Learning skill and mindset

Blieve you can change

注解

Two kind of mindset: Growth mindset vs Fixed mindset. Try to change you mindset to Growth mindset

Growth mindset

What
That everything came through effort and that the world was full of interesting challenges that could help you learn and grow.
Example
  • The successful kids didn’t just live with failure, they loved it! When the going got tough, they didn’t start blaming themselves; they licked their lips and said “I love a challenge.” They’d say stuff like “The harder it gets the harder I need to try.”
  • That’s why they were so thrilled by the harder puzzles — the easier ones weren’t any sort of challenge, there was nothing you could learn from them. But the really tough ones? Those were fascinating — a new skill to develop, a new problem to conquer. In later experiments, kids even asked to take puzzles home so they could work on them some more.
  • “I think intelligence is something you have to work for…it isn’t just given to you… Most kids, if they’re not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand… But what I usually do is raise my hand, because if I’m wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Or I will raise my hand and say… ‘I don’t get this. Can you help me?’ Just by doing that I’m increasing my intelligence.”

Fixed mindset

What
The belief that your abilities are fixed and that the world is just a series of tests that show you how good you are.
Example
  • Very quickly, the helpless kids started blaming themselves: “I’m getting confused,” one said; “I never did have a good rememory,” another explained. But the puzzles kept coming — and they kept getting harder. “This isn’t fun anymore,” the kids cried.
  • Always thought “human qualities were carved in stone. You were smart or you weren’t, and failure meant you weren’t.” That was why the helpless kids couldn’t take it when they started failing. It just reminded them they sucked (they easily got confused, they had “a bad rememory”). Of course it wasn’t fun anymore — why would it be fun to get constantly reminded you’re a failure? No wonder they tried to change the subject.

Growth mindset vs Fixed mindset

  • In the fixed mindset, success comes from proving how great you are. Effort is a bad thing — if you have to try hard and ask questions, you obviously can’t be very good. When you find something you can do well, you want to do it over and over, to show how good you are at it.
  • In the growth mindset, success comes from growing. Effort is what it’s all about — it’s what makes you grow. When you get good at something, you put it aside and look for something harder so that you can keep growing.
  • Fixed mindset people feel smart when they don’t make mistakes.
  • Growth mindset people feel smart when they struggle with something for a long time and then finally figure it out.
  • Fixies try to blame the world when things go bad.
  • Growthers look to see what they can change about themselves.
  • Fixies are afraid to try hard because if they fail, it means they’re a failure.
  • Growthers are afraid of not trying.
  • In relationships, growth-mindset people looked for partners who would push them to be better, fixies just wanted someone who would put them on a pedestal (and got into terrible fights when they hit problems). Even in sports, growther athletes got better and better through constant practice, while fixies blamed their atrophying skills on everyone around them.

How to start Growth mindset

  • The first step to getting better is believing you can get better.
  • Try to approach the problem as a chance to grow, rather than a test of our abilities. It’s no longer scary, it’s just another project to work on.
  • For example, I used to think I was introverted. Everyone had always told me that you were either an extroverted person or an introverted person. From a young age, I was quite shy and bookish, so it seemed obvious: I was an introvert. But as I’ve grown, I’ve found that’s hardly the end of the story. I’ve started to get good at leading a conversation or cracking people up with a joke. I like telling stories at a party a story or buzzing about a room saying ‘hi’ to people. I get a rush from it! Sure, I’m still not the most party-oriented person I know, but I no longer think we fit into any neat introversion/extroversion buckets.