MM#356-- Foundations in Flourishing, pt.3

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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

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Hello, I am.

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David, and welcome back to another Mojo Minute.

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This is the third in our series called Foundations in Flourishing, and today's episode will be all about mindset and why that is super important.

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But if you didn't catch the two previous episodes on exercise and many habits, be sure to go back and listen to those.

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They are just the two previous podcasts we have put out and to ensure you understand where we're coming from, we're going to answer a question that has come up why are we creating this series?

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Well, if you listened to the previous two episodes, you would know that, but to catch you folks up who are slacking, you slackers out there that only tune in every third or fourth episode.

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We will go ahead and catch you up to this class.

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We created this series based on your feedback from our previous content, where you appreciated us providing multi-book recommendations for deeper insights, so you didn't have to do the research yourself, and many of you found it very valuable because that saves you time and enriches your life, but it also fits well into your busy schedule, especially during commutes and workouts.

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So you like the long form content and so, yes, we're going to keep that coming.

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So thank you for that feedback.

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Now, speaking of feedback too, since you missed class, you slackers out there.

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But for those of you that know what I'm going to say, you can repeat it along with me.

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We have introduced a new feature into the podcast, into our show notes.

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It's a link labeled fan mail dash.

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We would like your feedback.

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You need to click on that to send us some quick fee feedback.

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Again, click on the feedback link that says fan mail at the top of the show notes and let us know how we're doing and thank you very much.

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Now let's turn to our book and books of the day.

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Carol Dweck wrote a fantastic book called Mindset.

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We have a review of it in the library Mojo Academy Library.

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So if you're a member, you have probably read that review.

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If not, why not?

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You need to become a member.

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You get tons of great stuff there.

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We're building the library out not thousands, hundreds of key nuggets of wisdom, over 40 now titles we have in the library.

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But Carol Dweck's mindset theory is a powerful framework for understanding how our beliefs about intelligence and ability can significantly impact our learning, motivation and achievement impact our learning, motivation and achievement.

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Now here's a brief overview of what Dweck's theory is.

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She proposes two mindsets and her research is fantastic because it stood the test of time.

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Um, and that research is that individuals generally generally keyword there hold one of two mindsets.

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There's a fixed mindset and there's a growth mindset.

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People with fixed mindsets believe that intelligence and abilities are static and they can't change significantly.

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They tend to avoid challenges.

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They give up easily when faced with obstacles, they see effort as fruitless, they ignore useful feedback and they feel threatened by other people's success.

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Okay, so that's a fixed mindset.

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Now a growth mindset.

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Now a growth mindset.

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Those with a growth mindset believe that abilities can be developed and progress through dedication, effort and learning.

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They are more likely, they're predispah, predisposed Predisposed Say that five times as a tongue twister.

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Predisposed to embrace challenges, to persist in the face of setbacks, to see effort as a path to mastery, to learn from criticism, not shrink from it, and to find inspiration in others' success.

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Now, the classic example of this is kids watching another kid do something difficult, for example, kids playing on the monkey bars.

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One kid tries to go across the monkey bars and gets two or three bars down and falls.

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Well, everybody else is thinking that's going to happen to them.

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And then one kid has the strength, probably the upper body strength, a little bit stronger than the other kids, has the upper body strength to hold on all the way through all five, six, seven, eight monkey bars.

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And other kids see that and they say, hey, if he can do it or she can do it, why can't I do it?

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And then you begin to see how kids progress.

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In fact, let's go to the book to get the words from Carol herself about a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.

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Fascinating stuff here.

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For 20 years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.

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It can determine whether you become the person you want to be or whether you accomplish the things you value.

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How does this happen?

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How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?

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Later on we learn this, believing that your qualities are carved in stone.

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The fixed mindset creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.

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If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, a certain moral character, well then you'd better prove that you have a healthy dose of them.

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It simply wouldn't do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.

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So that's a fixed mindset.

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Now let's go on to the growth mindset.

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In this mindset, the hand you're dealt is just the starting point for development.

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The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.

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Although people may differ in every which way in their initial talents, aptitudes, interests and temperaments, everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

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And now for one last quote from Carol.

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Listen to this.

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It's startling to see the degree to which people with the fixed mindset do not believe in effort.

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They don't believe in effort.

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They don't believe in effort.

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Is that not heartbreaking?

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They don't believe their hard work and effort will be rewarded.

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It will work out, it will be justified.

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Gosh, that is indeed heartbreaking, but that's why I love this book so much.

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Again, because of this book is Carol Dweck's Mindset.

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It's a very, very powerful book for what it teaches us.

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Now let's hold that book in the back of our mind, because I want us to pivot quickly, because there's an equally powerful book written by Sonia Libomirsky.

