Review of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

I read Tony Robbins Unlimited Power book within just a few weeks of Mindset.  I have to tell you there are some striking similarities to the concept of mindset here.

This was an excellent book about the kind of mental attitude you have about yourself, and your surroundings. Much like glasses you might choose to see the world (and yourself) through. There’s a wealth of information here that would help with how I would coach people through a retreat, manage the changes they want to implement, and the self-awareness of progress made.

There’s a few sections for just about anyone. I particularly enjoyed the part about parenting, and I can’t suggest it highly enough to any young parents out there who understand their influence on children. If you are in business you can highly benefit from that portion of the book. Sports? Achieve more!

I mentioned before in another post about Alain DeBotton’s TED talk where he discusses Failure and how remarkable it was to listen to his take on it. In Mindset, there is a similar approach, when the fixed and growth mindsets have completely different views of failure. Not only are these views in opposition, they reveal some true danger to your place in the world.

Mindset also provides the experiences of students, faculty, and many others who have studied with Dweck and had some powerful experiences. They really stood out to me as the kinds of things I have experienced myself, or that I know people close to me who have as well. In knowing this, I can use what I’ve learned in this book to help those around me.

Surely there’s nothing in here for the athlete, right? I mean you are or you aren’t… Not quite. I was encouraged that some of my challenges to mindset are shared with some of the most physically fit persons out there. These challenges hold them back from success as much as mine do. The beauty is, that this book helps us all move forward through thinking exercises that help sustain our growth mindset.

When it came to the business section I learned a great deal about some of the most successful business people in the world, and why some aren’t so successful anymore. There are some important ways of understanding how your cultural mindset can trickle through your organization. Mindset can make it soar with success and profits, or languish with infighting and struggle to break even.

How about your relationships? Have you ever heard or read that “if you have to work at it, it wasn’t meant to be”? I can say I’ve heard that a lot and I daresay it is a curse on many relationships out there. Reading the relationship section was amazing. I read the stories of people that were just like friends and relatives I have. Same problems, different people, but the fact is, the mindset is what underlies setting ourselves up for success or failure.

I’m happy to say there are some great tools in this book. In equal parts, Dweck does an amazing job making these problems real to you and I.  You feel the gravity of it, and then she hands you the tools you need, if you are ready for them.