In 1978, I heard a story about two men named Duane and Gary. Gary was watching Duane fish on a pier in California and began to notice something curious. Whenever Duane caught a big fish, he would throw it back into the ocean, but whenever he caught a smaller fish, he would put it into his fish bucket to take home.
Gary watched Duane for a while, but finally his curiosity got the best of him. He walked up to Duane and said, “Say sir, I’ve been watching you fish for a while, and it seems to me you’re doing something a bit strange. Every time you catch a big fish, you throw it back, and every time you catch a small fish, you keep it. I’m just curious. Why do you do that?”
Duane said, “Oh, that’s easy. I’ve only got a 10-inch skillet at home!”
Rather than putting in the effort to purchase a new skillet at the store, Duane was content to let opportunity after opportunity pass him by. That story forever shifted the way I think about my mindset when it comes to building wealth, business, and leadership. How many of us limit our potential because we aren’t willing to get a new skillet?
To reach our potential, we need to develop a little something called a growth mindset. This blog will explore how to develop a growth mindset God’s way so that you can build your capacity personally, with others, and your organization.
What is a Growth Mindset?
As defined by Stanford University, a growth mindset is the belief that one’s intelligence can expand and develop over time. According to their research, people with growth mindsets are more likely to challenge themselves, believe they can achieve more, and become stronger, more resilient and creative problem solvers.
A growth mindset knows that the best things in life are attracted, not pursued. By focusing on personal development and investing in yourself, you can continually increase your ability to carry more weight, relationships, and assignments.
Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset
Whereas a growth mindset is–you guessed it–constantly growing and evolving, a fixed mindset believes your intelligence, capabilities, and personality will never change. A growth mindset embraces challenges and is willing to fail, whereas a fixed mindset takes the easy way out and is threatened by the success of others. A growth mindset isn’t defined by what they do because they know they can always improve, whereas a fixed mindset gets defensive easily. A growth mindset is hopeful, a fixed mindset is hopeless. For Christians, a growth mindset empowers us to believe that God is continually working in us to make us more like Him.
Like Duane in our opening story, sometimes we can’t catch the bigger fish because we only have a 10-inch skillet. We can become so familiar with our limitations that when somebody comes along and wants to help us get a 16-inch skillet, we freeze. In other words, our fixed mindset keeps us from moving to bigger and better things.
Practical Steps to Developing a Growth Mindset – Capacity Building
A growth mindset is all about continually expanding your capacity. Capacity is defined as the maximum amount something can carry.
In an organization, capacity building refers to a few things:
- Developing your or your team’s skills, knowledge, and abilities so you can sustainably grow in areas of focus
- Providing training, resources, and support to enable your team to function at a higher level
- Raising funds to expand an organization’s impact without overstretching the budget
In short, you don’t expand your capacity by loading more on your plate and hoping you can stretch enough to carry it. Rather, the way to expand your capacity is to cultivate a growth mindset that says “I am never going to stop learning, growing, and becoming all God has called me to be.” Sometimes, that involves taking a step backwards, resting, and investing in yourself while others are hustling towards burnout.
How Jesus Expands Our Capacity
For Christians, a growth mindset is all about what, or rather Who, you are growing toward. As we aim to increase our capacity, we must prioritize doing so in a way that makes us more like Christ. It’s not about the ability to do more; it’s about developing a new capacity to carry the love, plans, and purposes of God.
In Luke 5:37-38 (NKJV), Jesus says,
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Jesus will give us the new wine, but we are responsible for giving God a new wineskin– one that is continually willing to change and receptive to the Spirit.
Quit Limiting Yourself
All of us put self-imposed barriers and limitations on our lives. Whether you’ve verbalized it or not, the phrase “I could never do or be _______” has probably lingered in your subconscious. We are the ones who limit ourselves, not God.
Psalm 78:41 (NKJV) describes the Israelites who didn’t make it into the Promised Land. It says, “Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” I, for one, do not want to limit God! His plans for you are good, and He wants to lead you into a land flowing with milk and honey. To get there, you must believe what God says about you and let Him define your threshold.
Practically, how do you get a bigger skillet when it comes to your wealth-building journey? The best place to start is where you are. You can’t change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. Evaluate what’s already in your 10-inch skillet, so to speak, as well as the new things you want your 16-inch skillet to hold. Then figure out what you need to learn and let go of to create space for those things.
I can’t stress this point enough—to receive the new things God wants to give you, you must grow your capacity. Doing so requires a sacrifice of time to get relevant knowledge and a willingness to let relevant knowledge alter your viewpoint and actions.
Our team created a two-week devotional to help you develop a growth mindset and continue on this journey of transformation. Simply fill out the form below to receive your free copy of Faith Forward: 2 Weeks to Embracing Change and Achieving Your Potential.
