Mindset

Who Read it? Amanda Carroll, Business Development

Rating
***

Review

The goal of our “Wednesday Reads” series is to spread the word about books we enjoy and feel will help fellow business owners (and in this case, fellow parents as well).  While I did not actually read Mindset, I did spend what felt like endless hours listening to the audio book. I took some valuable information from this book, and I feel it’s worth reviewing in case you would like to read or listen to it as well.

I gave Mindset three of a possible five stars because, while I do believe the book was informative, I think the main points could have been delivered in half the time. Too much time was spent explaining the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset (and defending it through real-life scenarios), and not enough time spent letting the reader know how to develop these strategies or how to  improve using a growth mindset.

The main point of the book is that we all need to embrace a growth mindset by focusing our efforts into everything we do. This relates to being a successful parent, student, or professional. Being successful at something doesn’t mean you don’t have the ability. Instead, we should look at failure as a learning opportunity.

As an employer, I’m sure you’ve met an entitled college graduate who thinks he or she deserves a certain salary based on the degree they earned or the college they attended. You may also have someone on your team who thinks they deserve a raise simply because they come to work every day. Much of the entitlement we see stems from a fixed mindset. These individuals have a fear of failure, as they have been praised their entire lives and can’t process constructive criticism.

If you’re interested in Mindset but don’t want to dedicate the hours to reading (or listening to) the entire book, I can save you a bit of time by summarizing my key takeaways:

1. Praise the effort not the outcome: I’ve heard this before, but this was a great reminder to praise the effort your kids put into something versus the outcome. For example, say something like, “Wow, you really took a lot of time on that painting. You should be proud of your work,” instead of, “You are such a good artist.” My husband and I both listened to this book and are working very hard to instill this growth mindset in our children. Man, this is a tough one!

2. Failure is part of learning, not an end result: Again, in my own life I think I understand this. It is a nice reminder, but I have tried to apply this so much more with parenting my children. We’re working hard to focus on the learning experience with our kids each time they think they’ve failed or have done something wrong. This isn’t easy either. As any parent will know, turning those tough moments into a learning experience sounds great on paper, but can be difficult in practice. But hey, we are giving it an honest try!

3. Growth Mindset in Education: This was the most interesting takeaway of the book. I loved the outlook of teaching educators to instill the growth mindset in their classrooms. Now, I am not an educator and will never try for one second to position myself as an expert in any way, but the points in this book were very interesting. Dweck really discussed the benefits of teaching the growth mindset in classrooms and the success that can come from it. Instead of focusing on a test grade, or a color attributed to a behavior, teachers help students focus on challenges they have overcome and actual progress they have made.

More useful information:

I’m on a never-ending quest to find fun ways to brainwash (I mean teach) valuable lessons to my children. I came across a list of family-friendly podcasts our family listens to when we’re driving around town; I thought I would share this list with you:

https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/top-35-growth-mindset-podcasts-families

I would love to hear your feedback if you listen to any of these!

How to get your FREE copy of Mindset

Simply fill out the form on this page and we’ll get one sent right away.

Thanks for reading!

Amanda Carroll
Business Development, PCR Business Systems

amanda@pcrbusiness.com