Category: Mindset

Book review, Mindset

#ReadingGoals

Seneca

“To create future, we need triggers. I believe two things can change the course of our life – books that we read and the people that we meet. Books and people are an amazing source of triggers, so if we are not reading, we are certainly missing out on a terrific source of triggers for future.”

Reading continues to change my life for the better. Reading has made me a better leader, worker, husband and father. This year I can say with a ton of confidence that reading has saved my life. That’s the thing…You never know which book or even sentence will be the one that changes everything. I have gone through some duds this year but the good books are game changers.

Last year I set a goal to read 100 books and I read 106 books this year. I don’t have a top ten list but these books have changed my perceptions, challenged my assumptions and helped me in my journey to become a better human. Here are the best books I have read this year in no particular order:

The End of Heart Disease: The Eat to Live Plan the Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Joel Fuhrman

A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea

The Story Telling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall

The Truth About Leadership by James Kouzes

The Four Agreements: Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz

A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years in Public Service by Robert M. Gates

Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadow

Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

Dear Madame President: An Open Letter to the Women who will run the world by Jennifer Palmieri

Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman

Blueprint For Revolution by Srdja Popovic

Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

What to Say When You Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter

I would love to have a more in depth conversation about any of these. Just hit me up on messenger. Next year I will reduce the goal to 80 as my developmental focus has shifted a bit. If you want to set your own reading goal I suggest joining the reading challenge on goodreads 😀. Here is to 2019!!!

Mindset

Pauli Murray

Seneca

I just wanted to share something that I think is amazing on the first week of Black History Month. We all know the contributions of legends like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King but I love to learn about less known people who have had an impact in the struggle for equality. One person who I read about last year was Dr. Pauli Murray. Her life was an inspiration to me. At many turns in her life she failed but in the end her work ended up inspiring some of the great legal minds of our time and was used to argue and win cases that struck decisive blows to racial, gender, and sexual discrimination.

My favorite quote from her: “In not a single one of these little campaigns was I victorious. In other words, in each case, I personally failed, but I have lived to see the thesis upon which I was operating vindicated. And what I very often say is that I’ve lived to see my lost causes found.”
― Pauli Murray

My favorite quote about her: “Leaders aren’t just the few  famous people who  dominate the news or find their place in history books. They don’t always represent the majority…..They aren’t always popular…..They don’t always win and they aren’t always remembered. Leaders like Pauli Murray brave and obscure men and women . Who act on their convictions even though they fail time and time again sometimes change the course of history.”

Some Highlights of her career:

Ø  Ruth Bader Ginsburg credits Murray’s work as the inspiration for her 1971 brief in Reed v. Reed, which ruled that women could not be excluded as administrators of personal estates based on their gender. The Supreme Court case marked the first time that the Equal Protection Clause was applied to sex discrimination, and has served as precedent for many arguments in the decades since then. Ginsburg found Murray’s prior arguments so important to her own that she elected to put Murray down as an honorary co-author on the milestone brief.

Ø  She was arrested in 1940 for refusing to move to the back of a bus, protesting a Virginia law requiring segregation on public transportation — 15 years before Rosa Parks’ similar protest sparked a bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.

Ø  In 1944, Murray graduated at the top of her class from the Howard University School of Law, where she encountered gender discrimination from faculty and fellow students. It was there that she coined the term “Jane Crow” to refer to sex discrimination — the sister of Jim Crow.

Ø  Mademoiselle magazine named her “Woman of the Year” in 1947.

Ø  The NAACP, then led by Thurgood Marshall, used arguments from a law school seminar paper by Murray as part of the organization’s legal strategy in Brown v. Board of Education. He later called her book States’ Laws on Race and Color “the Bible for civil rights lawyers.”

Ø  She was appointed to President John F. Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women.

Ø  She co-founded the National Organization for Women in 1966.

Ø  She was the first African-American woman to be ordained a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1977.

Ø  In 2012 she was welcomed into Episcopal sainthood, more than 25 years after her death.

Learn more about Dr. Pauli Murray by checking out Cooper’s article here.

