Do you delight in heaping praise on your kids for how smart they are? Or how talented?
If you solve a puzzle, do you look for a tougher challenge, a more difficult puzzle?
Do you believe your, or someone else’s, personality is what you, or they, were born with? This was our topic a couple of weeks ago.
Have you noticed athletes whose mistakes crush them? Who can’t get “back in the game” quickly?
Recently I was introduced to the book, Mindset – The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck.
Dweck’s premise is that some people have “fixed” mindsets. Others have “growth” mindsets. Which are you? In reality, most people have a mix, but lean mostly one way or the other. We’re likely to have one mindset sometimes, and the other one other times.
As a primary school teacher, and a tireless researcher, Dweck has studied these differences most of her life.
When you hear statements like:
- I’m no good with technology
- I can’t learn French, or Spanish
- I can’t drive a car with a manual transmission
You’re hearing the result of a fixed mindset, one that believes they have, or don’t have, a certain talent.
When you hear:
- With some research, and maybe a class, I’ll figure out technology to the extent that I need it.
- I’m anxious to dig into a language that will be useful, or interesting, to me.
- Can you help me learn to drive a car with a clutch?
You’re hearing someone with a growth mindset.
The good news is, you’re not “stuck” with one or the other. Dweck reports that her own mindset has evolved from fixed in her childhood to growth as she matured. And of course as she studied mindsets.
In grasping these ideas it’s important to first understand the basics. You’ll need a solid understanding of some terms she uses, and her fundamental concept. After you’ve accomplished that, a couple of chapters stand out for me. These chapters highlight situations where the concepts are easy to see in action.
- In chapter 3 she discusses the importance of a growth mindset in parents and teachers of young children. Kids, with their young absorptive minds, take signals from what adults say to them. If they’re scolded when they make a mistake, they learn quickly not to make mistakes. Of course this means, “don’t take on anything too difficult”. What if they’re praised for their talents – how easily they did something? They learn that quick performance is better than working hard to learn something difficult.
- In chapter 7, we learn the results of the two mindsets in coaches of sports teams. She describes three well-known college basketball coaches, All had moments of success.
- Bobby Knight of the Indiana Hoosiers won a lot of championships. His success was sporadic.
- John Wooden led the UCLA Bruins from a 3rd-rate status to 10 championships in 12 years. He was arguably the “winningest” NCAA coach ever.
- Pat Summitt coached the Tennessee Lady Vols. She started with a Bobby Knight (explosive, inconsistent) style. She evolved into recognizing losses as learning opportunities.
- I’m sure you can see, even without reading more detail, where the fixed and growth mindsets were.
- In chapter 7 she also discusses “false” growth mindsets. She covers a couple of misunderstandings about what is a growth mindset.
I leave you with that much introduction and summary of Carol Dweck’s great work. For me it’s a unique examination of the ingredients of real success. I hope you find it equally compelling.
I know this web page presents quality based posts and other stuff, is
there any other site which presents these kinds of stuff in quality?
Actually there are many others. One way to find them is to click the links in many of my articles which take you to a specific article someone else wrote. Most of those writers have a blog page where you can find lots of interesting material.
When someone writes an piece of writing he/she keeps the plan of a user in his/her mind that how a user can be
aware of it. Therefore that’s why this article is outstdanding.
Thanks!
It’s very rewarding to hear that my writing finds interested people like you. Glad you’re enjoying the article. If you’d like to subscribe to my free newsletter, “The Unity Community”, tell mew the email you want me to end it to, or go to http://bit.ly/37PCOM9, and enter your information. The newsletter is the source of most of the articles i post here.
Have a great weekend.
John
I know this site provides quality based content and extra data, is there any other web page which offers these data in quality?
Thanks for the nice compliment.
Actually, many others have lots of good stuff. The links in my articles, in most cases, go to other writers who provide lots of value on numerous subjects.
Have a lovely week.
John
Hello there! This post couldn’t be written any better!
Reading this post reminds me of my old room
mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this article to him.
Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, Kristan. I’d love to hear any feedback from your old room mate.
Want to be a subscriber (free) and ensure you get my articles when I write them? Send me ([email protected]) the email address where you want me to send it, or go to http://bit.ly/37PCOM9 and enter your information.
Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you penning this post and the rest of
the site is also very good.
Thanks Georgiana, for the kind words.
Want to be a subscriber (free) and ensure you get my articles when I write them? Send me ([email protected]) the email address where you want me to send it, or go to http://bit.ly/37PCOM9 and enter your information.
I do not know if it’s just me or if perhaps everybody else experiencing issues with your blog.
It seems like some of the text in your posts are running off the screen. Can somebody else please provide feedback and
let me know if this is happening to them as well? This might be a issue with my internet browser because I’ve had this
happen previously. Kudos
Thanks,
Your feedback is appreciated. You’re the first to have that problem, as far as I know. If others comment similarly, I’ll look into it. If you hear from others who don’t communicate with me, I’ll appreciate it.
Glad you like my post. If you’d like to subscribe to my free newsletter, “The Unity Community”, you’ll see all may articles as I originally publish them. To do that, send me ([email protected]) the email address where you want me to send it, or go to http://bit.ly/37PCOM9 and enter your information.
Thanks for your interest.
John
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the layout of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of
content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only
having one or 2 pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
Thanks Latrice,
Your suggestions are much appreciated. I always have to remember that others don’t always appreciate the written word as much as I do as a writer.
Glad you like my post. If you’d like to subscribe to my free newsletter, “The Unity Community”, you’ll see all may articles as I originally publish them. To do that, send me ([email protected]) the email address where you want me to send it, or go to http://bit.ly/37PCOM9 and enter your information.
Thanks for your interest.
John
Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
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site is fantastic, as well as the content!
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Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if
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Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy
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