Mindset

Mindset by Carol Dweck.

This book is great, but I wish it was less verbose. I found the anecdotes to be one too many, adding significant fluff. It felt unnecessary to talk about the growth vs. fixed mindset in too many different contexts, because the conclusion remained the same, and the application did not differ by much.

Notable take-homes

Fixed vs. Growth mindsets

Fixed mindsets assume static abilities and skills about oneself. The qualities you have is what you always will be.

• Statements such as you’re either good at drawing/math or not define it
• It values feelings of being unique and special I’m so smart, I don’t need to study like everyone else
• It brings very self-critical views about oneself in the face of failures I’ll never be as good as the people who get into F500 companies
• This mindset can lead someone to develop a fear of failure and avoid learning opportunities
• It is typically developed during childhood and adolescence
  • Can be reinforced by well-meaning parents praising children’s successes over their innate attributes instead of hard work Good job on getting a perfect score. You’re so smart!

Growth mindset hold beliefs that situations and skills can be improved. Wherever you’re starting from, you can better your situation.

• Faced with failure, it encourages learning and working harder to improve future outcomes
• it’s positively correlated with continued success

Developing a growth mindset

These are not binaries, they represent a spectrum, and in different domains, the same individual can have different mindsets. A growth mindset can be developed by:

1. Acknowledging the fixed mindset
2. Identifying potential triggers
3. Reframing failure as a need to learn instead of a statement about our innate ability
4. Challenging the fixed mindset over time

False growth mindsets

• People can cherry-pick what they like about themselves and qualify it as growth-mindset
  • This can lead people to self-aggrandize and congratulate themselves over skills they’re happy with, without a deeper look
  • Growth mindset is about believing that all your abilities can be developed
• It’s not just about hard work and effort
  • It’s about the direction of effort and trying out different strategies until a winning one is found
  • It’s about refining a process rather than just its rigorous application
• Effort needs to be there before praising it
  • Praising effort in children can reinforce a growth mindset, but only if the child is making effort, otherwise it’s ineffectual
• It’s not about being able to “do anything”
  • This puts the onus completely on the student/child
    • Can lead to feelings of failure if goal isn’t reached
  • Too broad of a statement to be effective