Book Review: “Mindset” by Carol S. Dweck

As far as I remember, I was always obsessed with understanding how people cope with failures. I was looking around and noticing that some give up right along, and others grapple with hard problems with a smile and impressive results. I supposed, the answer had to be somewhere in inner determination, but still couldn’t understand it completely unless I came across “Mindset”.

In this book, Carol Dweck suggests that in general people have 2 different types of mindsets: fixed and growth. Fixed means that personal qualities are qualified as set in stone and there is a desire to continuously prove personal efficacy; while the growth mindset is based on the belief that personal qualities can be developed and strengthened through application and hard work.

I was amazed by the research she conducted, which demonstrated that those with a growth mindset found success in doing their best, in learning and improving; while for those people who have fixed mindset, success is just about establishing their superiority, resulting in personal and professional stagnation and stress. Carol also gives some useful mental techniques of how to switch from fixed to growth mindset, get concentrated on the process, and value what we are doing regardless of the outcome. She teaches us that learning should be a priority, while nothing is impossible to achieve.

Note about the author: Carol S. Dweck, PhD, is a leading researcher in the field of motivation, and she is the Professor of Psychology at Stanford. Her research focuses on why people succeed and how to foster their success. More specifically, her work has demonstrated the role of mindsets in success and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine motivation and learning new skills.

I highly recommend you to read this amazing book. If you have already read it – let me know!

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Wishing you a pleasant day!