Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Author: Carol Dweck
Key Insights:
Mindset change is not about picking up a few pointers here and there. It’s about seeing things in a new way. Changing to a growth mindset is changing from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework. Their commitment is to growth, and growth takes plenty of time, effort, and mutual support.
What is a Fixed Mindset? Believing that your qualities are carved in stone. The urgency to prove yourself over and over
Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated.
Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?
A world about proving you are smart or talented
What is a Growth Mindset? Believing your basic qualities are things that you can cultivate through your efforts.
Everyone can grow through application and experience despite differences in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments. True potential is unknown
Why waste time proving over and over how great you are when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them?
A world of changing qualities
People are born with a love of learning, but a fixed mindset can undo it. Think of a time you were enjoying something. Then it became hard and you wanted out. Next time when this happens, don't fool yourself. It’s the fixed mindset. Put yourself in a growth mindset. Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going.
The mindset of champions:
Those with the growth mindset found success in doing their best, in learning, and improving.
Those with the growth mindset found setbacks motivating. They are informative. They are a wake-up call
People with the growth mindset took charge of the processes that bring success and that maintain it.
Every relationship demands an effort to keep it on the right track; there is a constant tension... between the forces that hold you together and those that can tear you apart. A no-effort relationship is a doomed relationship, not a great relationship. It takes work to communicate accurately and it takes work to expose and resolve conflicting hopes and beliefs. It doesn’t mean there is no “they lived happily ever after,” but it's more like “they worked happily ever after.”
College students, after doing poorly on a test, were given a chance to look at tests of other students. Those in the growth mindset looked at the tests of people who had done far better than they had. As usual, they wanted to correct their deficiency. But students in the fixed mindset chose to look at the tests of people who had done really poorly. That was their way of feeling better about themselves
If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. That way, their children don’t have to be slaves of praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence
People also have to decide what kinds of relationships they want: ones that bolster their egos or ones that challenge them to grow? Who is your ideal mate?
“When you are lying on your deathbed, one of the cool things to say is ‘I really explored myself.”
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