What's your Mindset?
Everyone has "their" way of looking at things, which in turn shapes their path. Do you feel you are on a "fixed" path? Or are you on a "growth" path? Many of us create New Year's resolutions and goals to help us become "better" at something, whether that's in dealing with your health, fitness, starting a new business, reading more books, more family time, etc, etc, etc... It's a person's MINDSET that actually determines whether or not they will succeed in their resolutions. "Yah, yah, yah, that's obvious", you are thinking. Okay, TRUE, but there's actually more to it than that...
My husband was recently on an airplane sitting next to a man who highly recommended a book that he's found to be an amazing tool in explaining "Mindsets" and how whichever type you have will either cause you to stay "fixed" in your achievements, or allow you to "grow" and achieve at even greater heights. The title of the book is Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential, by Carol S. Dweck, PhD. This book talks about the power of people’s beliefs, how these can greatly affect what we want and our success in getting it. From the book's introduction by the author, Carol S. Dweck, PhD, "A simple belief about yourself guides a large part of your life. It could be what is preventing you from fulfilling your potential..." Are you INTRIGUED? :)
My husband was really excited about this book and gave copies to me and the kids for Christmas. I've been reading it and I have to say one thing: LIFE-CHANGER! I am absolutely eating it up... and here's what I think you need to know about it...
From the author (I've bolded what I want to emphasize...), “For thirty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?
Believing that your qualities are carved in stone--the fixed mindset--creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character-well, then you’d better prove you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics...”
“…There’s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you’re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you’re secretly worried it’s a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others. Although people may differ in every which way--in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments--everyone can change and grow through application and experience."
(pages 6-7, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential, by Carol S. Dweck, PhD)
GROWTH MINDSET=just that...GROWTH!
FIXED MINDSET=No growth
Hmmm. I choose... GROWTH! Time to explore more about how to achieve a "Growth Mindset"...we CAN learn new information, and grow, and be successful, and achieve great things in life.