Mindset

Better Every Day

Seneca

Ok my friends I fell short of my goal to read 100 books but I beat my personal record and read 64 books. The goal for next year is again 100. This goal pushed me to read books that I probably would not have read without it. I didn’t love every book but I learned something new from each one. Reading and Listening to books has been my favorite way to learn the important lessons of history and explore new ideas. I am excited for a new year of the reading challenge. Join up on Goodreads….I love to see what all you guys are learning as well.

Here are the best I have read this year.

10 – Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

9 – The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

8 – Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

7 – The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt

6 – The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday

5 – Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation by Daniel J. Siegel

4 – Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich

3 – How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett

2 – Insight: Why We’re Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life by Tasha Eurich

1 – Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Mindset

Standard of Performance 

Seneca

What is your standard of performance for yourself and your team?  What are the things that are important to you? What are you leadership principles? What’s is negotiable and what is non-negotiable? I believe these questions must be answered before you can lead others.  

A standard of performance is the clear line that you set. This includes but is not limited to Metrics, Data, Atttitude, Work Ethic, Effort, Behavior. You can’t start by asking yourself these questions: 

What are the Key Metrics you are trying to achieve?

How do you collect and analyze data? 

What attitude is acceptable on your team?

What is the work ethic you expect? 

What level of effort do you demand?

What is acceptable and un-acceptable? 

The sum of these answers will make up your standard of performance. You have to ask and answer these questions to be grounded. Having a standard of performance brings the ultimate clarity to your team. Without clarity you cannot have true accountabilty. 

Cory Booker, Mindset

Cynicism is the Refuge for Cowards

Seneca

The time was 9:58 pm on July 25, 2016. Senator Cory Booker took the stage to deliver a speech to the Democratic National Convention crowd. His speech would be highly reviewed and would have Washington buzzing about the potential of a future President. He had many memorable lines but something he said that night struck a particular chord with me. It wouldn’t get much attention but the words were as powerful and as true as anything ever spoken.

“My fellow Americans, we cannot fall into complacency or indifference about this election, because still the only thing necessary for evil to be triumphant is for good people to do nothing. My fellow Americans, we cannot be seduced into cynicism about our politics, because cynicism is a refuge for cowards and this nation is and must always be the home of the brave. We are the United States of America. We will not falter or fail. We will not retreat or surrender – we will not surrender our values, we will not surrender our ideals, we will not surrender the moral high ground.”

Cynicism is defined as “an inclination to believe that people are motivated purely by self-interest” or “an inclination to question whether something will happen or whether it is worthwhile.” We live in a culture consumed with cynicism. Go to happy hour near any office park. Take a look at your own Facebook posts from the last year and it might surprise you. You might hear these comments at work or school:

“It doesn’t matter anyway”

“Why talk to him, he is just going to do what he wants to do anyway.”

“Why do I need a piece of paper (degree) to say I can do a job?”

“I am going to do all this stuff and no one is going to even look at it.”

“Leadership Development is all a bunch of pie in the sky bullshit.”

“My vote doesn’t matter.”

The words Cory Booker spoke that night were profound because we are all victims and purveyors of cynicism. We have all heard something like this in our lives and said to ourselves “Yeah, they are probably right.” We don’t realize how much cynicism has an impact on our daily lives. The reason we don’t start writing that novel is because the cynic in us says “No one will ever read it.” or we think “What the point?” We roll our eyes at our companies core values/mission statement because our inner cynic says “Yeah right” or “I have heard this before.” We never truly hear when people we care about promise they will do better because our inner cynic tells us it will just happen again. We don’t vote because our cynic in us tells us that our vote doesn’t count and politicians will just do what the person with more money tells them to do. We think self-improvement just way for people to sell us books, sell us services and get our money. We think terms like self-awareness and growth mindset are worthless leadership jargon that is just something people say to sound smart. (I wonder at this point if I am being cynical about the level of cynicism in the world)

I am guilty of this too. I used to be extremely cynical. The reason I know what cynics say and feel is because I said or agreed with all of the statements I used as an example. I started college after my military service. This was ten years after I graduated high school because I believed it was just a piece of paper. It took me years to pick up my first business book because I believed it was all B.S. It took me years to even start writing this blog because I thought “Who cares what I think?” and “No one will ever read it.” I thought getting involved in politics was useless because I wasn’t a rich lawyer. In short I was a coward. Cynicism was a refuge for me. It gave me an easy way out. It let me off the hook. It alleviated me from having to do the hard work of writing 500 words a day…from going to class after class and getting a college education….from knocking on 1000 doors to only get 100 votes. It takes hard work to get past cynicism and start doing anything that you are not guaranteed success. Getting past cynicism is only the first step but an all too important one. Then comes the hard work of belief and action.

