Building a Champion’s Growth Mindset
September 24, 2025
by Toni Delos Santos
90% Mental
90percentmental.com
“There is no reality, only perception. Identify the filters through which you view the world” – Dr. Phil
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One of the main skills that separate champions from the rest of the pack is their ability to perform under pressure. It starts with the belief that they can be the best in their sport. Where does this belief come from? Is it true that certain people are just born champions and leaders?
The answer to the first question is, it comes from the stories that they tell themselves about themselves. People are all born with different strengths; however, champions and leaders do not have a gene that determines their success in sports or life. What they do possess is the mindset that if they put in the work there are no limits to what they can accomplish. According to Carol Dwek, author of the best-selling book, Mindset, she states “People with a fixed mindset — those who believe that abilities are fixed — are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset — those who believe that abilities can be developed.”
Having the knowledge that if you have a growth mindset your chances of excelling in all areas of your life are higher, I am sure we would all choose to have the growth mindset! The challenge is knowing how to achieve it. There are specific tools that I am going to share with you on the best way to turn a fixed mindset about a particular skill set into a growth mindset.
- Recognize the belief that is holding you back- I am not good at presenting to a large group so I will not be able to move up in my company.
- Take action-I will learn the techniques and skills that other people use so I can become comfortable and engaging when I am presenting to large group.
- Reflect– think back to skills that you became good at by practicing.
We form our belief system by our past experiences and how we choose to interpret them. It is harder to get out of our comfort zone and fail before we succeed. The only way we will continue to grow is to challenge ourselves to work hard at improving. We also tend to become complacent when we think we are naturally good at something. If we do not work as hard to keep improving on that skill, before you know it, someone else that is putting in the time will take over your position.
I challenge you to take a moment to think about some of the fixed mindset stories that you can start acting on and turn them into areas that you can work on to improve.
