning to shit. To be composed and measured, make effective decisions, empathise and understand the experiences of others and how our actions impact them. It is to hear and see the world around us beyond the surface reality that occupies our physical and emotional senses.

This is the goal, and it’s not a fleeting one; it’s permanent. It is a right-now living of life rather than being caught, like most people are, in time consciousness, where the purpose of this moment is to make it to the next. Never present, always somewhere else, caught in a drama, rushing to get somewhere or get away from something. This is what I see when I look at the world and in the faces and stories of many of the clients with whom I work. I am not immune from it, I should say. I become caught in it, too. The trick, therefore (if it is indeed a trick), is to know the way out of the drama and return to equilibrium.

On The Origin Of These Ideas

The ideas I want to offer you are not strictly my own, although I may place a particular slant on them. There is nothing new, either, in what I write. If you can get to the core of it, you’ll see that these ideas are as old as the hills. They are in the philosophy of Zen, Aristotle and the Stoics. They are in the ideas of Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Sigmund Freud and John Bowlby. And they are in the writings of the poet Mary Oliver and the stories of Annie Dillard and Ray Bradbury. They are universal ideas and are persistent in the reports, philosophies and religions of women and men throughout human history.

However, problems occur with these ideas when we begin to worship them or the people who formulated them. When we build churches and ideologies around them and begin to prescribe a particular way of life over another. In this, we take agency and personal control from people, and we abdicate responsibility for life to some imaginary deity. That’s not how these ideas should be represented. Instead, as is written in Zen, these ideas point the way. They are a signpost to something that is ultimately indescribable and unknowable to the human intellect. In other words, these ideas are not, in themselves, the answer. The thing to which they point is something each of us must figure out for ourselves.

The Cultivation of Mental Skills

The quote above captures the essence of mental skill development. It is about cultivating the skills of awareness, personal volition, and action right now in every moment and doing so consistently throughout life. When we’re old and grey and reflecting on our lives, we will notice that life will be a culmination of every moment we have lived. So, in considering this, the only question remains: How will we spend our lives?

I’ve been working in the field of psychology for several years now and writing regularly on the subject, but recently, I decided to focus on Mental Skills specifically. Mental skills is an idea, a way to conceptualise the things that tend to show up when we’re in a good place, when we’re positively oriented, when we’re doing things worth doing, when we’re energised and optimistic about life and positively engaged with others.

In the study of peak performance, the term mental skills is generally used to capture specific behaviours such as mental imagery, self-talk, self-regulation, goal-setting and other cognitive and non-cognitive skills. But for our conversation, I’m extending that to other aspects, such as play, personality, creative intelligence, willpower, neurology and others.

The project is extensive, and part of it is to build a signature program that captures the concept's elements. You’ll see from the screenshot above that core aspects of Mental Skills such as Grit, Emotional Regulation, and the PERMA model of well-being are included. If I were designing a Master’s program on peak human performance, this would be it. There will be the following included in each lesson/module;

• Video lectures

• Lecture slides

• Articles

• PDF, MP3 files and other resources

If you’d like to know more about this program, post a comment below. In the meantime, keep reading and digesting the ideas I send you like this one on the cognitive benefits of handwriting, or this one on the limits of willpower, or this one on understanding anxiety.

Leave a comment

My personal experience has taught me that self-control, or willpower, is somewhat of a limited engine of achievement. Getting my body fat levels from 18% to 15%, for example, has so far proven to be an impossible task despite my will to the contrary. Or am I misreading my own motivation? Are there other factors at play in all of this? No doubt there are, and research I have been reading lately has offered me some clues as to why I have consistently failed in the pursuit of my goal. This week, I’m taking a closer look at the limits of willpower and offering some research-informed tips for how you and I may improve our chances of success. Get this Free Resource and gain insights into the mental skills of peak performance.

Self-control is widely regarded as a cornerstone of personal and professional achievement. It enables individuals to delay gratification, manage emotions, sustain effort, and persist through adversity. If you want something, it’s up to you to make it happen, and if it doesn’t happen, it’s because you didn’t try hard enough. You’ve got to want it badly, or so the old adage goes. But I have always had a slight problem with this idea. It assumes that everyone possesses the same resources and resourcefulness, and the absence of success merely means you gave up too soon. Maybe that is true in certain circumstances and for some people, but the truth is often not so simple or convenient. As we will see, our beliefs about the limits of willpower matter.

