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

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