Carol Dweck Quotes & Sayings

True self-confidence is the courage to be open - to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source. — Carol S. Dweck

With the right mindset and the right teaching, people are capable of a lot more than we think. — Carol S. Dweck

The best thing parents can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. — Carol S. Dweck

We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don't like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary. — Carol S. Dweck

More and more research is suggesting that, far from being simply encoded in the genes, much of personality is a flexible and dynamic thing that changes over the life span and is shaped by experience. — Carol S. Dweck

Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. — Carol S. Dweck

I derive just as much happiness from the process as from the results. — Carol S. Dweck

When people already know they're deficient, they have nothing to lose by trying. — Carol S. Dweck

Effort is one of those things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. — Carol S. Dweck

What are the consequences of thinking that your intelligence or personality is something you can develop, as opposed to something that is a fixed, deep-seated trait? — Carol S. Dweck

People with the growth mindset know that it takes time for potential to flower. — Carol S. Dweck

Why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? — Carol S. Dweck

Exceptional people convert life's setbacks into future successes, — Carol S. Dweck

Chose executives on the basis of "runway," their capacity for growth. — Carol S. Dweck

Skills and achievement come through commitment and effort. — Carol S. Dweck

For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. — Carol S. Dweck

The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn. — Carol S. Dweck

They know how to take tests and get A's but they don't know how to do this - yet. They forget the yet. — Carol S. Dweck

As growth-minded leaders, they start with a belief in human potential and development - both their own and other people's. Instead of using the company as a vehicle for their greatness, they use it as an engine of growth - for themselves, the employees, and the company as a whole. — Carol S. Dweck

Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort. We endow our heroes with superhuman abilities that led them inevitably toward their greatness. — Carol S. Dweck

So what should we say when children complete a task - say, math problems - quickly and perfectly? Should we deny them the praise they have earned? Yes. When this happens, I say, Whoops. I guess that was too easy. I apologize for wasting your time. Let's do something you can really learn from! — Carol S. Dweck

person's true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it's impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training. Did — Carol S. Dweck

Beware of success. It can knock you into a fixed mindset. — Carol S. Dweck

They were self-effacing people who constantly asked questions and had the ability to confront the most brutal answers - that is, to look failures in the face, even their own, while maintaining faith that they would succeed in the end. — Carol S. Dweck

The great teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent, and they are fascinated with the process of learning. — Carol S. Dweck

They'd had no interest in proving themselves. They just did what they loved - with tremendous drive and enthusiasm - and it led where it led. — Carol S. Dweck

It is not always people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest. — Carol S. Dweck

Failure is information-we label it failure, but it's more like, 'This didn't work, I'm a problem solver, and I'll try something else.' — Carol S. Dweck

Real self-confidence is not reflected in a title, an expensive suit, a fancy car, or a series of acquisitions. It is reflected in your mindset: your readiness to grow. — Carol S. Dweck

The students with growth mindset completely took charge of their learning and motivation. — Carol S. Dweck

The more depressed people with the growth mindset felt, the more they took action to confront their problems, the more they made sure to keep up with their schoolwork, and the more they kept up with their lives. The worse they felt, the more determined they became! — Carol S. Dweck

A no-effort relationship is a doomed relationship, not a great relationship. It takes work to communicate accurately and it takes work to expose and resolve conflicting hopes and beliefs. It doesn't mean there is no "they lived happily ever after," but it's more like "they worked happily ever after. — Carol S. Dweck

the major factor in whether people achieve expertise "is not some fixed prior ability, but purposeful engagement. — Carol S. Dweck

The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it's not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. — Carol S. Dweck

When you're lying on your deathbed, one of the cool things to say is, 'I really explored myself.' This sense of urgency was instilled when my mom died. If you only go through life doing stuff that's easy, shame on you. — Carol S. Dweck

It's for you to decide whether change is right for you right now. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But either way keep the growth mindset in your thoughts then when you bump up against obstacles you can turn to it, it will always be there for you showing you a path into the future. — Carol S. Dweck

This low-effort syndrome is often seen as a way that adolescents assert their independence from adults, but it is also a way that students with the fixed mindset protect themselves. They view the adults as saying, "Now we will measure you and see what you've got." And they are answering, "No you won't." John Holt, the great educator, says that these are the games all human beings play when others are sitting in judgment of them. — Carol S. Dweck

Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is, but they don't tell you where a student could end up. — Carol S. Dweck

Some of the world's best athletes didn't start out being that hot. If you have a passion for a sport, put in the effort and see. — Carol S. Dweck

... see failure not as a sign of stupidity but as a lack of experience and skill.
(Seth Abrams) — Carol S. Dweck

