Break Free from a Fixed Mindset: How One Word Can Unlock Your God-Given Growth

My year, so far, has been a year of successes and challenges. Have you ever thought about how life can be filled with so much change and variety. I think that’s the beauty of the life we have been gifted to live. It is both the same and yet it’s about change. How we navigate this life is up to us. What we make things mean is up to us.

Continuing our series on mindset shifts from a Christian perspective, today’s topic is the mindset: I can’t do this yet vs. I can’t do this” My first thought as I was thinking about this topic is that saying: “If you believe you can or you believe you can’t, your right!” I can see some of you now thinking: “Oh Monette, that’s positive thinking babel.” I’m going to challenge you here. I see this all the time on the tennis court with my friends. I have some friends who are so athletically gifted, and they tell themselves things like I can’t serve today. And you want to know something, they prove themselves right. They continue to serve terribly. I’m guilty of this too, when I make a few bad shots and I start questioning myself: “Do you even know how to hit a forehand?” I continue to hit bad forehands. It’s the worst thing you can do in tennis.

How about you? What is an area in your life where you berate yourself? Is it in the area of food? You told yourself you were going to eat clean and healthy today, then someone offered you a donut and you ate it, only to tell yourself after that how fat you are and you’re never going to lose weight. We all have our areas. As we talk about this today, I want you to be thinking about something you really want. Maybe you’re an entrepreneur and there are new things you need to learn to take your business to the next level, and you keep telling yourself I can’t do this ______ (you fill in the blank). This could even apply to your spiritual life, maybe it’s that quiet time you keep promising yourself you are going to start, and you push that snooze alarm on your phone. To later tell yourself: “I can’t make myself get up earlier.”  You see where I’m going with this? Mindset matters!

This mindset shift can be a game changer for you. I encourage you to reflect: Where do you catch your own “I can’t” area. Our brain listens to what we tell it.

Let’s address the powerful difference between saying “I can’t” and “I can’t yet.” You see, “I can’t” comes from what’s called a fixed mindset-believing our abilities are set in stone and there’s just no way forward. But when we add that little word “yet,” suddenly we’re stepping into a growth mindset. “I can’t do this yet” means we believe we can learn, improve, and grow.

Think about Peter in the Bible. When Jesus called him to walk on water, Peter started to sink because he doubted himself. And over time as we read in the Bible, Peter didn’t stay stuck in “I can’t.” He kept following, learning, and trusting. Eventually he became a bold leader. So today, whatever challenge you’re facing, remember: “I can’t yet” means the story isn’t over. There’s room for growth, hope, and new possibilities! In the small things and in the big things.

To illustrate this point, here’s a little example of what happened to me recently. I had an assignment which told me to send an email to myself in the future. Sounds simple enough however I got caught up in resistance, thinking I don’t know how to do that, I can’t, so for a week or so the email I had written sat in my notes. Then I thought Monette you don’t know how to do this yet. I became resourceful and searched it on you-tube. It was so simple I figured it out and did it in a few minutes. This whole concept of this little word yet opens our thinking. Takes us from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

Practical Steps to Shift Your Mindset

• Notice your self-talk: catch yourself when you say “I can’t.”
• Add the word “yet” and reframe: “I can’t do this yet, but I’m learning.”
• Celebrate small wins and progress, not just perfection.
• Surround yourself with growth-minded people.
• Practice prayer and ask God for strength and wisdom in your growth areas.
• Pick one area where you intentionally add the word “yet” to your mindset this week.
• Give yourself grace as you experiment with this and keep yourself moving forward.

As you look for the solution to: “I can’t yet,” I want you to take action and keep telling yourself if this doesn’t work I’ll try something else. If this doesn’t work, try something else. Eventually you can figure it out.

Yes, this post is a bit shorter than my usual, because this mindset shift is so simple, but it can be difficult to execute, mainly because we don’t see it! It’s not always these huge shifts we need to make to improve our lives sometimes it gets down to the power of simple words we use that can get us unstuck.

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Monette hosts a weekly podcast: Mornings with Monette. She has been a lifelong learner and and appreciates the opportunity to share what she has learned–both through her podcast and here at The Best-Life Project (based on the content of her weekly podcast). Her messages are raw, honest and straight from the heart. She lives in Albuquerque, NM with her husband Leland. They have three adult children and are enjoying living their best lives filled with travel and adventure. For more information, visit: http://morningswithmonette.com/.