# Shortform-Mindset  Author:: Carol S. Dweck ## Highlights > In addition to mind-reading, many fixed-mindset people believe two people in a relationship should have the same views about everything. A study showed how this works. Researchers asked couples to discuss their views of the relationship. People with fixed mindsets felt threatened and irritated when even tiny discrepancies in how they each saw the relationship came to light. > People with fixed mindsets believe partners should be so in sync that they can read each other’s minds. > Because having a fixed mindset means you believe traits are set in stone, you have several beliefs about your relationship:Your traits are fixed and unchangeable.Your partner’s traits are unchangeable.Your relationship is unchangeable: it was either meant to be or not to be. If it was meant to be, you’ll live in perfect harmony, happily ever after.If you have a growth mindset, you believe the opposite — that you, your partner, and your relationship can grow. > People are afraid to object because a fixed-mindset leader punishes dissent. > People in a group are enamored with the group’s genius. > Groupthink can develop when:People put blind faith in a brilliant or charismatic leader. > A drawback of a fixed mindset in CEOs and organizations is groupthink, a term popularized in the 1970s for situations where everyone thinks alike — no one disagrees, raises issues, or criticizes. It can lead to disastrous decisions. > Growth-minded leaders believe in their own and others’ ability to learn and develop. Instead of using their company as a tool for self-promotion, they focus on growing the company and employees. > Business gurus of the time were insisting that corporate success required hiring with a “talent mindset.” It was touted as the key to beating the competition. Enron’s culture was built on this thinking. The company recruited big talent and paid handsomely for it. But because the company celebrated talent, employees felt they had to always appear highly talented in order to survive. Basically, everyone was forced into a fixed mindset, intent on proving their superiority. > Change Your Mindset: TipsResearch a hero to learn about all the effort that led to their success. Few people succeed on talent alone.The next time someone outperforms you, don’t just assume they’re smarter. Consider the strategies, training, and effort they applied and how you could apply the same effort next time.Next time you’re tempted to label your kids for their ability (artist, musician, athlete), choose a growth-minded way to praise them that focuses on effort and improvement instead.When you work with women and minorities as a teacher, colleague, or manager, model and teach a growth mindset that with support and effort, anyone can improve. > The children praised for ability began feeling like failures — they’d been told that their earlier success meant they were smart so now they felt stupid. Their performance steadily declined. In contrast, the students who were praised for effort tried harder and their performance continued to improve. > Parents and teachers typically try to build children’s self-confidence by praising their ability, but this can be harmful. Praising their ability sends the message that adults value ability and can determine a child’s ability from his or her performance. This is a fixed mindset. > A commitment to working to improve your skills is also important, and can be the difference between a great artist and an average one. Choreographer and dancer Twyla Tharp argued in her book, The Creative Habit, that creativity comes from work and commitment. She didn’t believe in “natural” genius. > We often think of artistic ability as a gift, rather than something that can be learned like verbal or logical thinking skills. However, Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, showed that drawing ability can be developed > They protected themselves from failure by not trying (the low-effort syndrome), as the young Juilliard violinist did by not taking her violin to class. > Do you give up and withdraw when you feel depressed? Next time, try to put yourself in a growth mindset by doubling down when things are difficult. View effort as an asset. > If a past failure keeps bothering you, try rethinking it from a growth perspective. Think about what you can learn from the situation and how you can grow. > Mindset also plays a role in how people handle depression. In a study of college students, those with a fixed mindset had worse depression than those with a growth mindset. The fixed-mindset students obsessed over problems and failures, which made them feel worthless. > Fixed-minded people care about perfection. To feel smart, they not only have to “get it” right away, they have to be perfect at it. In contrast, growth-minded people said they felt smart when they tried hard and made progress or were able to do something they couldn’t do before. Feeling smart was about learning. > In the growth mindset world where you can change, success is about stretching yourself, learning, and improving. Failure is not seizing an opportunity to learn, not striving for what’s important to you, not reaching for your potential. Effort is a positive — it helps you get smarter and increase your abilities > In general, in the fixed mindset world, success is about proving to yourself and others that you’re smart and talented. It’s about validation. If you fail, it means you’re not smart or talented, therefore failure is intolerable. Failure