'Mindset: The New Psychology of Success' is written by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck. After decades of research she found out the real mindset that leads you to success in your life. The book explains the two mindsets present in every human being - Fixed mindset and Growth Mindset and the importance of growth mindset in all fields of your life that promotes your own infinite potentials. Also, it elaborates how parents, teachers, coaches, athletes can develop the growth mindset in themselves and cultivate the same in their dependents. Carol S. Dweck gives lot of examples from different genres of life that have failed because of fixed mindset and examples that climbed the plateau of success because of growth mindset. Dweck also points out the false growth mindset practices followed by people and provides steps to inculcate growth mindset by yourself.
Carol S. Dweck explains that the view you adopt about yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. Growth mindset believes you can substantially change how intelligent you are whereas fixed mindset believes you are born either intelligent or not. Growth mindset people know their abilities and they use different practices to improve their abilities. Setbacks in life will not let growth mindset people to withdraw from their goals or passion to learn or achieve. Instead of concluding that they are not intelligent, they follow different methods to acquire the knowledge. When someone has a fixed mindset, he believes that people have either innate abilities or they do not. Hence, they try to convince themselves and others in schools, offices, relationships their innate qualities. They also urge others to do the same. They will get concerned about mistakes and failures. Life setbacks lead them to 'I am not enough' mode and they are afraid of critics as well. They wish to be superior, special, successful and entitled than others. They believe others failure is their success. Fixed mindset may lead people to feel themselves as inferior, not smart as well. There is no space for growth in their reality. They believe that if a skill requires a lot of efforts to achieve that means you are not smart enough. In fixed mindset imperfections are shameful.
A person's true potential is unknown. Just because someone can do something with little or no training, it does not mean that others cannot do it. The book gives lot of examples that affirms the same. Dweck explains how the students who were praised for their ability scored less when the test became tough and the students who were praised for their effort scored more. The scores and grades of a student means where the student currently is, it does not mean where the student can go. She also explains how stereotyping will drive kids to put less effort. When they listen to those stereotypical comments like girls are bad in math or science or Asians are good in math, students with fixed mindset slowly fall into the stereotypical beliefs. Both positive and negative labels affect in negative way for fixed mindset. When they fall under positive stereotype, they are afraid to lose it. When they are hit with negative label, they believe they do not deserve it and fails to work for it. Dweck also points out that women are more prone to other people's opinion. The stereotyping, plus the fixed mindset in addition to women's trust in other people's opinion results in gender gap in math and science.
One of the main fields where the talent is a preconceived idea is sports. The fixed mindset believes that natural talent does not need much effort. They are not ready to ask for help. They are not ready to analyze their deficiency and coach or practice them away. But the growth mindset find success in doing their best, in learning and improving. They find setbacks as motivating and informative. Fixed mindset people in sports take charge in process and maintaining them. Dweck also explains how a fixed mindset coaches can lead the whole team into a fixed mind mentality. A fixed mindset coach believes in the ability of the team and not in the process of learning or improving. Fixed mindset coach will relate the team’s success or failure as his own failure or success in life. Howbeit the growth mindset coach believes in process and improvement of their teams. Character has a major role in sports. Your natural talent can get you into the team but how long you can travel along all depends on how you perceive yourself.
Business is another field where you can see success when you follow growth mindset. Dweck provides lot of examples where companies failed because of fixed mindset of board of members or CEOs. As well as examples of CEOs who brought back company from debt. Fixed mindset leaders believe that some people are superior, and others are inferior. They try to affirm the superiority by demeaning the subordinates. Fixed mindset leader believes in geniuses. They do not believe in mentoring their teams. They always judge and criticize the subordinates. So, the team will not come with new ideas as they are always afraid to be judged and hence innovations do not survive in that environment. But a growth mindset leader believes in employees as well as their potentials and improvement. Jack Welch who took the company GE in 1980 which was valued fourteen billion dollar and turned it into a $490 billion dollar company in twenty years believed that true confidence is the courage to be open - to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source. Dweck also explains how Lou Gerstner who believed in personal growth helped IBM from the way of extinction and increased its value by 800 percent. When a team is lead by growth mindset leaders, employees will be honest about their opinions. They are no more afraid being judged. They are being praised for new ideas and innovations. Growth mindset managers think it is nice to have a talent, but it is just the starting point. They are committed to employees’ development as well as theirs. For the success of a company it is necessary to train leaders, managers, and employees in the growth mindset in addition to effective communication and mentoring. The mindset of employees makeup the mindset of a company or the vice versa. Employees in a growth mindset company have more positive view about their organization. Also, the supervisors in growth mindset company have positive view on their employees.