Evidence from psychological science indicates that the capacity for self-regulation is not infinite. The theory of ego depletion, initially proposed by Baumeister and colleagues (1998), suggests that acts of self-control rely on a limited resource akin to mental energy. Once depleted, this theory suggests, subsequent efforts to self-regulate are likely to be impaired. Seems reasonable, but emerging research has introduced important qualifications to this model. Most notably, research by Job, Dweck, and Walton (2010) has demonstrated that our beliefs about personal willpower (implicit theories) can moderate the effects of depletion. In this essay, I refer to several important papers on the nature and limits of willpower and explore how dual perspectives may explain the limits of willpower and the implications for achievement.

Baumeister’s original ego-depletion model of willpower asserts that in self-regulation, we draw upon a finite resource. Engaging in a task requiring self-control impairs performance on subsequent self-control tasks (Baumeister et al., 1998). This “resource” model was inspired in part by biological accounts of energy expenditure, such as the idea that self-control depends on glucose availability (Gailliot & Baumeister, 2007). Over time, the theory evolved into a conservation model, which proposes that our brains manage limited resources by reducing further exertion after an initial period of effort (Muraven et al., 2006; Baumeister et al., 20241).

There is a compelling explanation here for diminished performance in the real world. In workplace contexts, for example, decision fatigue—understood as a form of ego depletion—in the studies of parole judge decision-making has been shown to reduce judicial lenience (Hemrajani & Hobert, 2024). In sports, studies have shown cognitive exertion impairs endurance, slows reaction time, and reduces motor accuracy (Van Cutsem et al., 20172; Brown et al., 2020). Interpersonal conflict has been shown to both cause and result from depleted self-control, creating potential feedback loops that reduce well-being and productivity in subjects (Baumeister et al., 2019).

However, these depletion effects are not inevitable. A significant challenge to the resource model emerged with the introduction of implicit theories about willpower. Job et al. (2010) found that individuals who believed willpower is a limited resource (limited theory) were more likely to show classic ego depletion effects—such as declining performance on subsequent tasks—than those who believed willpower is non-limited (non-limited theory). In a series of experiments, participants’ beliefs about willpower predicted whether or not they exhibited depletion effects after a demanding task. This research suggests that ego depletion is, at least in part, a product of individual mindset. What you believe about the limits of willpower, in other words, matters to how much you can access.

Subsequent studies have reinforced this view. For example, Job et al. (20153) demonstrated that the non-limited theory of willpower predicted sustained self-regulation over demanding academic and occupational tasks. Other research shows that endorsing a non-limited theory is associated with increased persistence, less fatigue, and improved affective outcomes (Savani & Job, 20174). These findings challenge a purely physiological explanation and highlight the importance of intrinsic motivation and cognitive factors in self-control.

In their 2024 meta-analysis, Baumeister et al. acknowledge these developments, integrating implicit theories into their broader ego depletion framework. While they maintain that self-control relies on a limited resource, they also suggest that beliefs about the limits of willpower influence how quickly and under what conditions we use of conserve this resource. For example, those of us who believe our willpower is non-limited may be less likely to engage in energy conservation behaviours, thereby sustaining performance. This integration represents a move towards a more subtle and complex biopsychosocial model of self-control.

The practical implications of these findings are significant for goal attainment and success in work and sport. Where a sustained effort is required, such as in education, elite sports, or high-stakes business environments, our beliefs about willpower can determine how effectively we cope with demands. Interventions that promote non-limited theories of willpower, such as brief psychoeducation, may help buffer against the adverse effects of depletion (Job et al., 2010). Additionally, several studies have shown meditation and mindfulness training, physical fitness, and motivational incentives reduce or eliminate ego depletion effects (Shabbani et al., 20205; Tai et al., 20216; Tang et al., 20247).

Nonetheless, there are boundaries to these effects. Even among those with a non-limited theory of willpower, extreme demands and prolonged cognitive exertion may lead to declines in performance. From a neurophysiological perspective, research suggests that intense use of the brain’s control systems leads to the accumulation of metabolites like adenosine (a building block of DNA), which inhibit further effort and simulate sleep-like brain activity (Baumeister et al., 2024; Wiehler et al., 2022). And so, while mindset matters, it may not entirely override the biological constraints on mental and physical performance.