is any type of setback: a bad grade, losing a competition, not getting the job or promotion you want, being rejected. Effort is a negative — if you need it, that means you’re not smart. > When you believe you have the capacity to learn, you’re more open to honest feedback and criticism than if you believe you have a finite amount of intelligence. People with a growth mindset understand that you need accurate information about how you’re doing in order to improve. Fixed mindsets distort this information, either blowing it out of proportion or making excuses and minimizing it. > people with a growth mindset are more realistic about their strengths and weaknesses than those with a fixed mindset. > When you view your abilities as unchangeable, you feel you must constantly prove yourself. If people get only a set amount of intelligence and a certain character, you want to prove you have a lot, although you secretly worry you were shortchanged. You don't want to look stupid or fail. You feel you’re being judged or rated in every situation and must measure up. > People with fixed mindsets also have these counterproductive beliefs: partners should be so in sync that they can read each other’s minds, they should have the same views on everything, and that any problems are the result of unchangeable character flaws. > Applying a growth mindset, praise children for what they’ve achieved through good study strategies, practice, and persistence. Show interest in how they succeeded or improved, in their efforts and choices. For instance, you might comment, “You really studied hard and it paid off. I can see how much you improved. Outlining the important points was a good strategy.” Or, “It’s great that you kept trying different ways of solving that math problem until you got it.” > Parents and teachers typically try to build children’s self-confidence by praising their ability, but this can be harmful. Praising their ability sends the message that adults value ability and can determine a child’s ability from his or her performance. This is a fixed mindset > When you have a growth mindset, you believe the abilities you’re born with are a starting point. You can get smarter and grow with hard work, persistence, and the right learning strategies. You have a passion for learning, welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn, and seek challenges so you can stretch. > You learn one of two mindsets from your parents, teachers, and coaches: that personal qualities such as intelligence are innate and unchangeable (a “fixed” mindset) or that you and others can change and grow (a “growth” mindset). This view shapes your personality and helps or hinders you from reaching your potential. --- Title: Shortform-Mindset Author: Carol S. Dweck Tags: readwise, books date: 2024-01-30 --- # Shortform-Mindset  Author:: Carol S. Dweck ## AI-Generated Summary None ## Highlights > In addition to mind-reading, many fixed-mindset people believe two people in a relationship should have the same views about everything. A study showed how this works. Researchers asked couples to discuss their views of the relationship. People with fixed mindsets felt threatened and irritated when even tiny discrepancies in how they each saw the relationship came to light. > People with fixed mindsets believe partners should be so in sync that they can read each other’s minds. > Because having a fixed mindset means you believe traits are set in stone, you have several beliefs about your relationship:Your traits are fixed and unchangeable.Your partner’s traits are unchangeable.Your relationship is unchangeable: it was either meant to be or not to be. If it was meant to be, you’ll live in perfect harmony, happily ever after.If you have a growth mindset, you believe the opposite — that you, your partner, and your relationship can grow. > People are afraid to object because a fixed-mindset leader punishes dissent. > People in a group are enamored with the group’s genius. > Groupthink can develop when:People put blind faith in a brilliant or charismatic leader. > A drawback of a fixed mindset in CEOs and organizations is groupthink, a term popularized in the 1970s for situations where everyone thinks alike — no one disagrees, raises issues, or criticizes. It can lead to disastrous decisions. > Growth-minded leaders believe in their own and others’ ability to learn and develop. Instead of using their company as a tool for self-promotion, they focus on growing the company and employees. > Business gurus of the time were insisting that corporate success required hiring with a “talent mindset.” It was touted as the key to beating the competition. Enron’s culture was built on this thinking. The company recruited big talent and paid handsomely for it. But because the company celebrated talent, employees felt they had to always appear highly talented in order to survive. Basically, everyone was forced into a fixed mindset, intent on proving their superiority. > Change Your Mindset: TipsResearch a hero to learn about all the effort that led to their success. Few people succeed on talent alone.The next time someone outperforms you, don’t just assume they’re smarter. Consider the strategies, training, and effort they applied and how you could apply the same effort next time.Next time you’re tempted to label your kids for their ability (artist, musician, athlete), choose a growth-minded way to praise them that focuses on effort and improvement instead.When you work with women and minorities as a teacher, colleague, or