Developing a Growth Mindset Towards Running

We often admire people who seem born to run — as if they were gifted a Ferrari while we were stuck with a humble Mini. Edward de Bono’s famous car analogy (habits of mind) explains that it’s not the car you’re given that matters, but how well you learn to drive it. On a straight road, the Ferrari wins. But when there are obstacles, curves, and tough terrain, it’s the skilled driver who prevails.

I like to apply this analogy to running. I wasn’t born with the physical gifts of an elite endurance athlete. My body isn’t a Ferrari. But that hasn’t stopped me — because I’ve learned how to optimise and adapt my vehicle to perform to the best of its ability.

That journey started with accepting my body as it is, understanding how it responds to different stresses, and crafting a training plan to suit my unique requirements.

From Fixed to Growth: A Mindset Shift

As I matured — and finally grew up mentally (which took about 35 years!) — I became more self-aware and reflective. While working as a Specialist Classroom Teacher, I explored Growth Mindset strategies for my students, and later applied them to physical performance too.

A key principle of Growth Mindset is this: you don’t need to be gifted to succeed. You need the right attitude.  Top athletes aren’t born; they’re made through persistence, resilience, and relentless effort.

Michael Jordan is a classic example — and so is Joshua Waitzkin, who became both a World Chess Champion and a Martial Arts World Champion. As Eduardo Briceño shared in his TED Talk on the Power of Belief, , Waitzkin applied what he learned about success in chess to martial arts, proving that mindset matters more than innate talent.

Waitzkin famously said:

“The moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability, we will be brittle in the face of adversity.”

Growth vs Fixed Mindset in Sport

Briceño highlights how our beliefs about intelligence and ability shape our success:

  • Fixed Mindset: Believes abilities are fixed. Avoids challenges, gives up easily, sees effort as pointless.

  • Growth Mindset: Believes abilities can be developed. Embraces effort, seeks challenges, learns from setbacks.

The takeaway is simple: Success isn’t about natural gifts — it’s about grit. Athletes, musicians, and chess champions all show that mindset outweighs talent. With effort and discipline, we can all improve.

The Power of Deliberate Practice

Psychologist Anders Ericsson studied success across sport, the arts, and academia, and discovered that mastery is the result of deliberate practice — focused effort on the edges of your current abilities. His key findings:

  • It takes roughly 10,000 hours to master a skill.

  • Experts focus on what they can’t yet do well.

  • Progress comes from consistently pushing just beyond your comfort zone.

I certainly haven’t run for 10,000 hours yet — but I know I’ll get better if I keep showing up. Like learning an instrument or language, running requires time, patience, and a willingness to embrace discomfort.

Applying Growth Mindset to Running

Here’s how I applied these insights:

  • Patience: I stopped expecting overnight breakthroughs. I gave my body time to adapt, build base fitness, and develop more mitochondria and endurance-friendly muscle fibers.

  • Problem-Solving: I targeted my weak areas — particularly my race-day nutrition. Repeated sugar crashes told me I needed to teach my body to burn fats more efficiently, not just rely on carbs.

By using a Growth Mindset lens, every struggle became a clue — not a failure.

Final Thoughts

Developing a growth mindset towards running means viewing every obstacle as an opportunity to learn, adapt, and improve. It’s about focusing on effort over talent, process over outcome, and resilience over perfection.

I’ll dive into how I applied this mindset to transform my eating, sleeping, and running habits in my next post — stay tuned!
*The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance