How a Growth Mindset Helps Christian College Students

A growth mindset can be a powerful tool in a world full of challenges and opportunities. For Christian students, a growth mindset aligns with faith and perseverance, two essential ingredients for growth in their studies, relationships, and spiritual journey.

"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13 ESV

What Is a Growth Mindset?

There are different ways we can view the world and ourselves. Optimism versus pessimism, risk-seeking versus risk averse, and individual versus group-oriented — are all pairings that describe different mindsets. In the late 1980s, Carol Dweck and colleagues began discussing a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset, and the concept has taken off ever since. 

The fixed versus growth mindset model helps describe how different people view their attributes and abilities. Are these things mostly set in stone (fixed), or can they be changed and improved (growth)?

How Do People with a Growth Mindset Think and Behave?

If you have a growth mindset, you seek to improve and explore your abilities without limiting your goals based on current skills. By contrast, those with a fixed mindset choose activities or goals that align with their current abilities to maximize the chance of avoiding failure. As Dweck explains, fixed mindset individuals seek to prove their abilities, while growth mindset individuals want to improve them.

Writing for Christianity Today, pastor John Ortberg shares that a growth mindset "made Joshua and Caleb see possibilities when 10 other spies saw only giant roadblocks…. It caused David to see an opponent that was too big to miss, while everyone else saw one too big to hit."

The Importance of a Growth Mindset for College Students

As a Christian college student, your life is focused on academics, family, community, and your faith. Balancing these responsibilities can feel overwhelming, but having a growth mindset can help you face challenges and embrace opportunities.

How a Growth Mindset Improves Academics

Educators often encourage students to embrace a growth mindset in classrooms because they have seen its power. Evidence shows that students with a growth mindset are more likely to take risks and try to solve problems that might be unfamiliar.

In college, you're taking challenging classes that might leave you questioning whether you're smart enough. Rather than thinking about your intelligence as a fixed value, a growth mindset will help you draw on your resources and put in the work to improve your understanding of new material. Studying for tests, enrolling in difficult courses, and even receiving a bad grade will feel like steps along the way to academic improvement rather than roadblocks.

How a Growth Mindset Improves Social Well-being

College students can also develop more productive relationships with peers and instructors if they adopt a growth mindset. This lens makes it easier to view constructive feedback as a chance to learn and improve rather than a mark against your abilities.   

As a student at a Christian university in Dallas, part of your learning comes from exploring the relationship between academics and God's Word. You will leave DBU as a servant leader, ready to share your knowledge with the greater community and world. In the process, you might encounter challenges. Having practiced a growth mindset, you'll view these challenges with other people in your neighborhood or at work in a new light: It is a chance to grow and improve the way you speak about your faith and truth.

Adopting a Growth Mindset as a Godly Christian

At Dallas Baptist University, college students are also God-fearing Christians ready to share their love of the Lord with the world. God can often test our faith; however, having a growth mindset during these times is the best way to heed the lessons He offers.

Spiritual Life with a Growth Mindset

A spiritual growth mindset is a powerful tool. This view allows you to see your faith as a journey rather than a finish line. Encountering obstacles during periods of stress or uncertainty will help improve your faith rather than dissolve it. You can see a challenge and feel confident because you know that God will set your path straight if you trust in Him. The Living Christianity Blog explains that a growth mindset "can help us change our outlook on sins and recognize that each time we fall is a time we can learn to rely on God, learn something new, change, and rise again."

The Importance of Spiritual Community and Growth

To support your growth mindset in college studies or your faith, it's crucial to have a community that supports your efforts to improve, even in the face of hardship. Small group worship and Bible study can help you reflect on God's Word and importance in your life by encouraging you with support through difficult times. At DBU, the Academic Resources and Spiritual Life elements are an integral part of success as a Christian college student. You will have an entire team beside you to champion your journey.

Whether in your studies, career, or spiritual life, a growth mindset will help you see possibilities rather than obstacles.