Quotes from Carol S. Dweck

'Hard-working' is what gets the job done. You just see that year after year. The students who thrive are not necessarily the ones who come in with the perfect scores. It's the ones who love what they're doing and go at it vigorously.

I open 'Mindset' with examples of kids who thrive on difficult challenges.

Business leaders who openly acknowledge people's concerns about becoming obsolete and who invest resources in workers' growth can help create a nation of learners - and perhaps resolve some of the political chaos that's bubbling around us.

Chinese culture is already telling children to work hard. That's not growth mindset because they're working hard for the product, not for the growth or the joy of learning.

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

With a fixed mindset, you're so worried about how smart or talented you are, you don't take on challenges. You don't try new things.

Some students start thinking of their intelligence as something fixed, as carved in stone. They worry about, 'Do I have enough? Don't I have enough?'

Our message to parents is to focus on the process the child engages in, such as trying hard or focusing on the task - what specific things they're doing rather than, 'You're so smart. You're so good at this.' Although it's never too late to change, what you do early matters.

We're finding that many parents endorse a growth mindset, but they still respond to their children's errors, setbacks or failures as though they're damaging and harmful. If they show anxiety or overconcern, those kids are going toward a more fixed mindset.

I teach a freshman seminar every year, and we delve very, very deeply into their mindsets. They read scientific articles, but we also focus on what their mindset is, and they learn to recognize when they are in more of a fixed mindset, because we're all a mixture.

People often confuse a growth mindset with being flexible or open-minded or with having a positive outlook - qualities they believe they've simply always had. My colleagues and I call this a false growth mindset.

This knowledge that you might have to really reorganize and redefine yourself and build new skills is really important.

When we praise children for their intelligence, we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart; don't risk making mistakes.

I was very invested in being smart and thought to be smart was more important than accomplishing anything in life.

You try something, it doesn't work, and maybe people even criticize you. In a fixed mindset, you say, 'I tried this, it's over.' In a growth mindset, you look for what you've learned.

Everyone is a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets. You could have a predominant growth mindset in an area, but there can still be things that trigger you into a fixed mindset trait.

Maybe you don't know how to do something at work. Instead of asking the boss or seeking someone as a mentor, you might not want to show them your ignorance. So, you're depriving yourself of this learning and mentorship. All of these ways are ways that a fixed mindset will hold you back.

You can't just declare that you have a growth mindset. Growth mindset is hard.

There is a long history of research showing that people are overconfident about their abilities. But it turns out that people in general are not overconfident about their abilities; people with a fixed mindset are overconfident.

no matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.

This is something I know for a fact: You have to work hardest for the things you love most.

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

when people already know they're deficient, they have nothing to lose by trying.

In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you're not the best—it's all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they're doing regardless of the outcome . They're tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues. Maybe they haven't found the cure for cancer, but the search was deeply meaningful.