Everything you need to develop "dynamic thinking"

We continue to acquaint you with the translations of the articles by Chris Bailey that he wrote during his project A Year of Productivity . Chris really did a lot of various experiments, and some of his publications seemed interesting to us, for example, 10 lessons that I learned after I started using my smartphone 60 minutes a day .



Today we wanted to introduce you to an article on two types of thinking - static and dynamic. We found the idea itself interesting and how the type of thinking affects a person’s productivity and even determines his life.



Carol Dweck, a world-renowned psychologist and researcher at Stanford University, argues that the only difference between successful people and others is that they are confident in their ability to develop any qualities. Carol Dweck attributed those who consider their capabilities to be natural and static to the category of people with “fixed / static thinking”, and those who, on the contrary, believe that all qualities can be developed into a group with “dynamic / flexible thinking.

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Two types of thinking







People with fixed / static thinking think that their talents and qualities are unchanged and that any attempts to change them are doomed to failure. They perceive challenges, as a rule, negatively, instead of treating them as a chance to improve themselves. These people diligently avoid obstacles due to fear of falling, failure, and loss of self-esteem. Representatives of this group do not make efforts to achieve goals, because they think that their success is not related to the intensity of work, but is predetermined by the set of qualities given to them by nature. They fear the success of others and tend to ignore fair criticism. Dweck argues that these people, as a rule, “quickly stop growing and reach less in life than they potentially could.”



The category of people who have a dynamic / flexible mindset are convinced that they can change their abilities and intelligence level through intensive work and perseverance. They persevere in facing obstacles and welcome new challenges, because they perceive them as an opportunity for self-improvement. These people believe that hard work is the only way to develop the necessary skills. The failure of such people is not frightening - they regard even failure as a chance to develop later. In the course of her experiments, Dweck noted that people with dynamic thinking “achieve far higher goals” and have a “developed sense of freedom of choice.”



People with dynamic thinking understand that intelligence can be developed. They work hard to become smarter, concentrate on self-improvement, and do not get upset because of the nature they are not given as much as we would like.



Short example



Here is a brief example of what these two types of people are.



Do not be discouraged, but imagine for a moment a terrible day. When you got up in the morning, you discovered that you overslept and did not have time to drink a cup of coffee. Arriving in a half awake, you got behind the wheel and went to work. At one point, unexpectedly for you, the color of the traffic lights changed to red, and you drove into another car. Could it be worse? When you finally got to work, you were forced to hear from the boss the comments related to your last report.



Creepy day, right? How do people of two different types of thinking react to it?



A man with a fixed mind, consider himself an idiot. He will be engaged in self-flagellation for having managed to create an accident out of the blue: “Damn, Chris, you need to be more careful!” This person will think that he is not sufficiently gifted for his work, and most likely will make even less effort preparing the next report. Arriving home in the evening, he is likely to drink something strong to survive the effects of a nightmare day.



The one who has a dynamic mindset, on the contrary, will put more effort into working on the next report, because criticism of the boss testifies, in his understanding, about the need to work harder and increase his own productivity. This person is likely to be more attentive, sitting behind the wheel the next time, and will take care to drink a treasured cup of coffee in the morning, even if it leads to a late arrival at some meeting. He sees the day through the prism of opportunities for growth, learns from mistakes and does not consider it a nightmare.







The benefits of dynamic thinking



Thirty years of research conducted by Dweck showed that people with dynamic thinking:

- It is better to study in school and excel in sports

- Possess higher motivation

- Become better and more successful managers

- Satisfied with their relationship

- Become good parents and mentors



As a group, they are more successful and productive. These people realize that their abilities, talents, and level of intelligence can be changed and improved through hard work. That is what they are doing.



How to become the same



Dweck believes that the inner dialogue that a person has with himself greatly influences his perception of the world around him. If you constantly tell yourself that you must defend yourself in case of failure, or that everything would be easier for you, if you were more talented, you should know that this is fixed thinking. Dweck argues that the first step towards success is to understand and recognize this.



The second step is, according to Dweck, the recognition that you have a choice. You can read a lot about the benefits of dynamic thinking for a long time, but until you start acting according to your new model, nothing will change. She also recommends that she mentally “object” to her fixed consciousness, the arguments of a new, dynamic thinking, in order to gradually establish in her head new principles.



Finally, Dweck argues that it is necessary to “begin to live and act in accordance with a dynamic way of thinking” and listen to his voice.



PS from the translation editor: if you are interested in reading other articles of the author, we highly recommend the “10 lessons on how to increase productivity, which I learned by working 90 hours a week for a month” that caused a lot of controversy.