The Importance of a Growth Mindset

Adopt the growth mindset, not the fixed mindset.

With a growth mindset, you're always capable of broadening your views and abilities.

Don't say "I'm not good at leg yields". Say "I'm not good at leg yields, yet".

Treat it is a learning endeavor. Chart progress against your own goals. Avoid comparing yourself to others. Even when you start improving, you'll still make mistakes, but with less frequency. If we treat this as a learning endeavor, where mistakes are a part of the learning process, we're more likely to stay in the growth mindset. 

You will never not make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. The goal is to just make less severe and less frequent mistakes over time. But in the meantime, mistakes teach us. I’d say 90% or more of my riding knowledge/abilities has come from making a mistake and figuring out the right way of doing something in order to avoid that mistake in the future. Only maybe 10% of my abilities have come from doing something right the first time.