Mindset by Carol Dweck

🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

1. People have two types of mindsets in this world – a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
2. People with a fixed mindset believe that their skills and abilities are limited and determined by circumstances outside of their control, whereas people with a growth mindset believe that their skills and abilities are malleable and can be developed infinitely through consistent effort over time.
3. Anyone can develop a growth mindset by changing their perspective on failure and by detaching it from their identity.

🤔 Impressions

This is undoubtedly one of the top five books that changed my life. The implications of the insights presented in this book have for how you think about success, failure, learning, talent, and growth are beyond profound and cannot be overstated.

I found the concept of how the use of the right language to appreciate a child could influence whether a child develops a fixed or growth mindset very insightful.

Who knew saying, “You are so hard-working!” instead of “You are so intelligent!” could make such a big difference!

If you think of success as a tree, the growth mindset discussed in this book would be the roots of that tree.

Who should read it?

I would recommend this book to absolutely anyone and everyone. How fundamental the ideas discussed in this book are in determining a person’s success and fulfilment in life cannot be understated.

If you think you are someone who always hops from one thing to another and don’t have the persistence and discipline to keep going when things get difficult and build mastery, I think you should stop reading this and pick up this book immediately.

It will completely change the way you look at the world and put you in the driver’s seat of your life. Who doesn’t want that?

🌄 How the Book Changed Me

1. I now know that I am fully in control of and accountable for my future. I can achieve anything I want as long as I am willing to put in the requisite amount of effort, time and energy into it.
2. I am less fearful of learning new skills and trying out new experiences – like boxing, writing, programming, public speaking, talking to strangers, etc.
3. I embrace being a beginner and don’t mind looking stupid sometimes in the pursuit of learning.
4. I surround myself with people who will openly challenge and push me to improve instead of always agreeing with me and making me complacent.
5. I have fallen in love with the process of learning and improving itself instead of trying to get somewhere or something.
6. I now never say, “I’m not good at it”. I say, “I’m not good at it… Yet.” instead.
7. I take great pride in developing a skill to such an extent that people believe I’m naturally talented at it.

✍🏻 My Top 3 Quotes

1. “Becoming is better than being. The fixed mindset does not allow people the luxury of becoming. They have to already be.”
2. “The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome.”
3. “We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.”