Mindset

In short, the fixed mindset believes that we’re born with a certain amount of mojo. You’ve either got it or you don’t. Every situation you face, from the fixed mindset perspective, is basically a test of whether you’ve got it. When we live from that place, we live with a *lot* of fear of screwing up and looking like an idiot. We try less stuff and enjoy our lives a lot less. Eek.

The growth mindset, on the other hand, is grounded in the idea that what we’re born with is just a starting point. With diligent, patient, persistent effort (or, as Dweck calls it “years of passion, toil, and training”) we can, OVER THE LONG RUN develop an extraordinary amount of mojo.

Fixed mindset vs. growth mindset. Powerful stuff.

Joseph Campbell comes to mind here. In The Power of Myth (see Notes), Campbell complements this idea brilliantly. I come back to this thought often as I remind myself of my own commitment to do great work over the long run: “When I taught in a boy’s prep school, I used to talk to the boys who were trying to make up their minds as to what their careers were going to be. A boy would come to me and ask, ‘Do you think I can do this? Do you think I can do that? Do you think I can be a writer?’ ‘Oh,’ I would say, ‘I don’t know. Can you endure ten years of disappointment with nobody responding to you, or are you thinking that you are going to write a best seller the first crack? If you have the guts to stay with the thing you really want, no matter what happens, well, go ahead.’”

So, how are you approaching your potential (and your kids’ and colleagues’ potential?)?

From the fixed mindset where any given performance is a sign of ultimate potential?

Or from the growth mindset where you know that, with diligent, patient, persistent and playful work we can do amazing things over the long run?

Love that.

Dweck has a whole chapter on “Sports: The Mindset of a Champion” where she profiles a number of great athletes who were NOT naturals—from Muhammad Ali and Babe Ruth to Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. These athletes worked EXTREMELY hard.

As Michael Gelb tells us in How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci (see Notes): “Genius is made, not born.”

So, let’s get to work on developing our genius and support others in engaging in the hard work it takes to rock it.

This is another theme we hit on often.

Ayn Rand puts it this way in The Fountainhead (see Notes): “You must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences.”

While George Leonard (see Notes on Mastery) tells us that the path of the Master (aka the ultimate learner!!) is so rich with opportunities for growth and enjoyment that “For a master, the rewards gained along the way are fine, but they are not the main reason for the journey. Ultimately, the master and the master’s path are one. And if the traveler is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels.”

And, finally, Tom Morris tells us this in his great book True Success (see Notes): “The happiest people in the world are people who love what they are doing, regardless of whether wealth, fame, power and elevated social status ever come their way. The most fulfilled people are individuals who delight in their work, whatever it might be, and strive to do it well.”

Here’s to loving what we do and embracing the opportunities to grow as we let the results come simply as by-products of our dedication to giving our greatest gifts in greatest service to the world.

This is huge.

First, I’m gonna come back to an idea we talk about a lot in these Notes: NO ONE is happy *all the time.*

We all have our ups and downs and the sooner we embrace that, the better. No need to suffer our suffering by telling ourselves that we *shouldn’t* be feeling funky, eh?

Now, although our tendency to experience funky feelings don’t ever completely go away, as we evolve and mature our lows tend to not be quite as low nor to last quite as long.

One of THE key ways to make sure we don’t slide down the slippery slope of a funky moment/mood/hour/day into a depressed ick that last days/weeks/months/years is to make sure that we hit our funk head on. If we crawl into a helpless little complaining ball, we’re in trouble. But if we can courageously confront our challenges, we’ve got the opportunity to learn about what behaviors are working for us and which aren’t and we can DO SOMETHING about it!

(Sidenote: I speak as an expert on this! I intimately know what it’s like to go the wrong direction with a funk into depression. And it sucks. I’m also blessed to have some sensitive genes and less than stellar conditioning as a kid (my father was an alcoholic and his father was an alcoholic who killed himself). All of that makes me super sensitive to how easily I can go sideways—which is one of the reasons why I’m so committed to doing the fundamental things that keep me healthy—from eating well, exercising regularly, working on my mindset pretty much all the time, etc. I know who I am when I don’t pay attention to these things and it’s not pretty! Now, I like to proactively solve my potentially depressive moods IN ADVANCE by taking care of myself. And, when I feel funky, I know it’s time for me to work even harder! :)

So, if you’re feeling funky: How are you approaching it? Are you avoiding challenges? If so, can you shift your perspective and get excited about what you can learn from your current obstacles as you commit to working hard at doing the things you KNOW work for you?!

Specifically: What’s THE #1 thing you could start doing TODAY that will have the most positive impact in your life?

Sweet. Now get on that! :)

Have you seen that Nike ad? If not, I *highly* recommend it. To watch it, click here or Google “YouTube + Jordan + Nike + Failure” and check it out! :)

To repeat: The person with a fixed mindset sees failure as a sure sign that they’re a moron. Most of the time, even the thought that they might fail and be “found out” leads to inaction.

On the other hand, when we’re living with the growth mindset, we see failure as an opportunity to learn, to grow and to become a better person. So, let’s embrace our mis-steps and GROW!!

And, how about some more growth-mindset mojo on approaching failure?!

John W. Gardner tells us: “We pay a heavy price for our fear of failure. It is a powerful obstacle to growth. It assures the progressive narrowing of the personality and prevents exploration and experimentation. There is no learning without some difficulty and fumbling. If you want to keep on learning, you must keep on risking failure – all your life.”

While Teddy Roosevelt tells us: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

And George Bernard Shaw gives us this goodness: “When I was a young man I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. I didn’t want to be a failure, so I did ten times more work.”

Planning. It’s huge.

We know it, but do we do it?!?

How about this wisdom from The Power of Full Engagement (see Notes) to really bring the point home? “A broad and persuasive array of studies confirms that specificity of timing and precision of behavior dramatically increase the likelihood of success. The explanation lies once again in the fact that our conscious capacity for self-control is limited and easily depleted. By determining when, where and how a behavior will occur, we no longer have to think much about getting it done. A series of experiments have confirmed this pattern…

In perhaps the most dramatic experiment of all, a group of drug addicts were studied during withdrawal—a time when the energy required to control the urge to take drugs severely compromises their ability to undertake nearly any other task. As part of the effort to help them find employment post-rehabilitation, one group was asked to commit to writing a short résumé before 5:00 P.M. on a particular day. Not a single one succeeded. A second group was asked to complete the same task, but also to say exactly when and where they would write the résumé. Eighty percent of that group succeeded.”

Wow. So, as Dweck advises, think of something you need to do, something you want to learn, or a problem you have to confront.

Make a detailed plan with the when, where, and how you’re going to rock it.

And get on that! :)

P.S. Why not make changing your mindset one of your primary projects!? What would you need to do to re-wire your brain and create a growth mindset?!

P.P.S. Oh, and when/if things don’t go quite as you had in mind and life kicks your butt and you’re tempted to give up on your plan? Remember this gem from Dr. Dweck: “It would be nice if this didn’t happen, but it’s irrelevant. It might be easier to mobilize for action if I felt better but it doesn’t matter. The plan is the plan. Remember the depressed students with the growth mindset? The worse they felt, the more they did the constructive thing. The less they felt like it, the more they made themselves do it. The critical thing is to make a concrete, growth-oriented plan, and to stick to it.”