What can I learn from this? What will I do next time I'm in this situation? — Carol S. Dweck

When people are in a growth mindset, the stereotype doesn't disrupt their performance. The growth mindset takes the teeth out of the stereotype and makes people better able to fight back. They don't believe in permanent inferiority. And if they are behind - well, then they'll work harder and try to catch up. — Carol S. Dweck

Are there situations where you get stupid - where you disengage your intelligence? Next time you're in one of those situations, get yourself into a growth mindset - think about learning and improvement, not judgment - and hook it back up. — Carol S. Dweck

All of these people had character. None of them thought they were special people, born with the right to win. They were people who worked hard, who learned how to keep their focus under pressure, and who stretched beyond their ordinary abilities when they had to. — Carol S. Dweck

Fixed ability that needs to be proven, and a changeable ability that can be developed through learning. That — Carol S. Dweck

Instead, they are constantly trying to improve. They surround themselves with the most able people they can find, they look squarely at their own mistakes and deficiencies, and they ask frankly what skills they and the company will need in the future. — Carol S. Dweck

What's more, it's not as though the fixed mindset wants to leave gracefully. If the fixed mindset has been controlling your internal monologue, it can say some pretty strong thing to you ... The fixed mindset once offered you a refuge from that very feeling, and it offers it to you again.
Don't take it. — Carol S. Dweck

Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn't mean that others can't do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training — Carol S. Dweck

A company that cannot self-correct cannot thrive. — Carol S. Dweck

Character, the sportswriters said. They know it when they see it - it's the ability to dig down and find the strength even when things are going against you. — Carol S. Dweck

If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. That way, their children don't have to be slaves of praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence. — Carol S. Dweck

Fixed mindset makes you concerned with how you'll be judged; the growth mindset makes you concerned with improving. — Carol S. Dweck

Finding #2: Those with the growth mindset found setbacks motivating. They're informative. They're a wake-up call. — Carol S. Dweck

Studies show that people are terrible at estimating their abilities. Recently, we set out to see who is most likely to do this. Sure, we found that people greatly misestimated their performance and their ability. But it was those with the fixed mindset who accounted for almost all the inaccuracy. The people with the growth mindset were amazingly accurate. When you think about it, this makes sense. If, like those with the growth mindset, you believe you can develop yourself, then you're open to accurate information about your current abilities, even if it's unflattering. — Carol S. Dweck

Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they believe that a person's true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it's impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training. — Carol S. Dweck

Not only weren't they discouraged by failure, they didn't even think they were failing. They thought they were learning. — Carol S. Dweck

The fixed- and growth-mindset groups started with the same ability, but as time went on the growth-mindset groups clearly outperformed the fixed-mindset ones. And this difference became ever larger the longer the groups worked. Once again, those with the growth mindset profited from their mistakes and feedback far more than the fixed-mindset people. But what was even more interesting was how the groups functioned. The members of the growth-mindset groups were much more likely to state their honest opinions and openly express their disagreements as they communicated about their management decisions. Everyone was part of the learning process. For the fixed-mindset groups - with their concern about who was smart or dumb or their anxiety about disapproval for their ideas - that open, productive discussion did not happen. Instead, it was more like groupthink. — Carol S. Dweck

they would get praise for taking initiative, for seeing a difficult task through, for struggling and learning something new, for being undaunted by a setback, or for being open to and acting on criticism. — Carol S. Dweck

A genius who constantly wants to upgrade his genius. — Carol S. Dweck

When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world
the world of fixed traits
success is about proving you're smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other
the world of changing qualities
it's about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself. — Carol S. Dweck

But does a growth mindset make people good just at getting their own way? Often negotiations require people to understand and try to serve the other person's interests as well. Ideally, at the end of a negotiation, both parties feel their needs have been met. In a study with a more challenging negotiation task, those with a growth mindset were able to get beyond initial failures by constructing a deal that addressed both parties' underlying interests. So, not only do those with a growth mindset gain more lucrative outcomes for themselves, but, more important, they also come up with more creative solutions that confer benefits all around. — Carol S. Dweck

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success BY CAROL DWECK — Daniel H. Pink

People may start with different temperaments and different aptitudes, but it is clear that experience, training, and personal effort take them the rest of the way. — Carol S. Dweck

When Do You Feel Smart: When You're Flawless or When You're Learning? — Carol S. Dweck

Now consider the idea that they just used better strategies, taught themselves more, practiced harder, and worked their way through obstacles. You can do that, too, if you want to. — Carol S. Dweck

In one world, failure is about having a setback. Getting a bad grade. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you're not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for the things you value. It means you're not fulfilling your potential. In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you're not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn't need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented. — Carol S. Dweck

you aren't a failure until you start to blame. What — Carol S. Dweck

Many growth-minded people didn't even plan to go to the top. They got there as a result of doing what they love. It's ironic: The top is where the fixed-mindset people hunger to be, but it's where many growth-minded people arrive as a by-product of their enthusiasm for what they do. — Carol S. Dweck

Praising children's intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance. — Carol S. Dweck

This is hard. This is fun. — Carol S. Dweck

The whole point of marriage is to encourage your partner's development and have them encourage yours. — Carol S. Dweck

score? A dishonest or callous action? Being fired from a job? Being rejected? Focus on that thing. Feel all the emotions that go with it. Now put it in a growth-mindset perspective. Look honestly at your role in it, but understand that it doesn't define your intelligence or personality. Instead, ask: What did I (or can I ) learn from that experience? How can I use it as a basis for growth? Carry that with you instead. — Carol S. Dweck

Don't judge. Teach. It's a learning process. — Carol S. Dweck

The effort kids simply thought the difficulty meant "Apply more effort." They didn't see it as a failure, and they didn't think it reflected on their intellect. — Carol S. Dweck

On the whole, people with a fixed mindset prefer effortless success, since that's the best way to prove their talent. — Carol S. Dweck

When people with the fixed mindset opt for success over growth, what are they really trying to prove? That they're special. Even superior. — Carol S. Dweck

Actually, people with the fixed mindset expect ability to show up on its own, before any learning takes place. — Carol S. Dweck

You can always substantially change how intelligent you are. — Carol S. Dweck

Teaching is a wonderful way to learn. — Carol S. Dweck

Mia, what is the most important thing for a soccer player to have?" With no hesitation, she answered, "Mental toughness. — Carol S. Dweck

to see failure not as a sign of stupidity but as lack of experience and skill. Your — Carol S. Dweck

So what should we praise? The effort, the strategies, the doggedness and persistence, the grit people show, the resilience that they show in the face of obstacles, that bouncing back when things go wrong and knowing what to try next. So I think a huge part of promoting a growth mindset in the workplace is to convey those values of process, to give feedback, to reward people engaging in the process, and not just a successful outcome. — Carol S. Dweck

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? — Carol S. Dweck

I looked for themes and underlying principles across lectures," and "I went over mistakes until I was certain I understood them." They were studying to learn, not just to ace the test. And, actually, this was why they got higher grades - not because they were smarter or had a better background in science. — Carol S. Dweck

Think about what you want to look back and say. Then choose your mindset. — Carol S. Dweck

Vowing, even intense vowing, is often useless. The next day comes and the next day goes. What works is making a vivid, concrete plan. — Carol S. Dweck

No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment. — Carol S. Dweck

Even in the growth mindset, failure can be a painful experience. But it doesn't define you. It's a problem to be faced, dealt with, and learned from. — Carol S. Dweck

As Carol Dweck says, Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. It would be an impoverished existence if you were not willing to value things and commit yourself to working toward them. — Daniel H. Pink

In fact, every word and action can send a message. It tells children - or students, or athletes - how to think about themselves. It can be a fixed-mindset message that says: You have permanent traits and I'm judging them. Or it can be a growth-mindset message that says: You are a developing person and I am interested in your development. — Carol S. Dweck

NASA thought so. When they were soliciting applications for astronauts, they rejected people with pure histories of success and instead selected people who had had significant failures and bounced back from them. — Carol S. Dweck

To be successful in sports, you need to learn techniques and skills and practice them regularly. — Carol S. Dweck

This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. — Carol S. Dweck

With the threat of failure looming, students with the growth mindset set instead mobilized their resources for learning. They told us that they, too, sometimes felt overwhelmed, but their response was to dig in and do what it takes. They were like George Danzig. Who? George Danzig was a graduate student in math at Berkeley. One day, as usual, he rushed in late to his math class and quickly copied the two homework problems from the blackboard. When he later went to do them, he found them very difficult, and it took him several days of hard work to crack them open and solve them. They turned out not to be homework problems at all. They were two famous math problems that had never been solved. — Carol S. Dweck

Becoming is better than being — Carol S. Dweck

What did you try hard at today? — Carol S. Dweck

Hierarchy means very little to me. Let's put together in meetings the people who can help solve a problem, regardless of position. — Carol S. Dweck

Wow, that's a really good score. You must have worked really hard. — Carol S. Dweck

Your horse is only as fast as your brain. Every time you learn something, your horse will move ahead. — Carol S. Dweck

Of course, after the creative act no one cared about follow-through. That was beneath them. — Carol S. Dweck