What you can do about it

Challenges present themselves at every turn, and achievement seems constrained by the limits of our willpower. However, we may influence the extent of these limits not only by biological resources available to us but also by our beliefs about the limits of willpower. Based on the research by Baumeister et al. (2024) and the work of Veronika Job (), several evidence-based actions can help mitigate or overcome the limits of willpower. These actions fall into three main categories;

1. Belief-oriented strategies

2. Behavioural interventions

3. Environmental modifications

Adopt a Non-Limited Theory of Willpower

• What it is: Believing willpower is not easily depleted and can be sustained with effort or purpose.

• Why it works: People who view willpower as non-limited are less likely to exhibit ego depletion effects and more likely to persist on tasks (Job et al., 20108; Job et al., 2015).

  • Individuals with a non-limited belief sustain performance on cognitively demanding tasks.

  • These beliefs can buffer against performance declines even after initial self-control exertion.

Use Strategic Recovery Techniques

Psychological Detachment from Work

• Temporarily disengaging from work-related thoughts and tasks helps replenish self-regulatory resources.

• Detachment improves vitality and reduces evening depletion (Gombert et al., 20209).

Mindfulness and Meditation

• Short mindfulness exercises reduce the effects of prior depletion, restoring accuracy and focus (Shabbani et al., 2020).

Adequate Sleep and Breaks

• Sleep and structured breaks allow the brain to recover from sustained effort (Baumeister et al., 2024).

Enhance Physical Fitness

• Regular physical activity is associated with better self-control and reduced susceptibility to ego depletion.

• Fit people show lower antisocial or impulsive behaviour rates following mentally demanding tasks (Tai et al., 2021).

Optimise Task Timing and Order

• People often perform better when demanding tasks are scheduled when their willpower is higher (e.g., in the mornings - although some people are better in the evening).

• Baumeister et al. (2024) noted that proactive efforts in the morning led to more fatigue, whereas similar efforts in the afternoon were less depleting or even energising, depending on perceived control.

Fixed and Growth Mindset addresses the state of mind that Carol Dweck suggests is critical to success in life and work. How we perceive ourselves and our abilities can significantly influence our success in education, work, career development, and business. In her groundbreaking work on motivation, Dweck introduced these concepts of fixed and growth mindsets and shed light on how these mindsets shape our behaviour, learning, and achievement.

This article delves into Dweck’s mindset theory with a specific focus on its applications in the workplace. We will explore how adopting a growth mindset can foster continuous learning, enhance employee engagement, and drive innovation within organisations. Additionally, we will address common misconceptions and flawed applications of Dweck’s theory that can hinder its effectiveness. By understanding the power and limitations of Dweck’s Mindset theory, leaders and employees can harness this knowledge to create more resilient, adaptive, and high-performing teams.

Throughout this article, you’ll find insights into how mindsets impact professional development, practical strategies for cultivating a growth mindset in the workplace, and a discussion of the latest research on the subject. Whether you’re a leader looking to inspire your team, an HR professional aiming to improve your company culture, or an individual seeking to advance your career, this article will provide valuable tools and perspectives to apply in your work and beyond.

A fixed mindset is characterised by the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talents are static and unchangeable. Individuals with a fixed mindset view their skills as innate traits that cannot be significantly developed or improved. This belief system often leads to a fear of failure and avoidance of challenges, as individuals with a fixed mindset are more likely to perceive challenge and effort as a sign of inadequacy rather than a path to mastery. In other words, you either have it or you don’t.

In the workplace, a fixed mindset can manifest in several detrimental ways. Employees with this mindset may avoid taking on new responsibilities or pursuing further development opportunities because they fear exposing their perceived limitations. This can stifle innovation and hinder professional growth. Leaders with a fixed mindset might fail to provide constructive feedback, as they may believe that employees’ abilities are fixed. This often leads to a fear-based culture where experimentation is discouraged, and mistakes are frowned upon or even punished. Rather than seen as opportunities for learning and growth, mistakes must be avoided at all costs.

