Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset? You may have come across this question before, or you may have children who’ve been asked it at school. The paradigm of fixed vs. growth mindsets has become increasingly popular in educational settings and beyond, as a way of highlighting the importance of the self-image we have when we set about learning something. Do we see ourselves as more or less set in our abilities? Or do we think of ourselves as capable of growth? When it comes to acquiring skills and knowledge, the difference in the two outlooks is enormous.
The popularity of this idea comes almost entirely from Carol Dweck’s hugely influential 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Dweck is a psychologist based at Stanford University, and her book has become essential reading for anyone looking to run a classroom, improve a business, or simply become a smarter, more capable person.To listen to or read the full version of this classic Book Bite, download the Next Big Idea App today.
1. Think of failure as a training manual.
As part of her research, Dweck gave a group of children a series of puzzles of varying difficulty, and gave them some choices as to which ones to do. She saw that some of the kids stuck to the easy puzzles, repeating the ones they had already figured out how to solve. But other kids—even if they couldn’t figure out all the simple puzzles—wanted to try tougher ones.
Those kids weren’t any smarter. According to Dweck, they just had a different attitude. They could still get frustrated and angry when they screwed up a puzzle, but they didn’t take it personally. For those kids, messing up a puzzle wasn’t a failure—it was just learning.
“No matter what goal you’re pursuing, and no matter how old you are, you can learn how to shift your attitude and realize your true potential.”
Dweck started referring to this attitude as a growth mindset. And according to her research, children who displayed it grew up to be adults who were more capable of self-improvement. These are people who can easily admit that they don’t know things, which vastly increases the chances that they’ll learn. Fixed-mindset people, on the other hand, even those who are very intelligent and naturally talented, have a much harder time reaching their potential. Because they won’t admit their limitations—because they see them as failures—they routinely miss opportunities to get better.
The good news is that these mindsets themselves aren’t fixed. In other words, Dweck says, you can cultivate a growth mindset. No matter what goal you’re pursuing, and no matter how old you are, you can learn how to shift your attitude and realize your true potential.
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