For old timers like me, John
McEnroe is vivid in our memory…for his outbursts! That’s outrageous because ,
John McEnroe was supremely talented tennis player who could turn a game on its
head any given day. In the 1984 French Open, McEnroe lost to Ivan Lendl after
leading two sets to none…According to McEnroe, it was not his fault…An NBC
cameraman had taken off his headset and a noise started coming from the side of
the court ! So Mr. McEnroe ,why did you
not train to improve your ability to concentrate or emotional control ?
According to Carol Dweck, the Stanford University psychologist , John McEnroe
had a fixed mindset…that made him to believe that he was special, superior and
entitled.
Then there is Michael Jordan…”Superman”..”God
in person”…”Jesus in tennis shoes” …according to his fans. Jordan does not
think that way…He knew how hard he had to work and develop his abilities. He
was not inherently better than others …He had to struggle and grow. This was
evident in the his struggle on the comeback season after his first retirement. He
never complained about the backache or the tabloids or the cameraman on the basketball
court for the loss in the semi-finals.Jordan simply felt that he was not good
enough to win the NBA championship and had to train better. Jordan went back and
trained aggressively that helped his team win the subsequent NBA championship.
Michael Jordan had a Growth mindset…
Hope the above two examples provide
you a vivid picture of what Carol Dweck explains in “Mindset: The Psychology of
Success”. So it could be Sports, Business , Parenting , School or relationships.. Our mindset is going to define “What Success means?” and the related
attainment of it.
Here is a brief comparison of characteristics that govern the two different Mindsets...
Fixed
Mindset
|
Growth
Mindset
|
Ability is an endowment
|
Ability can be grown
|
Success is to Win
|
Success is in indomitable effort
|
Failure is fatal
|
To Fail is to learn better
|
Failure is not my fault
|
Failure is when you start to blame others
|
Happiness is from results
|
Happiness is from process
|
No ability at start, Don’t work at it
|
Whatever ability at start, you can always improve with Effort
|
This book is about belief and it is
refreshing…Check it out and I am sure you will have a new perspective in how
you see the World after reading this book!