The book's premise is that there are two mindsets: Fixed or Growth oriented. Fixed will keep you where you are. Growth will unlock new possibilities for your relationships, career, hobbies, and life. Without being overtly stated in the book, I think there is a thread related to a person's self-confidence, as well. Carol Dweck shares some powerful examples of people we know (celebrities, athletes) who come from each mindset. It also outlines a few things you can do to SHIFT your mindset. All in a tasty, conversational tone. Mmmm mmm good!

Is something too hard to do, or not worth the effort? "As soon as you become old enough to evaluate [yourself], some of [us] become afraid of challenges. [You] become afraid of not being smart." You might be coming from the FIXED MINDSET. The core idea here is that you are born with a certain amount of talent. No matter what you do, that bucket of talent cannot change. It's a fixed amount. Applying additional effort to expand your talent pool is a futile effort, so you won't do that.

Are you an exuberant learner? Do you get motivated by failure, seeing it as an opportunity to try again harder and expend additional effort? Do you believe you can get smarter, or improve your athletic or artistic abilities? If so, you're probably coming from the GROWTH MINDSET.

You may find you apply the FIXED or GROWTH mindset selectively to your talent buckets: intelligence, artistic ability, athletic ability, etc. A-ha! Now that you're aware - perhaps you will choose how you want to be...intentionally!

Great - so how do you apply this? In practical terms, think about how you praise people. Do you praise their ABILITY or their EFFORT? If you praise their ability, you are essentially reinforcing the fixed mindset. If you praise their effort, you are encouraging the development of the growth mindset. For those of us who work with others, or those with children - this is a critical concept to understand. (For more - see chapter 3, starting with p 71)

I've reflected on how I was praised as a child. Over 13 or 14 years of "Good job! You must be really smart, Jen," I really believed I was a whiz. I also believed that talent came in pre-measured doses. When the going got tough, though - that's when you saw where I was really coming from.

When I couldn't get through Advanced Math with Mister Minnesale in 8th grade, instead of putting in additional effort - asking for tutoring, talking to my friends about my difficulties - I quit the class. I wasn't smart enough. I shouldn't have to put any effort in. I should "get it" right away! I just didn't have what it took.

On the tennis team, if the score ever got to 40-40 - I was sure to choke. And blame everyone and everything for that failure. But not be motivated to go back and practice, practice, practice to get better.

In piano lessons, if I couldn't play it right off the bat, did I put in a few hours to work up to it? What do you think?

To me, these were classic examples of the fixed mindset in action. The fixed mindset creates a "front" that you have to protect. It begets protectionism, defensiveness, massive ego. I was "a good faker," to put it in the words of long-time classmate Luke Lavin.

I've also reflected on how I've shifted my mindset from FIXED to GROWTH perspective. This has most powerfully occurred over the last three years, since about mid 2008. It began with lots of frustration in my career, feeling like I just couldn't cut it. I'm not good enough. Not smart enough. Can't project manage my way out of a paper bag. The situation came to a peak about a year later with a tearful and shaky admission to my manager's manager. "I'm [sob!] only doing this job [gasp gasp] because my dad wanted me to be in business [sob sob sob!]."

I began by breaking down the walls, stripping the front, and allowing the cracks to show. I was supported through two managers (and other team members) who cared about me as a person and a professional, a company that provided a coach to help me determine what I really wanted in life - whether that involved the company or not - saintly patience and love from friends, pets and family, and...MASSIVE PERSONAL EFFORT.

There's a book of my own in there, so watch for that through my blog entries. But for now - pick up MINDSET by Carol Dweck. It's a game changer.