Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

by Carol S. Dweck

Believing that your qualities are carved in stone—the fixed mindset—creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If 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. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.

“I wouldn’t bother to put so much time and effort into doing well in anything.” (In other words, don’t let anyone measure you again.)