Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Carol S. Dweck

Feb 2006 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

From the renowned psychologist who introduced the world to “growth mindset” comes this updated edition of the million-copy bestseller—featuring transformative insights into redefining success, building lifelong resilience, and supercharging self-improvement.

“Through clever research studies and engaging writing, Dweck illuminates how our beliefs about our capabilities exert tremendous influence on how we learn and which paths we take in life.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes

“It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.”

After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

In this edition, Dweck offers new insights into her now famous and broadly embraced concept. She introduces a phenomenon she calls false growth mindset and guides people toward adopting a deeper, truer growth mindset. She also expands the mindset concept beyond the individual, applying it to the cultures of groups and organizations. With the right mindset, you can motivate those you lead, teach, and love—to transform their lives and your own.

Ratings and reviews

Great book, that serves as a reminder that hard work and the right attitude are crucial for success. While it is redundant I found the examples interesting and I enjoyed learning about them. If you want to read the book solely for it's theories then just skim through it. However, the examples enforce her ideas and the growth mindset concept. I think some people read this book hoping to learn some secret instruction set for success. I'll save you some time, that secret doesn't exist in this book or any other. It also seems that some people think that the author is implying that everyone is born equally talented or with the same attributes. I suggest those people read the book again because she never states that idea. The way I understood it is that embracing the growth mindset allows you to reach your full potential more effectively than a fixed mindset. Sure, maybe you weren't born with Michael Jordan's height, or his natural athleticism but by telling yourself that you are not as good or can't ever be as good because of that, you are selling yourself short and could be limiting your potential. Had Michael Jordan had a fixed mindset he might have only been a really good basketball player but not the best ever. Overall, I think this book was fantastic. It has changed the way I look at things and the way I approach obstacles.

The idea is fine, but it really isn’t worth a whole book. Once we get past the explanation of the difference between a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset, the book becomes a series of redundant examples trying to prove the same point over and over again. I completely lost interest in the book, however, when I started observing that the author is willing to ignore obvious logical loopholes to make an argument. The Chapter of Sports (Chapter 4) had this text for instance: "Physical endowment is not like intellectual endowment. It's visible. Size, build, ability are all visible. Practice and training are also visible, and they produce visible results. You would think this would despel the myth of the natural. You could see Muggsy Bogues at five foot three playing NBA basketball..." So what does the Muggsy Bogues example prove? Does it prove that all five foot three people with his mentality and training routines will achieve the same results? No it does not. Does it prove that even if he were bigger and more physically compatible with the sport, the results will still be the same because it's all in the mindset? It definitely does not. Then she talks about Michael Jordan and says: "Michael Jordan wasn't a natural either. He was the hardest-working athlete, perhaps in the history of the sport" "... When Jordan was cut from the varsity team, he was devastated. His mother says, 'I told him to go back and discipline himself'. Boy did he listen. He used to leave the house at six in the morning to go practice before school." This is where I realized the author has logic figured backwards. She starts from her own self-made assumption (no one is a natural) and looks for examples that may fit that assumption and thinks she can treat them as proof. Well who's to say that Jordan failed at first not because he wasn't a natural, but because he wasn't working hard enough. Who's to say that he didn't have that immense potential and lacked the character to bring it all out? Him working hard isn't proof that he is not a natural! And more importantly here, why didn't the author consider the question: If Muggsy Bogues had worked as hard as Jordan, would he have been as good, considering the physical disadvantage?? Almost all of her examples follow the same pattern and while the idea Fixed vs Growth mindset is sound in itself, I certainly was not convinced that it defines every phenomenon of success and failure in the world. She even tried to blame a famous chef's suicide who lost a star in one critic's review, on the fixed mindset saying he couldn't handle failure, conveniently neglecting that the man was in serious debt before he lost that star. Her examples make all life problems and outcomes as simple as a linear relationship when probably the most dominant aspect of life is its complexity.

I have a fixed mindset. This book is growth mindset propaganda. Totally Leibniz- and Voltaire- oriented. I myself am a Schoppenhauer-oriented person. Thank you very much Lady Dweck, but I will not continue the reading. Have a good one! (P.S. I have a 800-day streak on Duolingo, or less, to date, March 21, 2024.)

About the author

Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading researchers in the fields of personality, social psychology, and developmental psychology. She is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, and has won nine lifetime achievement awards for her research. She addressed the United Nations on the eve of their new global development plan and has advised governments on educational and economic policies. Her work has been featured in almost every major national publication, and she has appeared on Today, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives with her husband in Palo Alto, California.