Book: Mindset
A while ago I came across The Effort Effect in which Guy Kawasaki talks about Carol Dweck’s article by the same title and mentions her book Mindset.
I purchased the book soon after it became available and managed to finally read it this past week. It is easily the book which has had the most impact on me of all the books I have read this year. I have been intrigued by the concepts of being in the zone, cultivating flow, being in the moment, being goal oriented and embracing the process in between. Cultivating practice for the sake of practice. Mindfulness. Concepts really that have impact in all kinds of areas of life, ranging from personal relationships to athletic performance, hobbies and career.
I have also been puzzling over why some people would resist change. Sure, change can be hard. But why the resistance. What if they knew they needed to change? What, if they know what they needed to change, too?
This book has a lot of answers as well as explaining the above concepts in convincing terms. It basically comes down to mindsets. Fixed mindsets and growth mindsets.
Reading this book, I repeatedly found myself thinking back to times in the past and I would find explanations to behaviors that either led me to success or led me to shy away from challenges. I am still digesting.
Stuck in a fixed mindset, failure is to be avoided at all cost. This means that effort is often avoided as well. “If we need to try so hard, we’re probably not smart/talented/capable/etc. enough.”
In a growth mindset, effort is A Good Thing. “If we don’t have to try, then we probably don’t learn either.” Hard problems become welcome challenges and not simply opportunities for failure.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.