Being a fixed mindset person myself, I relate a lot to what the author writes about the damage this mindset can cause.
Whoever I meet is very impressed and has lofty expectations from me, which I never believe I have in myself. The fear of failure is so strong that I buckle at the last step, and never entertain the idea of entering any competition. I remain in my comfort corner placating myself and blaming everything, lack of time, opportunity, disparity.
What failure does to people with fixed mindset is exactly the opposite of how failure helps a person with growth mindset. “In the fixed mindset, the loss of one’s self to failure can be a permanent haunting trauma….this mindset gives you no good recipe for overcoming it. If failure means you lack competence or potential – that you are a failure- where do you go from there? …instead of trying to learn from and repair their failures, people with fixed mindset may simply try to repair their self-esteem…they may go looking for people who are even worse off than they are. Another way people with fixed mindset try to repair themselves is by assigning blame or making excuses.”
In short, when people believe in fixed traits, they are always in danger of being measured by a failure. It can define them in a permanent way. Smart or talented as they may be, it seems to rob them of their coping resources.
The pitfalls of a fixed mindset are that it keeps telling us, convincing us, that change, and growth are impossible!
The good news is, mindsets aren’t permanent and can be changed, i.e. you can choose what you believe. You’re likely to have a mix of both mindsets, but skew toward one of them. Also, it is possible that you don’t have the same mindset all the time. For example, you may have a fixed mindset toward your personality but a growth mindset toward your abilities. So, change is verily in our own hands.
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