Over the past few weeks I’ve been dipping in and out of the most awesome book, which I just have to share with you.
Seriously, if you want to achieve growth and success in any part of your life – including your career – then you need to check out this book.
Mindset: How you can Fulfil your Potential
Looking at the title, you might be thinking this is one of “those” pithy self-help books. But it’s not. Far from it.
I’d actually go so far to say that, for some people, the content of this book could change their life.
Written by Professor Carol Dweck – a psychologist at Standford University – the theory in this book was developed and demonstrated over years of intensive research.
And do you know what? The theory doesn’t just make for an interesting read, it makes complete sense.
Okay, sounds interesting…
In this book, Dweck illustrates how one thing has a MASSIVE impact on all aspects of our lives…. how successful we are, how well we achieve, and even how happy we are.
Most people – myself included – have at one time or another, decided that intelligence must be that thing; that intelligence predicates success, achievement and satisfaction.
However, Dweck shows us how ridiculously far from the truth that assumption actually is.
This “thing” is shared by successful students and the most powerful and influential leaders in business… but it’s not intelligence.
What is it? What is it?
That thing is… mindset.
Dweck concludes that everyone has a view about where ability comes from. They either think ability is pre-determined and innate (which gives them a fixed mindset) or that success can come from hard work, tenacity and learning (giving them a growth mindset).
This mindset influences everything from how we approach tasks and challenges, to how we accept feedback or deal with defeat.
Those with a fixed mindset might avoid challenges because of a fear of failure, which they conclude negatively reflects on their basic abilities. Meanwhile, the growth mindset people embrace challenges, because they conclude that failure is a platform for learning, through which performance can be improved.
Believing that your qualities are carved in stone – the fixed mindset – creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.
No wonder so many of us are perpetually exhausted, with our confidence and self-belief teetering on a precipice!
If, like those with the growth mindset, you believe you can develop yourself, then you’re open to accurate information about your current abilities, even it it’s unflattering. What’s more, if you’re oriented toward learning, as they are, you need accurate information about your current abilities in order to learn effectively.
Dweck also illustrates the devastating impact a fixed mindset can have in settings as diverse as college and marriages. She also demonstrates the power of a growth mindset in big (and I mean big!) business.
CEOs face this choice all the time. Should they confront their shortcomings or should they create a world where they have none? Lee Iacocca chose the latter. He surrounded himself with worshipers, exiled the critics—and quickly lost touch with where his field was going. Lee Iacocca had become a nonlearner.
She also shows how anyone can move to a growth mindset and realise their full potential.
If you’re in a fixed mindset today, this book will show you how you can develop and sustain a mindset of growth.
To Conclude…
The concept might sound inanely simple, but if you read this book you’ll appreciate just how profoundly powerful it is.
Writing as someone who innately falls into the “fixed mindset” trap, this book has been refreshingly liberating and empowering.
Mindset change is not about picking up a few pointers here and there. It’s about seeing things in a new way. When people… change to a growth mindset, they change from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework. Their commitment is to growth, and growth take plenty of time, effort, and mutual support.
Get the Book: