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I bought a copy of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck based on the recommendation of a friend. I'm also reading a PDF called The Talent Myth.

The former talks about how people tend to be either of a "Fixed Mindset" or a "Growth Mindset." The author posits that you can change from one to the other, but she offers an interesting experiment.

Some little kids were given some easy puzzles. When they completed them, they were asked if they wanted to try a harder puzzle or complete the same puzzle again.

The "Fixed Mindset" kids kept playing with the easy puzzles. The "Growth Mindset" kids acted like the person was stupid for asking if they'd like to play with a puzzle they'd already solved, and many made comments about how they loved the challenge or wanted to know what the puzzles were called so their parents could buy them for them when they ran out.

This coincides a bit with The Talent Code. Kids were praised for either "working hard" or for "being smart," and the kids who were praised for working hard kept working hard, while the "smart" kids simply avoided anything where they might fail at appearing smart.

I'm looking forward to reading this book.

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