manager, model and teach a growth mindset that with support and effort, anyone can improve. > The children praised for ability began feeling like failures — they’d been told that their earlier success meant they were smart so now they felt stupid. Their performance steadily declined. In contrast, the students who were praised for effort tried harder and their performance continued to improve. > Parents and teachers typically try to build children’s self-confidence by praising their ability, but this can be harmful. Praising their ability sends the message that adults value ability and can determine a child’s ability from his or her performance. This is a fixed mindset. > A commitment to working to improve your skills is also important, and can be the difference between a great artist and an average one. Choreographer and dancer Twyla Tharp argued in her book, The Creative Habit, that creativity comes from work and commitment. She didn’t believe in “natural” genius. > We often think of artistic ability as a gift, rather than something that can be learned like verbal or logical thinking skills. However, Betty Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, showed that drawing ability can be developed > They protected themselves from failure by not trying (the low-effort syndrome), as the young Juilliard violinist did by not taking her violin to class. > Do you give up and withdraw when you feel depressed? Next time, try to put yourself in a growth mindset by doubling down when things are difficult. View effort as an asset. > If a past failure keeps bothering you, try rethinking it from a growth perspective. Think about what you can learn from the situation and how you can grow. > Mindset also plays a role in how people handle depression. In a study of college students, those with a fixed mindset had worse depression than those with a growth mindset. The fixed-mindset students obsessed over problems and failures, which made them feel worthless. > Fixed-minded people care about perfection. To feel smart, they not only have to “get it” right away, they have to be perfect at it. In contrast, growth-minded people said they felt smart when they tried hard and made progress or were able to do something they couldn’t do before. Feeling smart was about learning. > In the growth mindset world where you can change, success is about stretching yourself, learning, and improving. Failure is not seizing an opportunity to learn, not striving for what’s important to you, not reaching for your potential. Effort is a positive — it helps you get smarter and increase your abilities > In general, in the fixed mindset world, success is about proving to yourself and others that you’re smart and talented. It’s about validation. If you fail, it means you’re not smart or talented, therefore failure is intolerable. Failure is any type of setback: a bad grade, losing a competition, not getting the job or promotion you want, being rejected. Effort is a negative — if you need it, that means you’re not smart. > When you believe you have the capacity to learn, you’re more open to honest feedback and criticism than if you believe you have a finite amount of intelligence. People with a growth mindset understand that you need accurate information about how you’re doing in order to improve. Fixed mindsets distort this information, either blowing it out of proportion or making excuses and minimizing it. > people with a growth mindset are more realistic about their strengths and weaknesses than those with a fixed mindset. > When you view your abilities as unchangeable, you feel you must constantly prove yourself. If people get only a set amount of intelligence and a certain character, you want to prove you have a lot, although you secretly worry you were shortchanged. You don't want to look stupid or fail. You feel you’re being judged or rated in every situation and must measure up. > People with fixed mindsets also have these counterproductive beliefs: partners should be so in sync that they can read each other’s minds, they should have the same views on everything, and that any problems are the result of unchangeable character flaws. > Applying a growth mindset, praise children for what they’ve achieved through good study strategies, practice, and persistence. Show interest in how they succeeded or improved, in their efforts and choices. For instance, you might comment, “You really studied hard and it paid off. I can see how much you improved. Outlining the important points was a good strategy.” Or, “It’s great that you kept trying different ways of solving that math problem until you got it.” > Parents and teachers typically try to build children’s self-confidence by praising their ability, but this can be harmful. Praising their ability sends the message that adults value ability and can determine a child’s ability from his or her performance. This is a fixed mindset > When you have a growth mindset, you believe the abilities you’re born with are a starting point. You can get smarter and grow with hard work, persistence, and the right learning strategies. You have a passion for learning, welcome mistakes as opportunities to learn, and seek challenges so you can stretch. > You learn one of two mindsets from your parents, teachers, and coaches: that personal qualities such as intelligence are innate and unchangeable (a “fixed” mindset) or that you and others can change and grow (a “growth” mindset). This view shapes your personality and helps or hinders you from reaching your potential.