An app reco, prototyping, and more

An app reco, prototyping, and how to cultivate a growth mindset

If you’re reading this, I’m going to guess you and I have something in common: we both ❤️ love to LEARN.

This week, I’m excited to share some things I recently learned, plus some tools that I hope will help you improve your communication skills.

Here we go…

3 things to Talk About this week:

1️⃣ Prototyping
2️⃣ 3 ways to adopt a growth mindset
3️⃣ An app recommendation

1️⃣ Prototyping: The Prototype Mindset

I recently had the opportunity to visit Harvey Mudd College, an elite college in California focused on STEM, where I attended a presentation on design thinking and the prototype mindset. As I listened, it occurred to me that prototyping is an excellent metaphor for having a growth mindset.

Inventors and entrepreneurs prototype things all the time, whether it be building a physical prototype, beta testing, or doing a soft launch of a product or service.

But you don’t have to be an inventor or entrepreneur to adopt the prototype mindset. The next time you’re making a pitch to a client or contributing to a routine meeting with colleagues, think of what you have to offer as a prototype, and not the final product.

If your ideas are met with criticism, take that as feedback to inform the growth and development of your prototype. Then apply what you’ve learned, and come back with prototype 2.0.

2️⃣ Three Ways to Adopt a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset isn’t something we’re born with; it’s something that we can all develop over time.

Are you ready to develop yours? I have three suggestions to help you get started:

#1 Invest in self-improvement. Your investment could involve signing up for a course, workshop, or 1-on-1 coaching, but it could be something as simple as reading books or listening to a podcast. It’s not about the money you invest, it’s the time.

#2 Adopt a growth mindset mantra. Mine is, “I know what I know and I’m keen to learn more.” Saying this to myself gives me confidence in the things that I do know, and reminds me that any situation I find myself in is an opportunity to learn.

#3 Use the word “learn”. This is one of the easiest ways to adopt a growth mindset. When we emphasize learning, there’s no such thing as failure.

3️⃣ The Uptime App

If you’re keen to learn more. I encourage you to check out the Uptime App, which offers thousands of life lessons based on the best books, podcasts, courses, and documentaries out there.

(It took me a second to decipher “Uptime”… It’s “Uptime, as in, when you have “downtime, you can turn it into “uptime” by reading brief insights from the best books, podcasts, articles, etc. Got it!)

Uptime’s lessons are packed into 5-minute Knowledge Hacks, making it easy and manageable to learn something new every day.

I recently contributed a Knowledge Hack of my own to Uptime: my simple 3-step framework for introducing yourself with confidence! I hope you’ll give this a try if you haven’t already.

There you go – 3 things to Talk About this week! Prototyping, 3 ways to adopt a growth mindset, and a useful app full of knowledge hacks.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email me or message me on LinkedIn. I love hearing from you.

Talk soon,