Hi Friends!! It’s week #2 of Summer Book Study, so welcome to Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Chapter 2. I’m excited to share that Lisa from All Ya’ll Need and Dana from Common to the Core are joining Greg (The Kindergarten Smorgasboard) and myself for a review of this chapter. So head on over to read their take on this chapter and show them some love!
If this is the first time you are jumping into our Summer Book Study, then head on over to THIS blog post from Greg and THIS blog post from me, to catch up on chapter 1!
Chapter 2 is titled Inside the Mindsets and has an abundance of information and real-life examples that really helped me to understand the different mindsets and how they look in ‘real life.’
The beginning of the chapter talks about validation, the need to succeed, and growing through challenges. Do your own research…look around and think about your friends and colleagues. Do you know people who are always concerned with ‘looking’ smart or making sure that they are thought of as the ‘pinnacle’ of success? Or what about those people who make mistakes, have failures, but still keep a positive attitude and step out of their comfort zone on a regular basis? What do you regularly choose…lots of success or lots of challenge? No need to spontaneously answer, just think about that for awhile. I have been thinking about how this applies to me as a teacher and while I like to have success, I want to challenge myself as teacher and embrace new ideas and push past my internal limitations.
I don’t know about you, but how often as educators do we hear that certain students are not hitting the benchmarks, according to 1 test score?! This frustrates me to no end!! Especially because I teach Kindergarten and often times they don’t ‘know’ because they haven’t been taught…YET!! This doesn’t mean that they need to be tested for special education or CAN’T learn, they just need a little extra time and that is okay!
There is one topic in chapter 2 that really stood out me. On page 31 of chapter 2, Carol Dweck, writes about John McEnroe, the famous tennis player. She provides several stories that magnify his fixed mindset, even though he was the number one tennis player IN THE WORLD! She writes of the belittling he did to ‘ordinary’ people and how they groveled at his feet…and only because he was John McEnroe, SUCCESSFUL tennis player. His mindset was: success = he was better than other people. A sense of superiority enveloped him. And right along with the superiority, came his ‘blaming, not me attitude. It was never his fault, when he did not achieve his goals. His ‘failure’ was always the result of someone or something else. Is this the portrait of success?
I have been ruminating on this story, ever since I read it and want NO part of this fixed mindset or attitude. I never want to get to a place of ‘success’, where I suddenly believe that I am better than another or that others should suddenly condescend to me, simply for my ‘perceived’ success. All people matter and we must work together to grow and cultivate a culture of growth mindset and that failures don’t define us!
Thanks for joining me today as I reviewed Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Chapter 2 and don’t forget that Greg will be live on FB at 7pm pst and I will be live on Periscope tonight at 6pm pst. Now…what are your thoughts on chapter 2?
I liked the quote that you shared, it takes time for potential to flower. Everyone has the potential to be big beautiful flowers! A reminder at making sure that we do not stomp on their way to blooming, instead giving that potential the water, seeds, and sunlight needed to blossom in abundance!
a latte of blessings & giggles, Jeanie ☕️
It takes time for potential to blossom, according to the quote you posted. Everyone has the capacity to blossom into a huge, gorgeous flower.
Thank you for the comment.