Growth mindset in practice when you get stuck

Start with the part that’s hard

Say you freeze when you try to order food in another language. Practice the first sentence with a friend, ask where you were hard to understand, then try again. That’s one way to put growth mindset into practice. It starts with the belief that you can develop a skill through practice, better strategies and help. [1]

What the studies found

A 2019 U.S. experiment found a small average gain in core grades among ninth graders who had been doing less well academically. Results varied by school context. In a 2026 Stanford interview, researcher Eric Bettinger described a separate study in Norway in which students who received growth mindset lessons chose more challenging maths courses.

In a 2022 dissertation on adults learning English at one technical college, Wei-Chun Stiskin found no clear change in survey scores for growth mindset or confidence in their ability to learn. Some learners described changes in how they studied. Those are different outcomes from grades or course choices.

Run a one-week learning experiment

1. Choose a task small enough to repeat, such as explaining a single maths problem or asking one question in another language. Try it once and write down exactly where you get stuck.

2. Change one thing. Ask someone to show you a worked example, or record yourself and ask a friend for one specific suggestion. Try again using that feedback.

3. At the end of the week, repeat the original task. Note what you can now do on your own and what you still need help with.