The view you adopt for yourself significantly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you achieve the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?
Believing that your qualities are carved in stone—the fixed mindset—creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. Some of us are trained in this mindset from an early age. Even as a child, I was focused on being smart, but the fixed mindset was really stamped in by Mrs. Wilson, my sixth-grade teacher. She believed that people’s IQ scores told the whole story of who they were. We were seated around the room in IQ order, and only the highest-IQ students could be trusted to collect homework, or take a note to the principal. She was creating a mindset in which everyone in the class had one consuming goal—look smart, don’t look stupid.
I’ve seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves—in the classroom, in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or stupid? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?
But doesn’t our society value intelligence, personality, and character? Isn’t it normal to want these qualities? Yes, but...
There’s another mindset, the growth mindset, which is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can develop through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way—in their inborn talents, interests, or characters—everyone can change and grow through efforts and experience. Did you know that Darwin and Tolstoy were considered ordinary children? That the photographer Cindy Sherman, who has been on almost every list of the most important artists of the twentieth century, failed her first photography course? That Geraldine Page, one of our greatest actresses, was advised to give it up for lack of talent?
You can see how the belief that valuable qualities can be developed creates a passion for learning. Why waste time proving how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide weaknesses instead of overcoming them? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it’s not going well, is the feature of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to achieve success during some of the most challenging times in their lives.
【小题1】What is the author’s attitude toward Mrs. Wilson’s way of teaching?| A．Unconcerned. | B．Sceptical. | C．Supportive. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．success has nothing to do with natural gifts |
| B．achievements can be gained through hard work |
| C．it’s difficult to predict one’s future success |
| D．one single outcome defines our ability |
| A．carry out an honest evaluation of our qualities |
| B．see success as a proof of intelligence or talent |
| C．focus on self-development rather than self-proving |
| D．believe good things will happen during difficult times |
| A．explain the differences between two mindsets |
| B．persuade people to adopt the right mindset |
| C．inform people of the influence of mindset |
| D．advise people to assess their mindset |