What I am asking you to do today is not to remove all cynicism from your life. This would make you gullible to actual scams and dishonest folks. In my business I still wonder who the real leaders are and who the “fakes” are. It’s important to have a healthy skepticism of people and things. Cynicism is when it goes too far. I have to actively stop myself of going into that mindset when I hear a new idea that doesn’t fit within my worldview. I work to make sure these thoughts don’t stop me from fostering relationships or working towards a goal. What I am asking for you to do is believe in something. If you don’t believe in your company’s core values can you believe and use one core value? Can you suggest your own core values or add onto them when talking to your team? If you believe your vote doesn’t count, can you donate to an organization that fights for a cause you believe in? You will only get so far by telling people what you don’t believe in.

If you are cynical about everything then you will achieve very little in life. The cynic is always apprehensive….always suspicious. They often see everything that can go wrong and look for the negatives. They question other people’s motives and character. This can lead to a very lonely and unfulfilling existence. The data is overwhelming. Positive and un-cynical human beings have more friends, have longer lasting friendships, go on more dates, are more productive and make more money. They are just happier people.

The wall of cynicism can never truly be destroyed but we can put some holes in it. Just like everything else it will take training and asking the right questions. Breaking down the walls of cynicism will not be easy but it is possible and will lead to a fulfilling and happier life. Here are some suggestions:

  1. Ask yourself these two questions: What do I believe in and why do I believe in this? Ask others you trust and love. Am I a cynical person? Becoming less cynical starts with you. By asking yourself and others these questions you can start your journey of insight.
  2. Read – Literally the more you know the less cynical you will be. Read about your beliefs. Read something that contradicts your beliefs. Read History about politicians like Thaddeus Stevens and John Lewis who fought injustice and equality their entire lives. Read History to know the context behind political decisions and what ordinary citizens have done to overthrow ruthless dictators. Read psychology and neuroscience to understand why humans behave and act the way that they do. Read about business leaders who follow and live their company’s core values and inspire their organizations to join them. If you do this it will be that much harder to cynical.
  3. Connect- Human beings are social creatures. We thrive when we connect to others and we deteriorate when we separate ourselves from human beings. Connecting with human beings shows you that the world is full of amazing individuals and over time that will make you less cynical. Most importantly, connecting is good for your health. Recent studies have shown that loneliness in more detrimental to your health that cigarettes and poor diet. We have groups for anything and everything. Book clubs, Cat lovers, Coffee fans, support groups, craft beer snobs, heavy metal listening the list goes on and on. You are not alone.
Mindset

Just Read

Seneca

“Reading is Fundamental” is how the old saying goes. I remember my parents saying this to me as a kid as I argued with them to instead watch Saturday morning cartoons. I recall seeing the posters all over my junior high school “Reading is Fundamental”. I remember thinking (foolishly) that it was the teacher’s job to put stuff inside my head and I didn’t need to read more on my own. Finally, I remember countless school administrators and various other adults throughout the years peddling the same catchphrase as I rolled my eyes and obtained a stellar “C” average.

The truth is that I should have listened. It was more than a saying…It was good advice…It was a winning strategy. In this blog I have talked about the importance of having a “growth mindset”. Having a growth mindset means nothing if action does not follow. The best and most effective way to maintain a growth mindset is simple…..Read.

Why read? The evidence is clear…people who take the time out and consistently read are more successful. Sadly, over a quarter of Americans have admitted that they have not read a book in the last year (which means that the number is probably larger) (Pew 2016). This number has grown since 2014 when it was at 23%. When you look closer you can see the numbers directly correlate to success. For example, adults with a high school diploma or less are about three times as likely as college grads (40% vs. 13%) to report not reading books in any format in the past year (Pew 2016). Adults with an annual household income of less than $30,000 are about twice as likely as the most affluent adults to be non-book readers (33% vs. 17%) (Pew 2016). The non-reading rates for minorities and rural Americans (both white and non-white) are just as alarming as they are within the 29% to 40% range as well. These are the communities that are consistently behind in education statistics, employment, and wage earning.