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The how of Happiness is the title, and I believe we've covered this book before on the podcast.

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If so, I'll put notes in the.

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I'll put the link in the show notes of what podcast it is, but check this out.

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Let's go to Sonia's book.

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In a nutshell, the fountain of happiness can be found in how you behave, what you think and what goals you set every day of your life.

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There is no happiness without action.

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If feelings of passivity and futility overcome you whenever you face up to your happiness set point or to your circumstances.

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You must know that a genuine, abiding happiness is indeed within your reach, lying within the 40% of the happiness pie chart that's yours to guide.

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Okay, super quickly, sonia's research has found that most of us have a quote happiness set point, a sort of base level of happiness that we will eventually move up or move down to over the course of our lives, but it's pretty much fixed.

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That is Sonia's major point, that 50% is fixed.

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And here's where it gets good.

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She goes on to say there's another 10% of our happiness set point that is based on life's circumstances, and it seems like that would be a bigger percentage.

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But Sonia says the research just doesn't bear that out.

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And then what's left is the remarkable 40% she references.

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Let's go back to the book to hear about that 40%.

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What makes up this 40%?

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Besides our genes and the situations that we confront, there is one critical thing left our behavior.

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Thus, the key to happiness lies in not changing our genetic makeup, which is impossible, and not in changing our circumstances, seeking wealth or attractiveness or better colleagues, which is usually impractical, but in our daily, intentional activities.

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With this in mind, our pie chart illustrates the potential of the 40% that is within our ability to control the 40% for room to maneuver, for opportunities to increase or decrease our happiness levels through what we do in our daily lives and how we think.

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Holy smokes.

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Holy smokes is right 40% is essentially in our control.

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And why is that so cool?

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Because it's a different perspective from Carol Dweck's research.

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But but when you layer them both on top of each other, you begin to find the truth.

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Therein Is Carol Dweck's research saying that the growth mindset is perhaps part of this 40% that Libra Mirski is talking about.

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Boy, it seems an awful lot like it is.

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It seems like we're getting the truth from just a different perspective, a different angle.

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Again, here's Sonia's last part of her quote from the book.

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Let's grab that one more time.

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Here's Sonia's last part of her quote from the book.

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Let's grab that one more time.

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With this in mind, our pie chart illustrates the potential of the 40% that is within our ability to control the 40% for room to maneuver, for opportunities to increase or decrease our happiness levels through what we do in our daily lives and how we think.

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For how we think, how we think.

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That's just incredible when you combine both of their research in their books.

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Now, just one other book that I want to layer in.

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Tom Morris wrote a good book titled True Success A New Philosophy for Excellence.

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It's an oldie but goodie, written back in the 1990s.

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But he says this and check this out the happiest people in the world Are people who love what they're doing, regardless of whether wealth, fame, power or elevated social status ever come their way.

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The most fulfilled people are individuals who delight in their work, whatever it may be, and strive to do it well.

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Fantastic quote, fantastic quote.

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Now let's go back to Carol Dweck for one more item, because this is a golden nugget, especially as we are trying to put these building blocks in to our lives, to build that flourishing life.

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Let's remember this quote.

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Going back to the book, the growth-minded athletes, ceos, musicians and scientists all loved what they did, whereas many of the fixed mindset ones did not.

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Many growth-minded people didn't even plan to go to the top.

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They got there as a result of doing what they love.

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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 byproduct of their enthusiasm for what they do.

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This point is also crucial.

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In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome.

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If you fail or if you're not the best, it's all been wasted.

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The growth mindset allows people to value what they're doing regardless of the outcome.

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Fantastic, fantastic research from Carol Dweck.

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So in today's Mojo Minute DeWeck.

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So in today's Mojo Minute, getting a little excited here, if you believe you have a fixed mindset, your mindset can change.

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It will take some work, but I would recommend starting with Carol's book because it's a primer to starting that very change itself.

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Now, if you believe you have a growth mindset, you have to keep nourishing your mind, like watering and cultivating a garden.

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You just don't plant the flowers and let them die by not giving them any water.

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You have to water the plants got to water the flowers in the garden, and when you do, you will know that between a growth mindset and the 40% from the how of happiness that we learned about from Sonia, between both, both of those golden nuggets of mindset, wisdom, those will help us to put another brick in our foundation and that's building a foundation for a flourishing life.

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And that, my friends, is very, very exciting.

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Sky's the limit Now for now, let's keep fighting the good fight and we'll see you next time.

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Thank you for joining us.

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We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

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Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

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Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.

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Thank you.

MM#356-- Foundations in Flourishing, pt.3 - Mindset

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