“For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.” – Carol Dweck
Growth Mindset
- Intelligence can be developed
- Has a desire to learn (even in the face of challenges and failure)
- Embrace challenges
- Persists in the face of setbacks
- Embraces and learns from negative feedback
- Learns from the success of others
Fixed Mindset
- Intelligence is fixed
- Has a desire to look smart
- Avoids challenges
- Gives up easily
- Ignore useful negative feedback
- Feel threatened by the success of others
Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives [via Brainpickings.org]
Your Growth Assignment This Week: Take Action to Cultivate a Growth Mindset
Your assignment is to take 20-60 minutes to answer the following five questions:
- The best part of this year for me was _______
- What worked? What went well? List your top three successes:
- What didn’t work? What did you learn from it? List your top three failure/learning moments.
- List as many moments that led you to something great.
- How do you want to grow and improve as a person next year? What are some specific ideas for how you can do that?
* Thanks to Sarah Peck for being the inspiration behind these questions.
Notable Quotes from the book
“I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures. I divide the world into the learns and the non-learners.” – Benjamin Barber [16]
“People have to decide what kinds of relationships they want: ones that bolster their egos or ones that challenge them to grow? “[18]“In the fixed mindset, everything is about outcome. If you fail – or if you’re not the best – it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues. Maybe they haven’t found the cure for cancer, but the search was deeply meaningful.” [48]
Edison wasn’t just a solo “born genius”…
“Edison was not a loner. For the invention of the lightbulb, he had 30 assistants, including well-trained scientists, often working around the clock in a corporate-funded state of the art laboratory.” [55]
Read More
Carol Dweck on the Power of Believing that You Can Improve [via Ted.com]
Bibliography:
Title: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Author: Carol Dweck
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (December 26, 2007)
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