Carol Dweck's work on mindset offers wisdom for graduate students

1. Motivation Mondays.1:
The Importance of Mindset in PhD Work
“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born
different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people
who made themselves extraordinary.”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
To get started:
1. Is this your year to graduate? Raise
your “hand”
2. Is this your year to finish the first writing
and start collecting data? Tell us about
your research in the chat
3. Are you just starting out? In what field?
– tell us that too in the chat

2. Important Things To Remember…
1. We are not one mindset, likely we have different
areas of our lives which we approach from each.
2. We can work to change the mindset we work out of,
but it will take conscious effort.
Reference:
Dweck, C. S. (2008). Mindset : the new psychology of
success (Ballantine Books trade pbk. ed.). New York:
Ballantine Books.
“Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the
challenge and learn. Keep on going.”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of

3. What do we think, feel and how do we behave when we come up against
difficult situations? This is a key question for PhD/doctoral students
I believe ability can get you to the top,” says coach John
Wooden, “but it takes character to keep you there.… It’s
so easy to … begin thinking you can just ‘turn it on’
automatically, without proper preparation. It takes real
character to keep working as hard or even harder once
you’re there. When you read about an athlete or team
that wins over and over and over, remind yourself,
‘More than ability, they have character.' ”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of
Success
Is your natural inclination to:
1. Think that proves you are an imposter? Or that you will “never get this?”
2. Pick yourself up, and think that failure is just a step to success?
3. Some of both? / Depends….?

4. “the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead
your life.” “Effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into
accomplishment.”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success
The growth mindset:
1. You can accomplish what you put your mind to.
2. If others have done it you can learn from them
3. Nothing in life is limited except that our thinking
makes it so.
4. Whether we believe we can, or not, we’re right, but
growth requires facing our shortcomings, risking
embarrassment and knowing we’ll come out the
other side.

5. “What on earth would make someone a nonlearner? Everyone is
born with an intense drive to learn. Infants stretch their skills
daily. Not just ordinary skills, but the most difficult tasks of a
lifetime, like learning to walk and talk. They never decide it’s
too hard or not worth the effort. Babies don’t worry about
making mistakes or humiliating themselves. They walk, they
fall, they get up. They just barge forward. What could put an
end to this exuberant learning? The fixed mindset. As soon as
children become able to evaluate themselves, some of them
become afraid of challenges. They become afraid of not being
smart. I have studied thousands of people from preschoolers
on, and it’s breathtaking how many reject an opportunity to
learn.”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success
The essence of the fixed mindset = I am born a certain way, and that’s the way it is

6. “IF, like those with the growth mindset, you believe you can develop yourself,
then you're open to accurate information about your current abilities, even it it's
unflattering. What's more, if you're oriented toward learning, as they are, you
need accurate information about your current abilities in order to learn
effectively”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

7. 1. Peer review is the issue here. It. Is set up for those with a growth mindset as true potential is unknowable with
time training and passion we can stretch those limits. Obviously a fixed mindset will make it hard to finish your phd.
2. Unfortunately one of the phd students I supervised, one who wrote a brilliant thesis evidently has a fixed mindset and
it is seriously hampering her ability to publish.
3. Growth minded people may arrive at the top because they love what they do. The fixed person seeks the top but
assumes that people are born there.
4. Back to my student, during her thesis work she only registered the comments from profs who were interested and
supportive of her work. After she finished however she sent off her work to both conferences and to publications.
5. She assumed she would sail there too and she didn't look into what was required by it and she got back dreadful
reviews. She caved. Not wanting to even try to do either again. In other words, if she couldn't excel instantly the
message was she wasn't good smart etc enough and she might as well give up.
6. No one love reviews. They are meant to be tough and they are never golden they wouldn't help our work getbetter if
they were positive. This student was really lucky that during her phd she had mosty positive outcomes. If she hadn't
she likely would have quit that too.
7. Fortunately she is surrounded by those pushing her on. But we can't always have that especially if we are the only ones
in our lives who have their PhDs Then it is even more important we plan how we are going to approach negative
comments and plan our way through. The growth mindset sees negative feedback as a challenge and creates more
strength. The main point is that with practice we can change our mind sets. If you feel yours is more fixed than you
would,Ike the maybe you want investigated wrecks work and this book
8. By planning how they would cope, Dweck advised we make a detailed plan of the when where and how of getting
something g done. It turns out that the plan makes it 85% that you'll get it done no matter whether. Or not you
come up against adversity.

8. Reflextions
Picture Yourself Working With Your Coach,
Supervisor -Or… In Your Defense, Viva…
 Positive Self Talk?
 I can learn from this…
 Of course they’ll make comments, I won’t take them
personally
 What else????
 Willingness to Ask for Deeper Probes When
the Feedback is Negative?
 Can you tell me more?
 I’m hearing you say ….. Are there other things I
should take into account?
 Does my work seem inconsistent to you?
 Is my academic writing up to standard?
 ????? What other questions can you ask?

9. Importance for
Children
• Success“So what should we say
when children complete a task—
say, math problems—quickly and
perfectly? Should we deny them
the praise they have earned? Yes.
When this happens, I say,
“Whoops. I guess that was too
easy. I apologize for wasting your
time. Let’s do something you can
really learn from!”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The
New Psychology of Success
•Best to instill the desire
to work hard and grow

10. And keep working on growth. With that Dweck research has shown our
potential is if not limitless at least unbounded.
So when we take the Dweck research
onboard we plan for what we will do in
steps – big steps, which may fail, but
from which we know what we want to
learn.
Want to Do An Exercise?
1) Build a smart goal
2) Take it apart into steps
3) Plan each like you will fail
4) Plan what you can do to push
harder, what about yourself
you can learn to improve

11. New Site!
Complete set up to
success for PhD
graduation…
1) Phases, Milestones and
Maps – all synced and
easy to follow the
process
2) Automations for design
and writing
3) Groups online and in
webinars
4) Coaching when you
need it
5) Publishing Help for Post
Docs

12. Lots of Ways to Benefit from
Our Work…
1. Blog
2. Facebook
3. Twitter
4. Link to Mindset self test
Put your email in the chat if you want these
slides and I’ll put all the live links in this page