Mindset

When pursuing any goal, an inspiring work life, loving relationships, radiant health, abundant free-flowing wealth, whatever it may be, at some stage you may face a hard truth: that much (if not all) of your success and failure is determined by what goes on between your ears.

Honestly, I wish I had picked up Dr. Dweck’s book twenty years earlier. I’m convinced, had I done so, I would have given Roger Federer a run for his money on centre court at Wimbledon some time.

Mindset is a book that my wife (a school headteacher) and I both agree should be… show more.

Now and then a psychology researcher has a breakthrough that is so perfectly practical and useful that everybody needs to know about it.  This book describes that breakthrough. Some people think intelligence is a fixed trait. You're either smart or dumb. Full stop. Others believe intelligence is malleable. Time, life, and experience can build intelligence like weights can build a muscle. It turns out, regardless of what you think, you're right. But one of these mindsets is much more useful for a satisfying, growth-oriented life. This is a life-changing book.

Most teachers will know this book and most schools either explicitly or implicitly teach growth mindset to students. So it would be helpful for parents to have this insight, too. But you might have heard growth mindset being “disproved” – that is not true! Some people had taken the conclusions too far and made too many claims or misunderstood, but if you actually read Dweck’s work in this book you’ll see what she actually said. It is quite a densely-written book, which is possibly why some people have skimmed it and reached certain conclusions. What you could do is a)… show more.