Understanding the Growth Mindset

In contrast, a growth mindset is the belief that abilities, intelligence, success, and so on can be developed through effort, learning, and perseverance. Individuals with a growth mindset embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, and see effort as a necessary path to mastery. They are more likely to view failures as learning opportunities and believe they can improve their skills and performance over time. Mistakes are not signs of weakness or lack of ability; rather, they are evidence that the answer or solution hasn’t been found yet.

A growth mindset can profoundly and positively impact work, career and business outcomes. Employees with a growth mindset are more likely to seek learning and development opportunities. They embrace new challenges and develop resilience in the face of setbacks. They are also more open to feedback and more likely to engage in creative problem-solving. Organisational leaders who foster a growth mindset within their teams can cultivate a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and high performance. As Edward Deci, one of the authors of Self Determination Theory, points out, the leader is responsible for creating an environment where people will be self-motivated and productive. A growth-oriented mindset helps make this happen.

Misconceptions and Flawed Applications of Fixed And Growth Mindset

While Dweck’s mindset theory has gained widespread popularity, it is important to acknowledge that its application has sometimes been misunderstood or misrepresented. One common misconception is that we see fixed and growth mindsets dichotomously as either one or the other. We categorise ourselves and others as having either a fixed or growth mindset. In reality, mindsets exist on a spectrum, and people can exhibit fixed or growth mindset tendencies in different situations.

Another flawed application promotes what Dweck has termed a “false growth mindset.” This occurs when individuals or organisations claim to have a growth mindset but do so superficially. For example, simply encouraging employees to “open your mind” or “be creative” without providing the necessary support, resources, or feedback can lead to frustration and disengagement rather than growth. Similarly, praising effort alone, without recognising the importance of learning from mistakes and developing new strategies, can create a superficial understanding of what it means to have a growth mindset. Here are the key points on the False Growth Mindset phenomenon.

1. Misinterpretation of Effort

One common aspect of the false growth mindset is the overemphasis on effort without linking it to learning and progress. Some people mistakenly believe praising effort alone is enough to foster a growth mindset. However, Dweck emphasises that it’s not just about effort for its own sake; it’s about the effectiveness of the effort, the strategies employed, and the learning that occurs as a result. Effort should be recognised in conjunction with learning and improvement, not as an end in itself.

2. Superficial Adoption

Organisations and individuals often claim to have a growth mindset without making the profound changes necessary to support it. This might involve paying lip service to the concept of growth mindset without truly fostering an environment where learning from mistakes, embracing challenges, and developing abilities are genuinely encouraged and supported. Dweck warns that simply declaring a growth mindset without embodying its principles can lead to a false sense of progress and inhibit real growth. Perhaps we could further suggest that superficial adoption of Dweck’s ideas can lead to or maybe a feature of toxic workplace cultures.

3. Avoiding Honest Feedback

Another aspect of the false growth mindset is avoiding difficult feedback. In a genuine growth mindset, feedback—even when critical—is valued because it provides an opportunity to learn and improve. However, some people with a false growth mindset may avoid giving or receiving honest feedback, instead offering vague or non-specific praise that does not contribute to actual development. This avoidance undermines the core principle of growth through learning and adaptation.

The Impact of Fixed And Growth Mindset on Learning and Development in the Workplace

The implications of fixed and growth mindsets are particularly significant in learning and development at work. In a rapidly changing business environment, adequately structured learning and development is essential for the worker and the organisation to grow. Employees with a growth mindset are more likely to engage in lifelong learning, seek to develop new skills and adapt to new technologies and processes. This is a critical aspect to understand, given the onward march of artificial intelligence-enabled technologies and the future of work.

Learning Agility

Employees with a growth mindset demonstrate higher learning agility and the ability to learn from experiences and apply that learning to new situations. Learning agility is increasingly recognised as a critical competency in today’s workforce, enabling workers to navigate complex challenges and drive innovation. Research suggests that organisations that cultivate a growth mindset among their employees are better positioned to adapt to market changes and maintain a competitive edge.

Leadership Development

Mindsets also play a crucial role in leadership development. Leaders with a growth mindset are more likely to seek feedback, reflect on their experiences, and continuously aim to improve their leadership skills. They are also more likely to foster a learning culture within their teams, encouraging employees to take measured risks, learn from failures, and develop new competencies. Research by Hannah and Avolio (2010) has shown that this type of leadership is essential for creating a high-performing and resilient organisation.

