Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The most important thing that leads to success.

The most important thing that leads to success.

What might it be?

Could it be your Mindset?

But what kind of Mindset?
    World renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, after decades of research on achievement and success, has discovered the power of the right mindset, which is explained in her new book titled "Mindset:The new psychology of success"

What would be the right mindset for success?

Simply put, it is the 'Growth Mindset"

The flip side of the Growth mindset would be the "Fixed Mindset"

Lets test your mindset is, shall we?

Read the following four sentences, and write down whether you agree or disagree with each of them.

1.  You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.

2.  No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.

3.  You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can't really be changed.

4.  You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.

Write down your answer somewhere and see the results at the end of the post.(No peeking beforehand allowed)

If you are someone with a Fixed mindset:
You tend to avoid challenges for the fear of failure, either in your own eyes or in the eyes of others.
You would feel threatened by negative feedback, and would rather attack your critics than do anything constructive about it.
You would feel insulted if someone questioned your knowledge or corrected you.
You would not be open to self improvement.

On the other hand, if you are a person with a Growth Mindset (or want to develop such a mindset):
You believe that abilities are like muscles-they can be made stronger with practice and mindful effort.
You relish new challenges despite the risk of failure.
You constructively react to negative feedback and criticism.
You look at the long term benefits rather than short term gains.
You are open to relearning old things, without getting your ego hurt.
You are willing to try new things that stretch your abilities.

In short, growth mindset is the most important thing that leads to success.

Further reading: Visit the official website to learn more about the Growth Mindset.

                                           http://mindsetonline.com/







(Ans:If you agreed with 1 and 3 , you have a fixed mindset.
        If you agreed with 2 and 4 , you have a growth mindset.


There is a be a chance that you might  have agreed with more than 2 sentences.(as it happened in my case)
                   This simply means that your mindset is a composite of both Growth and Fixed mindsets, and you are the kind of person who adopts a particular mindset only in certain situations.

                                            For example, I had a fixed mindset for many years that I was a bad dancer.But then I got a chance to learn dance in a class where no one knew me previously.Since I would not be judged by anyone I knew I went to the dance class and disproved it to myself that I was a bad dancer.(It turned out that I was just an average dancer who  usually improved with more practice)

             Whatever your results, just remember that  the important thing to do is identify your mindset and modify it in such a manner that it leads to success.

9 comments:

  1. I agreed with 1, 2 and 4. I tripped over "important parts" - and my immediate thoughts were: values. Can I change my values and sacrifice dignity and integrity for growth? I dunno... then again, I gave up religion.. so that must mean something..

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  2. no, I gave up religion because I eventually decided that there is greater dignity and integrity in accepting each other's differences and tearing down the walls of prejudice under the guise of religious intolerance. So, no, I don't think I can change my important parts.

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  3. So yes, oddly enough, the article is correct. I definitely won't be that successful because I'm not as evil as those people at Wallstreet. They "win".

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  4. this is a long passage.... i give up. i'm 5

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  5. happy birthday buddy! regressing i see.. lol!!

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  6. Ah..I'd totally forgotten about this post...its a repost from my other blog...I thought I should venture into the domain of professional blogging...coz I read somewhere that it looks good on the resume...this was one of those posts

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  7. For the record I went with 2,3&4.
    I can change my habits and beliefs quite easily...its the ethics and conscience part that I'd like to believe that I can't .

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  8. Most its the corporate bigwigs seem to be psychopaths, which is why they seen to be successful more than others.
    If you ever wonder whether you might be a psychopath, you probably are not says the author of The Psychopath Test, Jon ronson

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  9. I gave up religion because I read the God Delusion...he put forth such a beautiful argument that aligned so smoothly with my own niggling doubts that I had immediately converted.(thanks confirmation bias)

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