Carol Dweck

The hallmark of successful individuals is that they love learning, they seek challenges, they value effort, and they persist in the face of obstacles.

In the course of examining this issue, we will come to understand better why some people exceed expectations, while others fail to fulfill their potential.

This means that with a learning goal, students don’t have to feel that they’re already good at something in order to hang in and keep trying. After all, their goal is to learn, not to prove they’re smart.

I am not suggesting that failure and criticism are more beneficial than success and praise. Nor am I arguing that a feeling of confidence isn’t a good thing to have, but I will argue that it is not the heart of motivation or the key to achievement.

What would make some students chronically worried about failure? I suggest that an entity theory of intelligence may lie at the heart of this. Within an incremental theory, a failure just means that your present strategy or your present skills are inadequate, but within an entity theory, a failure can cast doubt on your global permanent intelligence—definitely something to avoid.

Those with the growth mindset found setbacks motivating. They’re informative. They’re a wake-up call.

People in the growth mindset don’t just *seek* challenge, they thrive on it.

In the fixed mindset it’s not enough just to succeed. It’s not enough just to look smart and talented. You have to be pretty much flawless. And you have to be flawless right away.

Benjamin Barber, an eminent sociologist, once said, “I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures... I divide the world into the learners and nonlearners.”

Whether we’re talking about Darwin or college students, important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies.

The message is this: You can change your mindset.

The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

It’s startling to see the degree to which people with the fixed mindset do not believe in effort.

The other thing exceptional people seem to have is a special talent for converting life’s setbacks into future successes.

Is it ability or mindset? Was it Mozart’s musical ability or the fact that he worked till his hands were deformed? Was it Darwin’s scientific ability or the fact that he collected specimens non-stop from early childhood?

People with the growth mindset know that it takes time for potential to flower.

All of the work you will read about here sheds light on the most basic processes of human motivation and has been held to the highest standards of research. That’s what makes this book so exceptional.

Although people may differ in every which way—in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments—everyone can change and grow through application and experience.