How Our Choice Of Mindset Determines Our Trajectories In Life?

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck

Recently I read a book titled: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck. In the book, Psychologist Carol S Dweck believes that The most important factor in determining human success was not talent or intelligence, but attitude or mindset.

Dweck argues that there are two types of mindsets: a fixed mindset, which dictates that our ability to achieve is unchangeable; and a growth mindset, which say that we can improve our abilities through challenging work and practice. The fixed mindset makes our failures personal; we, as opposed to our actions, are not good enough. The growth mindset believes that persistence, hard work, and an openness to criticism are exactly what help us improve. 

The fixed mindset and the growth mindset respondn different situations differently. Following are two very good examples:

On Setback

The fixed mindset took the upsets of the day personally and became despondent. People with the growth mindset were philosophical and examined what had happened during the day to see what they could learn from it.

On Risk and Effect

The fixed mindset fears risk, as it carries the possibility of failure. People with the growth mindset estimate their own abilities accurately because they can see both their strengths and weaknesses and are not afraid to receive criticism.

Growth mindset emphasize process above results and enjoyment over success

 


Good Points in the Book

  1. Belief in your innate talent can also result in a sense of superiority.
  2. Treating success as a zero-sum game – either you win and you’re somebody, or you lose and you’re nobody – leaves us in a permanent state of insecurity, because losses attack our whole identities. Focusing on the process and giving ourselves credit for trying lets us see success as something we do, rather than something we are. In this way, we are still able to see good about ourselves even when results aren’t what we hoped for.
  3. How we view ourselves and our abilities has wide-ranging implications for how we will go on to interact with the world

 


Direct Quotes in the book or cited Quotes from the Other Books

  1. If success is tied to self-esteem, then failure is a blow.
  2. What determines our achievements in life is not our intelligence but our willingness to learn.
  3. Not letting negativity get the upper hand is really, really critical – Christopher Reeve
  4. The people living the happier, more successful lives were those who embraced vulnerability.
  5. Judgment is the royal road to suffering. When you judge others, you get angry, and when you judge yourself, you get depressed – McKay Wood and Brantley
  6. I don’t divide the world into the successes and the failures. I divide the world into the learners and non learners – Benjamin Barber Sociologist.
  7. You are going to fail at some point. How you deal with that failure is what will make you either a success or a failure in life.

Following is Dr. Carol S. Dweck’s TED talk, from which you can feel the calmness in her voice. Is her calmness from her profound knowledge about the real meaning of success? She is not fainted by her success at all. Maybe, She thinks her success is still  an ongoing process.

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