While growth mindset is relatively simple to understand, it can also be deceptively difficult to master, to the point that it can actually do more harm than good, resulting in articles like this one: How The Growth Mindset Can Harm Your Learning and What To Do About It

Here are some of the most common misconceptions to look out for:

"I have a growth mindset!"

Probably no one has a growth mindset at all times. A growth mindset is a habit of mind that must be developed through practice. Most of us have a growth mindset in some situations (e.g., our career and hobbies) and a fixed mindset in others (e.g., our relationships) ... there are even some situations where a fixed mindset is preferred! If you think you already have a growth mindset, question that -- that may be your fixed mindset trying to assure you that you're already great. The insidiousness of the fixed mindset is that it wants to convince you that you already have a growth mindset, which can lead you to a false growth mindset. That's what fixed mindsets do! They focus on making us look and feel great by reassuring us that greatness is just a part of who we ARE, while diverting attention from the things we do and the choices we make. Dweck addresses many of the misconceptions of growth mindsets in her interview published in The Atlantic, How Praise Became a Consolation Prize:

Dweck: "I think a lot of what happened [with false growth mindset among educators] is that instead of taking this long and difficult journey, where you work on understanding your triggers, working with them, and over time being able to stay in a growth mindset more and more, many educators just said, 'Oh yeah, I have a growth mindset' because either they know it’s the right mindset to have or they understood it in a way that made it seem easy."

The solution to the false growth mindset is to have a growth mindset about growth mindset. Adopting the growth mindset is a challenge that can be overcome with effort and effective mental strategies, but first we must recognize that we all have some fixed mindset habits and old habits die hard. Read more about the false growth mindset on Edutopia.

"My growth mindset will naturally lead to a growth mindset in my students!"

Unfortunately it's not that easy! It is difficult to break a habit, especially a mental habit, in ourselves. It's even harder to help someone else break out of their mental habits. Even when you have a growth mindset for yourself, it takes an entirely new set of skills to reinforce that mindset in others.

One barrier to passing on the growth mindset is that we are susceptible to the Fundamental Attribution Error, which is our tendency to see other people's mistakes as evidence of their flawed nature, but see our mistakes as situational exceptions to our good character. As the saying goes, "We judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions." When we make a mistake, our underlying bias whispers to us, "It's because of some external circumstance," but when other people make mistakes, it whispers, "it's because they are incompetent." You drop something? "I was distracted." Someone else drops something? "They're so clumsy!" Of course, in real life these evaluations of others and ourselves don't occur side-by-side, so the hypocrisy isn't so obvious to us. That's why we're so susceptible to this subconscious bias.

This bias is commonplace and makes it inherently more difficult to practice a growth mindset in our relationships with others, whether friends, family, romantic partners, coworkers, or students. It's still very easy to believe that "I can do this if I just put in more effort or try a different approach," while believing or communicating to others, "You can't do this because you're just not cut out for it."

So, passing on the growth mindset to student's won't happen automatically, but there are steps we can take to help them practice a growth mindset. Passing on a growth mindset requires us to have the same mindset about others as we do of ourselves -- in other words, make sure that our words and actions communicate that we believe in their ability to grow. How do we have that mindset for others? The same way we do for ourselves -- by reflecting on our own mental habits and working actively to think with a growth mindset for others. More on this is addressed in the Atlantic interview.

"Doing well in school is a good sign that a student has a growth mindset."

Even your perfectionists and high performing students can have a disadvantageous fixed mindset -- often these students put great pressure on themselves to get excellent grades, and they may have unhealthy attitudes about school. These students may "settle" for an A, when in reality they have potential to go well beyond. They may avoid trying hard things or taking on new challenges that would propel them to greater heights, because being challenged makes them feel incompetent. For example, a high performer with a fixed mindset might think:

"My self worth comes from my good grades. If I fail, then I am a failure."
"Some people are simply born better than others. Good grades mean that I am smart and a good person."
"If something is hard, it's just not for me. I'd rather stick to things I'm already great at."

Many high-performing students with a fixed mindset strive to get A's, but that does not necessarily translate to getting an education.

"Growth mindset is all about effort!"

Don't just tell students to keep trying, and don't just praise them for trying hard. Understanding the value of effort is a vital piece of a growth mindset, but effort is only one part of the equation. Perhaps an even more important piece of the growth mindset speaks to the first three principles we discussed -- providing valuable, constructive, and actionable feedback. In other words, success is less about effort, more about following the learning process that the instructor has charted for you.

"Students need to know that if they’re stuck, they don’t need just effort. You don’t want them redoubling their efforts with the same ineffective strategies. You want them to know when to ask for help and when to use resources that are available." - Carol Dweck, in her interview with The Atlantic

Dweck also spoke to these concerns in an article published by Education Week:

"Recently, someone asked what keeps me up at night. It’s the fear that the mindset concepts, which grew up to counter the failed self-esteem movement, will be used to perpetuate that movement. In other words, if you want to make students feel good, even if they’re not learning, just praise their effort! Want to hide learning gaps from them? Just tell them, “Everyone is smart!” The growth mindset was intended to help close achievement gaps, not hide them. It is about telling the truth about a student’s current achievement and then, together, doing something about it, helping him or her become smarter."
Carol Dweck, Education Week

So clearly a big piece of growth mindset includes the first three principles we've discussed -- giving students valuable, actionable, and constructive feedback that informs a better learning process. It's not just any effort, but specifically the effort that students apply to following the strategies and processes like those that you share in your feedback that will lead them to growth.

"Growth mindset theories say that we shouldn't praise our students."

In a sense, this is true -- we shouldn't praise our students, we should praise their actions. In this way, we are associating praise with doing good things, rather than with aspects of the student's identity that they cannot change. Read more about praise from the Florida Department of Education's Growth Mindset module, who leaves us with this note: "Praise the process, not the person."

To reference Dweck's interview with The Atlantic one last time (you still haven't read it?!):

Dweck: A lot of parents or teachers say praise the effort, not the outcome. I say [that’s] wrong: Praise the effort that led to the outcome or learning progress; tie the praise to it. It’s not just effort, but strategy … so support the student in finding another strategy. Effective teachers who actually have classrooms full of children with a growth mindset are always supporting children’s learning strategies and showing how strategies created that success.