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Success
S,A-E
.WEE.
The Brains of Successful vs. Unsuccessful People Actually Look Very
Different
+ .o) Mc/$ M$ 012 3405
6

W'$t7s t'e %est w$ to t$ke control o" our own li"e $nd pus' oursel" $!$inst %ound$ries8
Accordin! to St$n"ord psc'olo!ist 9$rol :weck2 it7s $ll $%out our )indset* Success"ul people tend to "ocus on !rowt'2 solvin! pro%le)s $nd sel";i)prove)ent2
w'ile unsuccess"ul people t'ink o" t'eir $%ilities $s "i(ed $ssets $nd $void c'$llen!es*
:weck s$s t'$t t'ere $re two %$sic c$te!ories t'$t peoples7 %e'$vior$l tr$its tend to "$ll into< "i(ed $nd !rowt' )indsets* .'is in"o!r$p'ic % Ni!el ,ol)es
su))$ri=es t'ese di""erences*
S,A-E
.WEE.
PIN
P$!e 0 o" > .'e +r$ins o" Success"ul vs* Unsuccess"ul People Actu$ll Look ?er :i""erent ; Poli***
31;4@;3405 'ttp<AAwww*polic)ic*co)A$rticlesA61@>1Ascience;s'ows;t'e;di""erence;%etween;succ***
Image Credit: Brain Pickings
A person with a "fixed" mindset tends to view themselves with static traits and a deterministic outlook. For these people, intelligence, character and creative ability all
cannot be changed in any meaningful way, while success is seen as affirmation of those given abilities and traits. The fixed mindset views the human almost like an
already-completed spreadsheet, with things like intelligence and personality operating as unchanging, fundamental characteristics. Thus, "striving for success and
avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled."
A person with a "growth" mindset, on the other hand, sees challenges as things to overcome and views failure as an opportunity for growth and personal development.
n the end, !weck says, how we approach life can determine our success and happiness. "he writes her "research has shown that the view you adopt for
yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. t can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you commit to and accomplish
the things you value." #oing into more detail, !weck argues the following$
"%elieving that your &ualities are carved in stone 'the fixed mindset 'creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. f you have only a certain
amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character 'well, then you(d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. t
simply wouldn(t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.
"... There(s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you(re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others
that you have a royal flush when you(re secretly worried it(s a pair of tens. n this mindset, the hand you(re dealt is )ust the starting point for development.
This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic &ualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every
which way 'in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments 'everyone can change and grow through application and experience."
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*age + of , The %rains of "uccessful vs. -nsuccessful *eople Actually .ook /ery !ifferent - *oli...
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Image Credit: Shirley Clarke / Bullitt Schools
The science: This isn't just another self-help book; !e"k has the s"ien"e to ba"k it up# In a no!-fa$ous %&&' stu()* !e"k an( +lau(ia ,ueller separate( %-'
"hil(ren a.e( %/-%% into t!o .roups# Ea"h .roup !as aske( to sol0e $athe$ati"al proble$s; one .roup !as praise( for their innate "hara"teristi"s 123ou (i( .reat 4
)ou $ust be reall) s$art25 !hile another !as praise( for their effort 123ou (i( .reat* )ou $ust ha0e trie( reall) har(25#
Ne6t* the) !ere .i0en a har(er set of proble$s 4so har(* in fa"t* that $an) subje"ts barel) .ot e0en one 7uestion "orre"t# All !ere tol( the) ha( (one !orse# This
!as follo!e( up !ith a thir( set of on"e-a.ain-easier 7uestions to see ho! failure i$pa"te( perfor$an"e#
The result8 The "hil(ren !ho ha( been praise( for their intelli.en"e (i( rou.hl) -9: !orse on the thir( test than those praise( for their !ork ethi"# The intelli.en"e-
praise( .roup !as $ore likel) to bla$e their inabilit) to sol0e the proble$s on their la"k of abilit) or the (iffi"ult) of the 7uestion rather than not ha0in. trie( har(
enou.h# The) also enjo)e( !orkin. on the tests less an( .a0e up sooner#
Pa.e ; of < The =rains of Su""essful 0s# >nsu""essful People A"tuall) ?ook @er) ifferent - Poli###
-&-/9--/%A httpBCC!!!#poli")$i"#"o$Carti"lesC'&9<&Cs"ien"e-sho!s-the-(ifferen"e-bet!een-su""###
Overall, Dweck and Mueller's research "[supported] our hypothesis that children who are praised for intelligence when they succeed are the ones least likely to
attribute their performance to low effort, a factor over which they have some amount of control [such praise] does not appear to teach children that they are smart!
rather, such praise appears to teach them to make inferences about their ability versus their effort from how well they perform"
Dweck and Mueller performed five other, similar e"periments and found that the children who were told they were intelligent rather than hard#working learned to
measure their own intelligence from the praise $n fact, they seemed to take low performance as an indicator that they simply weren't up to the task %he children
praised for their effort seemed to learn that intelligence was "malleable" and defined it in terms of "motivation and knowledge"
$n another study, Dweck and other researchers offered children a choice between redoing an easy &igsaw pu''le or trying a more difficult one %hose with a fi"ed
mentality redid the easy pu''le, e"pressing the belief that smart kids don't make mistakes, while ones with a growth mentality were confused as to why someone
would want to repeat the same pu''le and saw tackling new problems as a way to advance themselves
Other research has shown that attitudes towards a task matter &ust as much as a person's actual ability to perform them (oldiers about to embark on a standard )*#
mile march, for e"ample, were given different information about the length of the route they had to complete %hose told it was going to be +, miles, or told nothing
about the length, psyched themselves out and did worse than those given an accurate description or told it was only -. miles %he authors concluded that "what
mattered was how closely the anticipated challenge matched the soldiers' actual capabilities," saying that "$f we do not believe we can make it, we will not get the
resources we need to make it" %he results were confirmed by measuring stress hormones in the soldiers' blood levels
What's this mean for me? /ere's how 0rof 1 2ichard (hell summari'es the results of Dweck's field of research in his book Springboard: aunching !our
Personal Search for Success3
"4 2epeated e"periments have demonstrated the value of praising effort rather than innate talent $f you are praised by others in the right way, this can
lead you to praise yourself based on your genuine effort when you accomplish something significant and discount comments about the role of your
natural ability 5ou should ignore any result 6good or bad 6that comes after you put in only a halfhearted effort 7nd you should be proud of any
result that follows hard work 6even when the result is not what you had hoped"
Or as to paraphrase Dweck, people with fi"ed mindsets tend to shy away from challenges %heir perceived deficiencies seem permanent and in the face of setbacks,
they tend to be less resilient, believing they've reached their potential and can't go any further $n the long run, fi"ed minds will achieve less
%hose with a growth mindset, on the other hand, don't necessarily think "anyone can be 8instein, but they understand that everyone can develop their abilities and that
even 8instein wasn't 8instein until he put in decades of dedicated labour" 9hallenges help these people improve and setbacks ultimately motivate you to work harder
and move forward
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