Review and Summary of 1 Great Book- Mindset
Dr. Carol S. Dweck was challenged by a student to write a book based on the findings of years of research that they had conducted. As a result of this experience, Dr. Carol S. Dweck wrote the book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential” with the hope that it will assist the average person to recognize and appreciate that life is what you make it, rather than what is dealt with you at birth. She has written in plain English, using real-life examples such as herself and her students, artists such as Pablo Picasso, people such as Michael Jordan, the basketball player, and John McEnroe, the tennis player, Marina Semyonova, the great Russian dance instructor, and CEOs of various companies, to name a few examples. “She writes in the third paragraph of her introduction,” she says “… you’ll learn how a basic notion about yourself… may steer a significant part of your life… To the contrary, it permeates every part of your life…” As a result, she drags the reader into the book, turning the reader into one of her real-life examples as the reader recognizes himself or herself in these situations.
In the first section of the book, Dr. Dweck discusses the two types of mindsets: the fixed mindset and the growth mindset, and how they differ from one another. She writes how she learned from ten-year-old kids that failure could be converted into a gift if one had the appropriate mindset. Given difficult puzzles to work on, the kids cultivated their intellectual abilities via perseverance and effort. – These kids served as role models for her in her investigation of whether human traits are things that can be cultivated or if they are things that are carved in stone. Each person possesses a distinct genetic endowment, but it is only through experience, training, and personal effort that they can progress further.
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Dr. Dweck’s twenty years of research have demonstrated that the point of view you adopt for yourself has a significant impact on how you live your life. According to her, if you believe that your traits and characteristics are cast in stone and cannot be changed, you have a fixed mindset, she writes. A growth mindset is also defined as the belief that previously prized traits and characteristics may be developed and cultivated.
People with a fixed mindset believe that an individual’s intelligence, quality, and traits are all fixed quantities that cannot be increased. If they are doing well in school, it is reasonable to assume that they are smarter than others who are not performing well. If they perform well in athletics, this indicates that they were born with natural talent. They put in the time to prove that they are superior in the traits dealt with them only to prove that they were dealt a healthy dose and are not deficient in any of those qualities. When something doesn’t work for people with fixed mindsets, they always attribute the failure to something else.
The mindset of progress People works to improve their performance on a consistent basis. They do not sit a step back and consider their accomplishments to be the ultimate aim. It never fails to occur to them that there is always an opportunity for improvement. They don’t have time to sit and think about how they are better than others or how they are better than others. They don’t have the luxury of taking their time to sit whether or not they possess a unique talent. They are preoccupied with thoughts about how they can make the situation and what modifications they can make if something expected does not go as planned. If things don’t go as planned, they don’t consider it a failure, but rather a challenge to figure out how to make it happen.
In the second section of the book, Dr. Dweck takes us on a journey through her research on fixed mindset and a journey through growth mindset, as seen through the eyes of various different people. In this video, I demonstrate how these two mindsets may make or break people in their daily lives. In the context of individual sports, she cites the case of John McEnroe’s fixed mindset in tennis as an example. He was a talented player who placed his faith in talent rather than hard effort and dedication. When he didn’t win, he blamed his defeat on something else. For example, when he blamed that the system was to blame for his disinterest in the game. He was not willing to accept responsibility. Micheal Jordan, on the other hand, has a growth mindset. If he missed a goal, he would go back to the practice field and work for several hours to figure out why he had missed it. Couch, as an example of a team sport, is provided by the author. John Wooden was a mediocre player on both the tactical and strategic fronts, but he went on to win 10 national titles. Coach Wooden, who has a growth mindset, informs us that he was good at persuading players to fill roles as members of a team when they were younger. He was concerned about the feelings of the players on the team. Coach Bobby Knight, for example, had a fixed mindset when selecting players based on talent. He was a brilliant coach, but he won by employing a dictatorial style of leadership. The winning streaks were short-lived, and the process resulted in the demise of several individuals’ personalities.
