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How do the beliefs affect our life? Long back, one of my juniors joined our department. He had worked in another department for around two years. In spite of having good competency for the given role, he was a mediocre performer here.
I interacted with him to find out the root cause. After few interaction sessions, his performance started improving. The reason was, he thought that he is new with only 2 years of experience and his colleagues were already there with 7-8 years of experience. He set belief, that he need few years to perform his responsibility properly.
I only reminded him about his capabilities in those interaction sessions. Also asked him that he is having the same responsibilities as his experienced colleagues in the new given role. He understood the logic & started fulfilling his responsibilities. Accordingly, his performance started improving day by day.
Below is the excerpt from the book ‘Mindset’ by Carol Dweck. I read this mind-blowing book a few years back.
Mindsets Causing Problem
In the 1960s, psychiatrist Aaron Beck was working with his clients when he suddenly realized it was their beliefs that were causing their problems. Just before they felt a wave of anxiety or depression, something quickly flashed through their minds. It could be: “Dr. Beck thinks I’m incompetent.” Or “This therapy will never work. I’ll never feel better.” These kinds of beliefs caused their negative feelings not only in the therapy session but in their lives, too.
They weren’t beliefs people were usually conscious of. Yet Beck found he could teach people to pay attention and hear them. And then he discovered he could teach them how to work with and change these beliefs. This is how cognitive therapy was born, one of the most effective therapies ever developed.
Whether they’re aware of it or not, all people keep a running account of what’s happening to them, what it means, and what they should do. In other words, our minds are constantly monitoring and interpreting. That’s just how we stay on track.
But sometimes the interpretation process goes twisted. Some people put more extreme interpretations on things that happen—and then react with exaggerated feelings of anxiety, depression, or anger. Or superiority.
Internal Monologue
Mindsets frame the running account that’s taking place in people’s heads. They guide the whole interpretation process. The fixed mindset creates an internal monologue that is focused on judging: “This means I’m a loser.” “This means I’m a better person than they are.” “This means I’m a bad husband.” “This means my partner is selfish.”
In several studies, we probed the way people with a fixed mindset dealt with the information they were receiving. We found that they put a very strong evaluation on each and every piece of information. Something good led to a very strong positive label and something bad led to a very strong negative label.
People with a growth mindset are also constantly monitoring what’s going on, but their internal monologue is not about judging themselves and others in this way. Certainly, they’re sensitive to positive and negative information, but they’re attuned to its implications for learning and constructive action: What can I learn from this? How can I improve? How can I help my partner do this better?
Cognitive Therapy
Now, cognitive therapy basically teaches people to rein in their extreme judgments and make them more reasonable. For example, suppose Alana does poorly on a test and draws the conclusion, “I’m stupid.” Cognitive therapy would teach her to look more closely at the facts by asking: What is the evidence for and against your conclusion? Alana may, after prodding, come up with a long list of ways in which she has been competent in the past, and may then confess, “I guess I’m not as incompetent as I thought.”
She may also be encouraged to think of reasons she did poorly on the test other than stupidity, and these may further temper her negative judgment. Alana is then taught how to do this for herself so that when she judges herself negatively in the future, she can refute the judgment and feel better.
In this way, cognitive therapy helps people make more realistic and optimistic judgments. But it does not take them out of the fixed mindset and its world of judgment. It does not confront the basic assumption—the idea that traits are fixed—that is causing them to constantly measure themselves. In other words, it does not escort them out of the framework of judgment and into the framework of growth.
Growth Mindset
Just learning about the growth mindset can cause a big shift in the way people think about themselves and their lives. So each year Carol Dweck teaches about these mindsets—not only because they are part of the topic of the course but also because what pressure these students are under. Every year, students describe on how these ideas have changed them in all areas of their lives. They are now not bonded by limiting beliefs.
Experience #1
Here is Maggie, the aspiring writer:
I recognized that when it comes to artistic or creative endeavors I had internalized a fixed mindset. I believed that people were inherently artistic or creative and that you could not improve through effort. This directly affected my life because I have always wanted to be a writer, but have been afraid to pursue any writing classes or to share my creative writing with others. This is directly related to my mindset because any negative criticism would mean that I am not a writer inherently. I was too scared to expose myself to the possibility that I might not be a “natural.”
Now after listening to your lectures, I have decided to register for a creative writing class next term. And I feel that I have really come to understand what was preventing me from pursuing an interest that has long been my secret dream. I really feel this information has empowered me!
Maggie’s internal monologue used to say: Don’t do it. Don’t take a writing class. Don’t share your writing with others. It’s not worth the risk. Your dream could be destroyed. Protect it. Now it says: Go for it. Make it happen. Develop your skills. Pursue your dream.
Experience #2
And here’s Jason, the athlete: As a student-athlete at Columbia, I had exclusively the fixed mindset. Winning was everything and learning did not enter the picture. However, after listening to your lectures, I realized that this is not a good mindset. I’ve been working on learning while I compete, under the realization that if I can continually improve, even in matches, I will become a much better athlete.
Jason’s internal monologue used to be: Win. Win. You have to win. Prove yourself. Everything depends on it. Now it’s: Observe. Learn. Improve. Become a better athlete.
“The problem human beings face is not that we aim too high and fail, but that we aim too low and succeed.”- Michelangelo
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