Key Points
- Success comes from having the right mindset rather than intelligence, talent or education. Adopting a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset can make huge differences to our careers and lives.
- A fixed mindset: Believing that intelligence is fixed and static.
- A growth mindset: Believing that intelligence and talents can be improved through effort and learning. “It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.”
- Those who adopt a growth mindset are more likely to:
- - Willingly embraces challenges
- - Embrace lifelong learning
- - Believe intelligence can be improved
- - Believe failures are just temporary setbacks
- - View feedback as a source of information and an opportunity to learn
- - Find inspiration in others success
- - Look for people who challenge them to grow
- - Focus on the process and learning without worrying much about the outcome
- Those who adopt a fixed mindset are more likely to:
- - Believe intelligence and talent are static
- - Run from error and avoid challenges to avoid failure
- - Ignore feedback from others and view it as personal criticism.
- - Feel jealous or threatened by the success of others
- - Hide flaws so as not to be judged by others
- - Focus solely on the outcome since it communicates their identity
- - Tend to create a need for approval
- Anyone can adopt a growth mindset. Our brain is just another muscle in our body. In order to adopt a more growth mindset, be conscious of how you speak to yourself (and others) and notice when you use a fixed mindset vocabulary.
- True self-confidence is not reflected in a title, an expensive suit, a fancy car, or a series of acquisitions. It is reflected in your mindset: your openness and readiness to grow. Confident people and high achievers are relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.
- Letting go of outcome when the pursuit is meaningful. A growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. “Maybe they haven’t found the cure for cancer, but the search was deeply meaningful.”
- The top is where the fixed-mindset people hunger to be, but it’s where many growth-minded people arrive as a by-product of their enthusiasm for what they do. “Did I win? Did I lose?” are the wrong questions. The correct questions are: “Did I make my best effort?, Did I learn?”
- Teams that promote and foster a growth mindset tend to be more collaborative, empowered and committed.
- Keys for fostering a growth mindset:
- - Praising our attempts, not our outcomes
- - Getting excited about challenges, not avoiding them
- - Enjoying unfamiliar situations
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The above is inspired from the bestselling book "Mindset" by Carol Dweck