The book: "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol S. Dweck
1) The general theme/argument of the book was that a growth mindset will help you become more successful. This growth mindset is opposed to the fixed mindset that many of us carry around. The growth mindset is believing that our skills (and others) can be learned and improved over time. It also states that our mistakes are learning experiences and not failures. The growth mindset encourages us to take on challenges that will “stretch” our skills and become better learners/people. This is opposed to the fixed mindset which states that our abilities are fixed and there is nothing we can do to significantly improve.
2) This book excellently connected with ENT3003. Every aspect of the class started to make sense when I read the book. A perfect growth mindset moment was when Professor Pryor said that entrepreneurs can be formed and are not born. Another growth mindset aspect of the class are the assignments themselves. They don’t put any emphasis on obtaining a high grade, but rather on actually learning.
3) The exercise I would design for the class would be to set up a failing business scenario where each student is a CEO of a failing company, and have two options: a fixed mindset path or a growth mindset path. The students would choose the paths and see where it leads. In the end, I would engage in a discussion to show how the growth mindset path was more helpful than the fixed mindset path.
4) The biggest ‘aha!’ moment in the book was just realizing that I have a fixed mindset towards a few things in life. I had a fixed mindset towards school, work, and romance. With school, I didn’t believe that hard work was justified, and that if I knew it I knew it. I also thought that a grade could define me and could not be changed. This was all false. I just had to put in the work and effort to actually LEARN the material: not just aim for a high grade. With romance, I was under the impression for a long time that, “if it’s meant to be, then it’s meant to be.” As a result of this, I would think that a good relationship requires little to no effort and little communication.
Overall, the biggest ‘aha!’ moment was just the realization that nothing good comes easy. Everything good needs hard work/effort guided in the right direction.
I would highly recommend this book for professional and personal growth.
Hello Matthew,
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read! I have learned a lot of the same points that you have mentioned. It is also important to know that nothing worth anything comes fast usually. It takes time and consistency to build up something such as a relationship, education, and so on. In the book I read, there was also a great point about the difference between goals and systems. People fail at making goals which discourages them, but if you have the mindset of always becoming better... you'll be in better shape!
Hey Matthew!
ReplyDeleteThis books sounds like it could be extremely helpful in helping find motivation to do something! I am a big believer in learning from failures so I feel like I could really connect with this book. I feel like the activity could be very fun and interesting to do. Being a failing CEO is one of the most stressful things on this planet!
Great post!
HI Matthew,
ReplyDeleteThe book you read seems very informative. Living with a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed one is extremely important. If you live your life thinking that you are limited to your current standing and can’t improve, then that is exactly what will happen. Believing you can get better is a huge first step towards it actually happening.
Hey Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI wish I would've read this book, because I am a big believer in getting out of your comfort zone in order to grow. No one has ever become successful by simply doing the things they are comfortable doing. It takes losses, discomfort and failure in order to grow into the successful person you wish to be. As for your activity idea, I think it would be great as a challenge that would get kids out of their comfort zones and force them to learn and think differently.
Hey Matthew! Great job on this assignment I agree that nobody can become succesful staying within your comfort zone and doing anything you are used to doing. To get to where you want to be, you have to lose sometimes and be able to lose to understand what it feels like to win. Great Job, Keep it up.
ReplyDelete