Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol S. Dweck

For a long time, I didn’t realise how much of my life was silently controlled by one assumption:

“If I’m good, it should come easily. If it’s hard or I fail, it means I’m not meant for it.”

It sounded reasonable.
But underneath, it was a fixed mindset running in the background:
skills are fixed, talent is fixed, intelligence is fixed… and my worth is tied to my performance.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success put language to that inner pattern and offered an alternative: a growth mindset.
Not just as a nice idea, but as a deep shift in how I relate to effort, failure, and my own evolution.

This post is about how moving from fixed to fluid opened new dimensions in my growth journey.

Fixed vs growth mindset: the inner script behind my reactions

Carol Dweck’s core distinction is simple:

  • Fixed mindset:
    • “My abilities are static.”
    • “Failure exposes me.”
    • “Effort means I’m not naturally good enough.”
    • “I’d rather look smart than be stretched.”
  • Growth mindset:
    • “My abilities can be developed.”
    • “Failure is data, not a verdict.”
    • “Effort is how I build new capacity.”
    • “I’d rather learn than protect my image.”

Once I understood this, I started seeing these two mindsets everywhere:
in how I reacted to feedback, how I handled mistakes, how I entered new spaces, and even how I spoke to myself after a “bad” day.

Where the fixed mindset was secretly running my life

Reading the book felt like someone turning on the lights in a room I’d always walked through in the dark.

I saw the fixed mindset in moments like:

  • Perfectionism:
    Delaying starting something until I felt “ready” or “good enough.”
  • Avoidance:
    Skipping opportunities where I might not immediately perform well.
  • Self-criticism:
    Harsh inner dialogue after mistakes: “You always mess this up.”
  • Comparison:
    Measuring myself against others and taking their success as proof of my own lack.

Dweck’s work didn’t judge these tendencies; it explained them.
They were just the logic of a fixed mindset:
“If my value is at stake, I must protect it.”

Seeing that clearly was the first step in shifting it.

The moment the idea became real for me

The key turning point was when I truly absorbed this idea:

“Every time you step into a challenge, your nervous system is learning something,
even if the scoreboard doesn’t show it yet.”

I started to ask a new question:

Instead of

  • “Did I succeed or fail?”

I began asking

  • “What did I grow here?”
    • Did I grow my resilience?
    • Did I grow my patience?
    • Did I grow my skill?
    • Did I grow my self-honesty?

Suddenly, experiences that looked like “losses” or “mistakes” began to feel like training sessions for a bigger version of me.

From fixed to fluid: how I practice growth mindset daily

For me, the shift wasn’t just mental. It became a daily practice.

1. Changing my inner language

The book gives a simple but powerful tool: adding the word “yet”.

  • Fixed: “I’m not good at this.”
  • Growth: “I’m not good at this yet.”

I expanded that into other small language shifts:

  • From “I failed”
    to “I’m learning what doesn’t work yet.”
  • From “I can’t do this”
    to “I don’t know how to do this yet, but I can learn.”
  • From “I’m just not that type of person”
    to “This is an area where I can grow capacity if I choose.”

These phrases might look small, but they quietly reprogram the inner script.

2. Redefining effort

In a fixed mindset, effort can feel like proof that you’re “not naturally good.”

In a growth mindset, effort is literally the bridge between where you are and where you want to be.

Now, when something is hard, I try to read it differently:

  • Hard = “my brain is rewiring”
  • Repetition = “I’m building a new baseline”
  • Confusion = “I’m on the edge of my current map”

Instead of backing away, I try to stay with it a little longer than my old self would.

3. Turning failure into feedback

When something doesn’t go as I hoped, I run a simple reflection:

  • What did I try?
  • What actually happened?
  • What can I tweak next time?
  • What did I learn about my patterns (emotionally, mentally, practically)?

This keeps me out of “self-attack mode” and in “experiment mode.”

Failures become iterations, not identity statements.

How I take notes from Mindset

I don’t treat this as just a theory book. I treat it as a diagnostic and a manual.

My notes are structured around scenarios, not just concepts.

1. Concepts: simple distinctions

I summarise key ideas in my own language:

  • Fixed mindset protects image.
  • Growth mindset serves evolution.
  • Talent is a starting point, not a finish line.

Short, clear lines that are easy to recall.

2. Personal patterns: “Where do I go fixed?”

I list situations where my fixed mindset shows up strongest, for example:

  • Receiving criticism
  • Trying new skills in public
  • Money, risk, and performance
  • Being a beginner again

Under each, I write the typical fixed-mindset thoughts that appear.
This gives me a map of my triggers.

3. Upgraded responses

For each scenario, I write a growth-mindset alternative, for example:

  • When receiving criticism:
    • Old: “They’re saying I’m not good enough.”
    • New: “Here is free data for my next version.”
  • When I’m a beginner:
    • Old: “People will see me as incompetent.”
    • New: “Every expert was once exactly here.”

These notes become scripts I can return to when I feel myself sliding back into the old pattern.

How this shift opened new dimensions in my life

Since practicing growth mindset more consciously, I’ve noticed:

  • More willingness to experiment
    I’m less paralysed by the fear of not getting it right the first time.
  • Less emotional crash after setbacks
    I might still feel disappointed, but I recover faster because I see value in the attempt.
  • Deeper patience with myself
    Instead of demanding overnight transformation, I respect the process of learning and rewiring.
  • More curiosity, less comparison
    Other people’s success triggers less envy and more interest: “What can I learn from their path?”

A fixed mindset feels like a rigid container.
A growth mindset feels like water: adapting, learning, expanding.

That’s why I call it moving from fixed to fluid.

Why this belongs on my Growth page

This page is here because Mindset gave me something foundational:

A new way to interpret everything that happens on my path.

  • Every challenge
  • Every mistake
  • Every unknown
  • Every skill I don’t have… yet

All of it becomes raw material for growth instead of evidence against me.

If you’re reading this on my Growth site, consider this an invitation to try one question today:

“If I looked at this situation with a growth mindset,
what would it mean, and what would I do next?”

Sometimes, the difference between feeling stuck and feeling powerful
is not the situation itself,
but the mindset you bring into it.