Using the example of General Electric CEO Jack Welch, the author shows how a fixed mindset may be transformed into a growth mindset, and how the company grows as a time of Welch’s mindset. Lee Iacocca, with his fixed mindset, is excellent at bringing the company to the top in a short period of time, but you must get rid of him before he destroys the company. Lee Iacocca was not pleased when the Ford Motor Company did exactly that. Leaders with fixed mindsets are more concerned with seeming heroic and placing their egos above the wellbeing of the company, rather than the other way around. The author uses the example of Enron as an example of a company that went bankrupt while in the hands of high-level smart people with a fixed mindset. Enron employed intelligent individuals with exceptional abilities and paid the highest possible price for the company’s demise. Enron is a good example of groupthink, in which executives become overconfident in their own intelligence and superiority and make disastrous decisions.
When it comes to love, these two mindsets can make or break a relationship. Dr. Dweck found through her research that people with fixed mindsets feel criticized and stigmatized when they are rejected during a break. They also chose vengeance as a manner of getting right with the person who had wronged them. Growth mindsets make the decision to forgive, learn from the experience, and move on. The author uses Hilary Clinton as an example of someone who forgiven her husband and went to great lengths to preserve their relationship. It takes time and effort to build the emotional abilities that are required to maintain a relationship in good standing.
Bringing this section to a close, Dr. Dweck discusses the psychological impact that parents’, teachers’, and coaches’ mindsets have on the children who are in their care. During her research, she found that children interpret the words of support and encouragement of their caregivers in a fixed mindset manner. This sets them in a position of failure. As an illustration, “… And you learned up on it so quickly! “… You are extremely smart… ” is translated as “… If I don’t learn things quickly, I am not smart… “” It is her contention that parents, teachers, and coaches should refrain from expressing appreciation for their children’s intelligence or talent, but rather reward them for the work that they put forth. She goes on to argue that parents, teachers, and coaches must all devote the same amount of time and attention to all of their children, regardless of their starting abilities. The children, in turn, will give their best and blossom. Moreover, as the author points out, “… As parents, teachers, and coaches, we are entrusted with the lives of those we care about the most. Their upbringing and legacy are our responsibility…”
After completing the fourth section of the book, Dr. Dweck enters the most rewarding part of her work: witnessing people’s transformations. It is rare for people to be cognizant of or aware of their beliefs. Dr. Aaron Beck, a psychiatrist, realized that he could educate them on how to work with and change their beliefs about themselves and others. And thus was founded cognitive therapy, which has proven to be one of the most successful treatments ever developed. Dr. Carol Dweck used workshops to investigate how people with fixed mindsets dealt with the information they were given at the time. She found that they put each piece of information at a high level of consideration. Whatever was good resulted in a very strong positive label, and whatever was terrible resulted in a very strong negative label. People that have a growth mindset are likewise continually observing what is going on, but their internal monologue does not consist of evaluating themselves or others in any way. It is not just that they are sensitive to both positive and negative information, but they are also sensitive to the implications of that information for learning and constructive action. In addition, Dr. Dweck conducted a session for students. To provide the materials at the workshops, a huge number of people are needed. As a result, the workshop materials were put into interactive computer modules. Teacher-led Braintology is a term used to describe how teachers guide students through modules. These mindset workshops put students how to take control of their own brains.
It is fascinating to observe how a seemingly little feature such as a mindset may have an impact on decision-making over a broad range of the population. A kindergarten student, a CEO of a billion-dollar company, a surgeon at work in a hospital, a sportsman at practice and on the field, a chef at a high-end hotel, a group of dance students, and a sports team are all featured. College students fail to attend lessons or drop out of school because they have a fixed point of the mindset. A growth mindset assists you in learning to deal with anger as well as stereotypes in the context of racial and gender discrimination, among other things. It’s rather fascinating, actually.
Nancy Maina is the founder and publisher of Ballroom Dancing Lovers, a weekly newsletter for ballroom dancing enthusiasts.
This book was assigned by my professor, and the students were instructed to write down what they had learned from it. I’d like to point out that these are my personal reactions to specific passages from the book. This summary is being shared because this book has altered the way I make decisions.