How Leaders Can Cultivate a Growth Mindset in the Workplace

Given the significant benefits of a growth mindset culture for organisations and their people, how can we cultivate this mindset in the workplace? Here are some practical strategies for fostering a growth mindset culture.

Promote a Learning Culture

Organisations should prioritise learning and development by providing employees with access to training, resources, and opportunities for skill development. Not only that, but organisational benefits may also be achieved by offering employees access to non-job related learning. Research has demonstrated that encouraging continuous learning and creating a safe environment where employees can experiment and take risks is essential for cultivating a growth mindset in the workplace.

Encourage Reflection and Feedback

Encouraging personal reflection and regular and open feedback has been shown as a critical component of a growth mindset. Managers and leaders should ensure that feedback is constructive and focuses on the process rather than merely the outcome. Research by Manuel London and Edward M. Mone showed that encouraging employees to reflect on their experiences, identify areas for improvement, and develop action plans for growth can help reinforce a growth mindset

Recognise Effort and Progress

While it is important to recognise achievements, it is equally important to acknowledge the effort and progress workers make along the way. Even if incomplete or imperfect, celebrating small wins and improvements can reinforce the idea that growth is a journey. A study by Boehm et al. (2015) on transformational leadership suggests that this approach helps employees stay motivated and persistent in their development efforts.

Model Growth Mindset Behaviours

Leaders inevitably play a crucial role in shaping an organisation’s culture. By modelling growth mindset behaviours—such as embracing challenges, seeking feedback, and learning from mistakes—leaders can set the tone for the rest of the organisation. However, It is imperative that this modelling expresses a genuine experience rather than manipulation tactics. Research has shown that employees will likely adopt similar behaviours when they see their leaders embodying a growth mindset.

Address Fixed Mindset Triggers

Even individuals with a growth-oriented mindset can experience fixed mindset triggers in certain situations. These might include feeling threatened by feedback, pressure to deliver, comparison to others, or challenging tasks that feel beyond their capabilities. Organisations can help employees recognise and address these triggers by providing support and fostering a culture of

Provide Opportunities for Growth

Organisational leaders should create clear pathways for career development that align with employees’ aspirations and potential. Research from DeRue et al. from 2014 shows that opportunities for lateral moves, stretch assignments, and cross-functional projects can help employees expand their skills and experiences, reinforcing a growth-oriented mindset.

Criticisms and Limitations of Mindset Theory

While the growth mindset theory has been widely embraced, it is not without its criticisms and limitations. One criticism is that the emphasis on individual mindset may overlook structural and systemic factors influencing learning and achievement. For example, organisational culture, leadership practices, and resource access significantly shape employee outcomes. Focusing solely on mindset may inadvertently shift responsibility onto individuals without addressing the broader context in which they operate.

The Future of Growth Mindset in Work and Career Development

Despite these criticisms, the growth mindset concept remains a powerful personal and organisational development tool. As work continues to emphasise adaptability, innovation, and continuous learning, a growth mindset becomes more relevant. Organisations that successfully integrate growth mindset principles into their culture and practices will be better equipped to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the future workplace.

Conclusion

Carol Dweck’s fixed and growth mindset offers valuable insights into fostering a learning, resilience, and innovation culture at work. While it is essential to recognise the theory’s limitations, its core principles remain relevant. By cultivating a growth mindset culture, organisations can empower employees to embrace challenges, persist through difficulty, and develop their skills and potential. To make this happen, however, the marketplace must shift from what is best for business to what is best for people. Capitalist systems invariably seek to grow capital, and in that, they are outcome-focused. Some academics, such as Jason Hickel, argue that this outcome focus ignores what is good for people, broader society and the planet. Ends seem to justify means.

Organisations are a product of their people and the collective mindset of those people. When our minds are solution-focused and work within a growth-oriented, healthy, helpful and supportive environment, human beings can do great work. The subsequent benefits for society, the environment and the organisation bottom line are hard to ignore. So, knowing this, let’s attempt to put the growth of people first, and we might be surprised to see that profit can be a welcome consequence. Let’s feed their curiosity, interest, and creativity and see how the benefits can help more than the bottom line of a balance sheet.

***

Thanks for reading. This article was originally published here on 30th August 2024. You can find references and links to associated resources and subscribe for new content.