Video Summary: The Power of belief — mindset and success | Eduardo Briceno

Eduardo Briceno highlighted what research said about it not just being hard work, focus and persistence that create success. He continued to say that these result from having what is known as ‘the growth mindset’.

Briceno then took an example of Josh Waitzkin, the chess international master and the subject of a movie called ‘Searching For Bobby Fischer’, who at the age of 21 took the challenge to master martial arts by applying the principles he used to succeed in chess in this new domain.

According to Waitzkin, the main thing that helped him in his success journey is losing his first national chess championship, which is something that helped him avoid the psychological trap of believing that he is special and smarter than other people.

He said, ‘The moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability, we will be brittle in the face of adversity.’

Briceno: Some people believe that their abilities and mentalities are fixed (the fixed mindset), while others -like Waitzkin – see them as qualities that can be developed (growth mindset). These two mindsets have been discovered by Stanford professor, Dr. Carol Dweck.

Briceno: Dr. Dweck discovered that these 2 mindsets lead to 2 very different sets of behaviors and results, and by applying a study on hundreds of 7th graders and tracking them for 2 years, she found that those who believed they can improve managed to increase their grades.

Briceno: If we have to fulfill our potential, we have to start realizing that we are not chained to our current capabilities. And that neuroscience shows that the brain is very malleable and that we can change our own ability to think and perform. (See Why should goals be measurable?)

Briceno: Many of the most accomplished people of our era were thought of by experts to have no future. Darwin, Lucielle Ball and Marcel Proust, but they like Mozart and Einstein, managed to build their abilities.

Briceno: By doing brain scans on people with different mindsets (fixed or growth) researchers found that people with fixed mindsets worry the most about how people will judge them, while those with a growth mindset focused the most on learning.

Briceno: People with fixed mindset see effort as a bad thing that only those of low capabilities need, while the opposite side believes that effort is what makes us smart and grow. (See How to build the entrepreneurial mindset?)