If you don’t like statistics take it from some of the most successful people on earth. Take this quote from Warren Buffett (CEO Berkshire Hathaway, net worth 74.8 billion):

“Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will…”In a recent 2016 interview Bill Gates (Founder of Microsoft and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, net worth 89.8 billion)  says:

“It is one of the chief ways that I learn, and has been since I was a kid. These days, I also get to visit interesting places, meet with scientists and watch a lot of lectures online. But reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.”

You can read the full interview here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/fashion/bill-gates-gates-notes-books.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

Oprah Winfrey (CEO Harpo Studios, net worth 3.1 billion) has a world famous book club and say this about her joy of reading:

“Nothing, not one thing or activity, can replace the experience of a good read—being transported to a different land, a different realm, through words and language…..

I love being surrounded by books. For me, they’re like art, little pieces of sculpture placed all over the house, reminding me, always, of the power of the written word. Just looking at them brings me the purest kind of joy.”

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/inspiration/oprah-on-the-joy-of-reading#ixzz4oGfKb2MP

The message is clear. Reading is fundamental. Reading should not end with your highest level of school. The only way to continuously improve is to continuously learn. Read whenever and wherever you have the chance. If you don’t have the time to sit down and read a book, listen to audio books. Most will not have the time or the patience to read  the 500 pages a day a Buffett suggests this should not be an excuse to do nothing. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I understand that it isn’t easy to always read. This is especially difficult in the age of Facebook, Candy Crush and Netflix. Why read a book when binge watching “Master of None” is so much more enjoyable? As much as I love Aziz Ansari, I love my potential for growth and education more. Today, I ask you to start small. Read 10 pages a day or listen to 15 min of an audio book per day. Use your commutes, workouts, and household chores as opportunities to learn with audio books.  Positive actions are reinforced by habits . You must commit to this life changing habit. The habit of reading has changed my life. I know it can change yours.

Mindset

Second Chances

Seneca

I believe in growth so therefore I believe in second chances. Michael Vick is a very controversial figure. He has gone through being at the pinnical of celebrity to the depths of society.  For those of you who don’t know who Michael Vick is, he is a 13 year NFL veteran(Falcons and Eagles), Pro Bowl Quarterback and the former first overall pick.He holds the record for the most career rushing yards by a quarterback (6,109) and the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season (1,039). At his peak, he was must see TV and one of the most exciting players ever to play the game. At his lowest point in his life he was an inmate convicted of unspeakable and inhumane crimes. 

He was involved is one of the biggest sports scandals in recent history when he was found to have been the leader and financier of a dog fighting ring. On his way down he burned many bridges and lied to people who trusted and cared about him. He deceived people who invested in him and a community that believed in him. He ended up losing everything. He lost multi-million endorsements deals (Nike, CocaCola, PowerAde), his multi-million dollar paying job, and most importantly his freedom. 

You can watch his public apology here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iigURcLGdRg

He was sentenced to 23 months in prison. He payed his debt to society and then went back into the NFL. He was helped by a fantastic leader and coach named Tony Dungy. Tony Dungy mentored Michael and preached the importance of redemption and growth to NFL teams on the fence in regards to signing him. Michael was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles who was coached then by Andy Reid. Michael said being Mentored by Tony Dungy and Coached by Andy Reid taught him numerous life lessons and things about football he never was taught throughout his career. 

He had the best season of his career in 2010 season with the Eagles. Vick finished the 2010 regular season with 3,018 passing yards, 676 rushing yards and 30 total touchdowns. He had career high passer rating of 100.2. Vick made his fourth Pro Bowl and was named NFL Comeback Player of the year. He had team success as well as the  Philadelphia Eagles went 10–6 and made the playoffs. 

Michael Vick has grown off the field as well. He is a messenger and speaks for many causes. The one I feel shows the most growth is his commitment to the Pets for Life program to end dogfighting. He is helping to spread the message through his public appearances. He does personal videos that extend the reach of his message to many more people.

