In our lives sometimes we become successful and sometimes we fail in things we do. Most of the time, number of failures in our lives are higher than the number of our successes. This has been the case with the most successful people in the world. For instance, Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time has failed 10,000 times. Soichiro Honda, founder of the Honda Motor Corporation failed numerous times in his life but he persevered and succeeded. This is why he said “Success is 99% failure. Success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection.”
The world renowned psychologist Dr Carol S Dweck from Stanford University found through her extensive research that it is your mindset that plays a significant role in defining your successes and failures.
What is Mindset?
Mindset is a set of beliefs or a view you adopt for yourself. Dr Dweck, professor of psychology at Stanford University has identified through her research two mindsets i.e. fixed mindset and growth mindset.
Fixed Mindset
People with fixed mindset think that their abilities and talents are fixed. They think these attributes can’t be improved through effort. So they consider that their effort is worthless. According to them making efforts reveals their shortcomings to others. And this shows that they are not fit for the tasks that they are assigned to do. The persons with fixed mindset are reluctant to reveal their weaknesses.
Growth Mindset
The people with growth mindset believe that their basic qualities, abilities and talents can be improved through efforts, strategies and help from others. Professor Dweck explains in her million copy best seller book, Mindset-Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential, that people are different from each other in terms of their initial talents, interests and temperaments. But they are able to change and improve their talents and other qualities through effort, training, practice, application and experience.
She also explains that this doesn’t mean that everyone can become Einstein or Beethoven. But people with growth mindset believe that anyone’s true potential is unknown. With continued effort, years of training and a passion for what you do, anything may be achieved.
That is why ordinary children have become geniuses in their youth. The best examples are Charles Darwin, Leo Tolstoy. Ben Hogan has been a graceless and an uncoordinated child even though he is one of the greatest golfers of all time. Geraldine Page, one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses has been advised to give up acting due to lack of talent.
Success in the eyes of those with fixed mindset.
People with the fixed mindset think that success is an opportunity to show the world that they are better than others. They think that success is about establishing their superiority. When people with this mindset achieve success they may feel superior to others and their fixed talents and abilities are better than others. They simply become arrogant when they encounter success.
Failure in the eyes of those with fixed mindset.
Fixed mindset people find failures as huge blows to their pride. They are extremely discouraging. They think that failure is the end of their journey. This is because they think that their qualities such as talents, abilities etc. are fixed and can’t be changed. So when they fail in an examination or loose to the opponent in a sport or become unsuccessful in business, they think they can’t learn from their mistakes and improve their attributes such as talent, skills, endurance, competence etc. and be successful once again.
How people with growth mindset see success.
Dr Carol S. Dweck through her research has found out that people with growth mindset sees success as doing their best and they find success in learning and in improving. Most of the champions in sports have this mindset.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee an American athlete ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the hepthalon and the long jump has expressed the following about success.
“For me the joy of athletics never resided in winning. I derive just as much success from the process as from the results. I don’t mind loosing as long as I see improvement or I feel I’ve done as well as I possibly could. If I lose, I just go back to the track and work some more.’’
It has been observed that people with growth mindset do love winning and success but they value greatly the effort they put for their endeavours. Even if they lose in a competition they are happy about the effort they have put. They can be proud of the effort. And, for them it’s all about putting more effort, finding their shortcomings and correcting them, compete again and win.
How people with growth mindset perceive failure.
The people with growth mindset see failure as motivating. They don’t see them as the end of their journey. They consider them as a wake-up call that tells them that there are better competitors and more challenging circumstances than they are prepared for and they need to try harder and practice harder to win again.
Michael Jordan considered as one of the greatest basketball players of all time elaborates the above sentiment nicely in his famous Nike advertisement. ‘’I’ve missed more than nine thousand shots. I’ve lost almost three hundred games. Twenty six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot, and missed.’’
Conclusion
How we perceive success and failure is critical for our personal growth and the way we influence our family members, friends, colleagues and others in our lives. It is evident from the in depth study of the mindset that the way we understand failure and success depends on the type of mindset we have. Most of the enduring geniuses in art, science, business and other fields seem to be people with the growth mindset. It should be noted that inculcating a growth mindset is significant for personal growth as people with growth mindset see success as well as failure in a productive and positive manner.
