“Changing our beliefs can have a powerful impact. The growth mindset creates a powerful passion for learning. Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?”
This is a statement from Carol Dweck, author of the bestselling book Mindset.
A leading expert in the field of motivation, her research has demonstrated the role of mindsets in students’ achievement and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine motivation and learning.
So let me ask you a question right now: Do you have a fixed or a growth mindset?
Your answer to this will define how you go about learning and reaching your human potential.
If you’ve often struggled to improve and the act of learning is not something you enjoy, then listen in to this short summary of the first key idea in Carol’s book by OnePercentBetter:
Mindset was written by Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck. Her decades of research on achievement and success led her to discover what great parents, teachers, CEOs and athletes already know.
That our mindset is the basis of accomplishment.
Lesson 1: The Two Mindsets
People with the fixed mindset believe intelligence can’t be changed. This leads to a desire to look smart so they avoid challenges. They don’t want to look bad if they fail which holds them back. In the face of obstacles they get defensive or give up easily. They say effort is pointless and believe that people are only great at things because they were born with special talents. When confronted with constructive criticism they ignore it. Lastly, they feel threatened by the success of others. People with a fixed mindset achieve less than they are capable of.
On the other hand, people with the growth mindset believe intelligence can be developed. This leads to a desire to learn so instead of avoiding challenges, they embrace them. They persist in the face of obstacles and see effort as a path to mastery. They accept constructive criticism and use it to their advantage. Lastly, they feel inspired by and learn from the success of others. As a result, they fulfill their ultimate potential.”
Fascinating right? Yet how often do we just assume we’re not smart enough or good enough based on the stories we’ve told ourselves all our life, vs looking at whether we have a fixed mindset that’s caused this?
As Carol says in her book:
“Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.”
I wanted to share this as we come to the end of Season 3 which has been all about learning, because I think it’s critical to the role of learning in our lives, and more importantly, our enjoyment of it.
Right now I have around seven courses – yes seven, that I have invested in or enrolled in for free through some of the online learning platforms I discussed in the previous episode How to Learn More In Less Time.
Like most of us, I will often buy a course and then sit on it for months. Unlike many people I talk to though, I will dive into these when I most need them.
I made a conscious effort on my business sabbatical to really make progress thought, setting myself deadlines to do them in, or simply tuning into them at the right time – i.e when I needed them most.
So right now I’ve finally dived into Instagram with Intention that I bought from Hilary Rushford three months ago – because I love Instagram but don’t use it effectively for business and want to give it a damn good crack.
I’ll be diving back into Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula, as I go into producing some new courses, or what I prefer to call LIVE experiences to help my community tackle areas in their business and actually DO the work like my upcoming Freedom Lab on making your first hire and building your dream team.
I want to refresh my memory on some of his great tactics for interest building in the lead up to a launch. Even though I’ve done several over the years, you ALWAYS learn something new on every launch.
Both of these courses are for my business growth and learning – that’s how I categorize them.
I’ve been enjoying videos on The Wealthy Mindset by Tim and Kris Hallbom who concept of the Universal Cycles of Change I discussed in “When Too Much Change is Dangerous“.
Going through these videos (often in the evening or weekends) is for my personal growth learning, and they’re helping me look at my habits and mindset with a new pair of eyes.
Along with this I’m finishing the Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani and there’s a course that comes with it I will dive into next – part business and very much mindset and rewiring your brain – so again personal growth.
I have Dr Libby’s latest book, all about eating the right food for you and knowing how to optimize your body and mind through what you consume.
That for me is learning to improve my health.
I wanted to give you a taster of how I learn, as I fit this into around content creation, course creation, mentoring calls, working on the property and that very important thing called everyday life!
Now I want to share a few of my personal hacks for learning, in addition to those in my most recent podcast and post on on How to Learn Anything Faster.
Hacks for Learning More
- Schedule learning into your calendar so it becomes an event you make time for and has a deadline (a recurring calendar entry is even better)
- Watch videos you learn from at 1.5-2 X the speed – click the settings icon or cog on most video players to speed it up.
- Listen to podcasts (again at 1.5 X the speed) for daily bite sized learning
- Learn with someone else by taking lessons together – for example my Mum and I are doing art class together, and Josh and I have been doing a Dog Essentials Training with our puppy Kayla; or
- Go through an online course with a friend, do a coworking session together and go through the modules at the same time and share your learnings
There you have it, some hot tips for learning more faster. I hope you’ve enjoyed this season on the Quest for Freedom Podcast.
Want to stay up to date then please SUBSCRIBE on iTunes, Stitcher and Anchor so you don’t miss a show.
I’ll be changing up the intention behind this show and revealing all in the next episode!
This episode is proudly brought to you by Freshbooks.
So you’re racing against the clock to wrap up 3 projects, prepping for a meeting later in the afternoon all while trying to tackle a mountain of paperwork. Welcome to life as a freelancer.
Challenging? Yes, but our friends at FreshBooks believe the rewards are so worth it.
The working world has changed. With the growth of the internet there’s never been more opportunities for the self-employed. To meet this need, FreshBooks is excited to announce the launch of an all new version of their cloud accounting software!
It’s been redesigned from the ground up and custom built for exactly the way you work. Get ready for the simplest way to be more productive, organized, and most importantly get paid quickly.
The all new FreshBooks is not only ridiculously easy to use, it’s also packed full of powerful features:
- Create and send professional looking invoices in less than 30 seconds.
- Set up online payments with just a couple of clicks and get paid up to 4 days faster.
- See when your client has seen your invoice, and put an end to the guessing games.
Go to freshbooks.com/quest and enter Quest For Freedom in the how did you hear about section when signing up.
Get the latest blog post and episode delivered straight to your inbox.
carol dweck fixed mindset growth mindset learning mindset personal growth