Recently Michael Vick did an interview on the Colin Cowherd show and what you hear is a genuine, accountable , and mature individual who has been through a ton. It was the inspiration for this post. 

You can here the interview here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-herd-with-colin-cowherd/id1042368254?mt=2&i=1000389992360

We can learn infinite lessons from the Michael Vick story but here are the ones that stuck out to me.

1. We shouldn’t wait for rock bottom to evaluate ourselves and course correct. This should be a continuous process and personal growth should always be the focus of our lives. 

2. It’s never too late to grow. Michael Vick could have fallen of the deep end after his heinous crime and prison sentence. He used his mistake as a learning experience and accepted mentorship. He re-focused his his life and improved to become better in many aspects.

3. Appreciate the gifts that life has bestowed upon you by honoring them. Honoring your gifts mean working hard and learning continuously  to maximize potential. It means taking every opportunity to better yourself . Michael Vick states in his interview that if he could go back in time he would take things more seriously and do thing differently. You never want to have regrets in regards to wasted potential.

4. Be accountable for your mistakes and learn from them. Ignoring mistakes do not make them go away. It will only get worse. Michael Vick realized that when it came to changing his life that it was up to him. He could have kept blaming others and lying but that would’ve helped no one. The path to redemption started with Michael Vick. 

Book review, Mindset

The Importance of Self-Awareness

Seneca

Are you self aware? For years I thought that life and leadership began with mindset. I thought that is where it all began. You learned about fixed vs. growth mindset and then charted a path on how you would obtain and maintain the growth mindset. On my journey I often consume books, articles, and speeches that in one way or another have supported this piece of my philosophical foundation. Recently I have read something that has made me think that something comes before mindset.

How does one get to that point? How does one come to the realization that they have a fixed or growth mindset? A recent book I have read has just rocked me and the bedrock to my life and leadership principles. It will also fundamentally change how I teach and coach others on leadership. The book “Insight” by Tasha Eurich is going on my all time list and will be a foundation of my life and leadership principles.

You can get it here: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545088/insight-by-tasha-eurich/9780451496812/

The book is all about the all important but overlooked trait of self-awareness. The book states (and I agree) “the most important, and yet least examined, determinant of success or failure at work and in life is self-awareness. Self-awareness is the ability to understand who we are, how others see us, and how we fit into the world.  Research shows that while 95% of people think they are self- aware, the real figure is closer to 10-15%. We all can tell when others lack self-awareness but we tend to be terrible judges of our own knowledge, performance and abilities.” Without self-awareness we have no idea what skills we have or need to improve on in life. So I will ask you again? Are you self-aware.

One can think they have a growth mindset and that they deal with mistakes, challenges, and feedback well but it seems like 85% of us would be wrong. Without self-awareness we wouldn’t really know if we were getting better or getting worse at anything. We wouldn’t know who are true friends are and who has best interest at heart. We wouldn’t know if our significant other is happy in the relationship. We wouldn’t know how to conduct ourselves around other human beings. No one can really know 100% of what others think of them and that is ok. However,  The more self aware you are the more you can know, absorb, and deal with what others think about you. You can improve on what you are deficient and know for sure you are working on the right things.

Like mindset this is foundational in regards to continuous learning. As you know I feel continuous learning and growth is the core of life and leadership. You may be asking yourself … How do I become more self aware?

Like any other skill your self-awareness can be worked on. I will be posting much more on self-awareness but for now take ten minutes today and honestly ask yourself these questions. What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? Where do I have room for growth? What am I most passionate about? Then ask your best friend, spouse, or trusted co-worker the same questions about yourself. It is a small action item for tremendous insight.

 

Book review, Mindset

Mindset by Carol Dweck

Seneca

Here’s the Rub: This is an all time favorite. This is an amazing book with a life changing message. This book the foundation of my approach and view on life and leadership. Much like the core value of this blog, it teaches you that the journey of success begins internally. It states that to be successful and to remain successful you must obtain and maintain a certain mindset.  The book lays out the differences of two mindsets: the “fixed mindset” and the “growth mindset.”

