don’t understand and what learning strategies they don’t have. Remember that great teachers
believe in the growth of talent and intellect, and are fascinated by the process of learning.• re
you a fixed-mindset coach? Do you think first and foremost about your record and your
reputation? Are you intolerant of mistakes? Do you try to motivate your players though
judgment? That may be what’s holding up your athletes.Try on the growth mindset. Instead of
asking for mistake-free games, ask for full commitment and full effort. Instead of judging the
players, give them the respect and the coaching they need to develop.• s parents, teachers, and
coaches, our mission is developing people’s potential. Let’s use all the lessons of the growth
mindset—and whatever else we can—to do this.
Chapter 8
CHANGING MINDSETS: A WORKSHOP
The growth mindset is based on the belief in change, and the most gratifying part of my
work is watching people change. Nothing is better than seeing people find their way to things
they value. This chapter is about kids and adults who found their way to using their abilities. And
about how all of us can do that.
THE NATURE OF CHANGE
I was in the middle of first grade when my family moved. Suddenly I was in a new
school. Everything was unfamiliar—the teacher, the students, and the work. The work was what
terrified me. The new class was way ahead of my old one, or at least it seemed that way to me.
They were writing letters I hadn’t learned to write yet. And there was a way to do everything that
everyone seemed to know except me. So when the teacher said, “Class, put your name on your
paper in the right place,” I had no idea what she meant.
So I cried. Each day things came up that I didn’t know how to do. Each time, I felt lost
and overwhelmed. Why didn’t I just say to the teacher, “Mrs. Kahn, I haven’t learned this yet.
Could you show me how?”
Another time when I was little, my parents gave me money to go to the movies with an
adult and a group of kids. As I rounded the corner to the meeting place, I looked down the block
and saw them all leaving. But instead of running after them and yelling, “Wait for me!” I stood
frozen, clutching the coins in my hand and watching them recede into the distance.
Why didn’t I try to stop them or catch up with them? Why did I accept defeat before I
had tried some simple tactics? I know that in my dreams I had often performed magical or
superhuman feats in the face of danger. I even have a picture of myself in my self-made
Superman cape. Why, in real life, couldn’t I do an ordinary thing like ask for help or call out for
people to wait?
In my work, I see lots of young children like this—bright, seemingly resourceful children
who are paralyzed by setbacks. In some of our studies, they just have to take the simplest action
to make things better. But they don’t. These are the young children with the fixed mindset. When
things go wrong, they feel powerless and incapable.
Even now, when something goes wrong or when something promising seems to be
slipping away, I still have a passing feeling of powerlessness. Does that mean I haven’t changed?
No, it means that change isn’t like surgery. Even when you change, the old beliefs aren’t
just removed like a worn-out hip or knee and replaced with better ones. Instead, the new beliefs
take their place alongside the old ones, and as they become stronger, they give you a different
way to think, feel, and act.