The growth-mindset has an important role in relationship as well. Each relationship is different. Fixed mindset believes that if you need to work at a relationship that means something is seriously wrong with their relationship. Dweck explains how the general portrait in medias about love like ‘true love can read mind’ backfires in a relationship. It stops the couple from communicating. She explains fixed mindset also believes a couple should share all of each other’s views. They believe that problems are signs of character flaw. But growth-mindset believes that they can work on problems and they have potential to change. The growth mindset lets you rise above blame, understands the problem, and fixes it. Dweck give examples of how growth mindset affect friendship as well. She tells that conventional wisdom tells; you will know who your friends are in time of need. Sometimes tougher question is to whom you can approach at the time of your success without affecting their egos. Your needs may not threaten their self-esteem however your success can. She also explains bullies judge and demean others to boost their self-esteem. Fixed mindset can affect the victims as well in a negative way. The victims feel bad about themselves and lash out in response. One of the main reasons for schools’ shootings in United States is bullying.
Parents, teachers, and coaches have a great role in developing growth mindset in the world around them. Even if you are following a growth mindset, kids will not get into it if you are not projecting it properly. When you praise a kid for their higher grades in schools or their abilities instead of praising their efforts, it may backfire on them. It will give them a fixed mindset of getting higher grades makes them special. It will lead kids to stop doing more competitive works as they think it may reduce their grades. Praising children's intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance. As a parent, the best gift you can give to your children is to teach them to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, seek new strategies, and keep on learning. Praise and criticize children to make them learn that their mistakes are occasions for suggestions and teaching. When we judge kids for their mistakes instead of helping them to learn from their mistakes, we are instilling a fixed mindset in them. This will lead them to think that their parents will not love and respect them unless they fulfill their parents' aspirations for them. Dweck explains that great teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent. Also, they are fascinated by the process of learning. They are not imparting the natural talent available to some students, instead they use different practices for each student to develop their skills. Fixed mindset teachers think themselves as finished products and they imprint the same in their students. However, growth mindset teachers continue to learn along with students. Growth mindset teachers make students understand the importance of trying new strategies when the one they are using is not working. Parents, teachers and coaches pass growth mindset by embodying a growth mindset in their deeds: the way they praise (conveying the processes that lead to learning), the way they treat setbacks(as opportunities for learning), and the way they focus on learning.
Growth mindset is believing people can develop their abilities. Everyone can develop a growth mindset. Everyone has both fixed mindset and growth mindset in different fields. The first step in the journey of growth mindset is embracing your fixed mindset. The second step is understanding your fixed mindset triggers without judging it. Third step is giving a name to the triggers. This helps you to not define yourself with your fixed mindset persona. And the last step is educating it. When you come across the fixed mindset, observe the triggers, replace with growth mindset actions. This book helped me to open my eyes towards my fixed mindset persona. I developed my fixed mindset when I was a kid. I believed that you are born with a talent and you cannot develop a new one if you are not born with. Also, I tried to push myself to prove my intellect and avoided competitive opportunities where I could learn more because of fear of failure. The culture and society where I grew up promoted to stay on the top of the ladder. It is easy to put blame on your parents, teachers, school system or society for your fixed mindset and play victim throughout your life. When you realize that you can develop growth mindset, you are not only making yourself a better person but also those around you. Your partner, kids, students, employees, friends all are learning from you. Praise the efforts instead of the intellect or the ability. Instead of judgements and punishments, learn from the setbacks. Adopt new strategies if the current method is not working. Always thrive on learning. Everyday work towards being a better person of yourself. Read the book to understand your fixed mindset persona and to build a growth mindset.
You can buy books online:
India: Mindset by Carol S Dweck
Comments