People with the “fixed mindset” believe their qualities, intelligence and potential are unchangeable or “fixed”. They believe that you are not in control of you own abilities.

People with the “growth mindset” believe their qualities, intelligence and potential are changeable and that they can improve over time. They believe that it starts with you. They believe that people who excel at something excel because they decided they wanted to be good at a specific thing and then worked hard to improve.

It really is that simple. It is also very powerful specifically when it pertains to leadership. I truly believe that the best leaders are the best learners and it all starts with your mindset. If you believe that your traits are fixed then you have given up before you started. If you think some people are born smart or they are born a leader then it gives you the excuse to not try and become better. This has a huge impact on the people you lead and how you lead them.

You have heard it before in your life right? You have heard people at work or in your family say. “That guy is a born leader.” or  when referring to someone who excels in certain subjects that “She was born with it.” It just isn’t true. Everything in life is learned and everything in life is earned. Everything.

At 8 hours and 34 minutes this book is a short listen and narrated brilliantly. At 288 pages it is also a read you can finish in no time. The lessons from this book are well worth the investment of time and money.

The first three chapters lays out the fixed vs. growth mindset. Dweck  gives you the research behind the concept. She discusses her work and studies with children and their approach to education and failure. It is fascinating stuff. She also lays out the definitions in detail of both mindsets and why starting here is so important. The reason your mindset is so important is because it is the foundation of your ability to learn. If you don’t believe you can learn and improve you will never even start the process and if you do you start …. you wont follow through. If you know that you can learn anything and then also become great at anything the world is full of possibilities.

The building blocks of mindset are your beliefs and your focus. These building blocks have enormous impact on the key factors to learning and growth which are effort, challenges, mistakes, and feedback.

Those with the fixed mindset believe skills are born and you cant do anything about it. These folks focus on outcomes and how they look to others. I like to call them output focused people. 

Those with the growth mindset believe skills and potential are built through learning and growth and they focus on the process. I like to call them input focused people. (Clever right :0 )

When you have a fixed mindset you don’t believe that you can improve so you don’t put in the effort. Setbacks and challenges are not temporary to those with a fixed mindset because they affirm the belief that excellence is predetermined at birth and not crafted through years of hard work and learning. Feedback on improvement will be useless to these folks as well because the don’t believe in getting better and they are not focused on the process…only the outcome.

When you have a growth mindset you believe that you can improve so you put in the effort. You are focused on the process so setbacks and challenges are a part of the learning process. A mistake is only temporary and just another opportunity to learn. Finally, when you have a growth mindset you crave constructive positive or negative feedback because it only helps you in the growth process.

Imagine believing that you can do anything humanely possible. Imagine knowing that this belief is backed by an overwhelming amount of scientific research. Having this mindset almost becomes a superpower.

The remaining chapters of the book look to the worlds of sports, business, leadership, relationships, parenting and education to show the concept in practice.

In the book you will hear the stories of many with both mindsets. You will hear stories about figures like Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan was famously cut from his high school team the first time he tried out. He then went on to work his tail off and become widely seen as the best basketball player ever. He would be the first one to tell you that he got there by hard work and the belief that he could always get better. Imagine if Michael had a fixed mindset. He would probably never picked up a basketball again after he was cut from the team. He also probably would have never quit basketball in his prime and tried to play baseball (a sport he was awful at and a topic for another article). A couple more stories about those who persevered with a growth mindset here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLYECIjmnQs

You can look at many areas of life and see those who have a fixed mindset and those who have a growth mindset. They are everywhere. I think the most important factor within this concept is that fact that no person is completely fixed and no person is completely growth. Also no person is permanently fixed or growth. You must work hard to maintain the growth mindset and you must also work hard to make it reach into every area of your life. You can be growth mindset at work and fixed when parenting.  You can then read parenting books and listen to parenting podcasts on a regular basis and then implement what you have learned. This is the beauty of the concept ….that fact that it isn’t fixed.

All in all I couldn’t not recommend this book more and to consume any media that helps you learn and maintain your growth mindset. Mindset by Carol Dweck is a masterpiece.

This is the best video I have seen that summarizes the topic of mindset :

Train Ugly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75GFzikmRY0