Do I Really Think I Can Do Or Be What I Want? Or Have I Boxed Myself In?We can limit our opportunities by being too fixed in our mindsets. The ones who ultimately succeed believe in the word "yet", says Carol Dweck. When we think "if I could go back in life and change anything", it can be pretty easy to come up with a couple of things (or more). And that's fine, as long as we are not still hankering after the things on our list. We might have taken a college course, say, and quickly wished we had done something else. And despite wistfully gazing over at our peers doing XYZ for the duration, we did nothing about it. If, years later, we still find ourselves looking at certain types of people with a degree of envy, we need to ask ourselves this: What stopped us then? And what's stopping us now? The Work Of Carol Dweck Carol Dweck might argue it's a Fixed Mindset. Dweck, a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, is behind the psychological theory of Growth Mindsets. Based on her research, she says that what keeps us from growing as individuals is our belief that we can't be or do what we want. We hit a certain point and think we have reached our ceiling - or we think we were born with a limitation in the first place (or a number of them) and are lumbered with it/them for the rest of our lives. The Magic Word Is "Yet" Her TED Talk, "The Power of Yet" (below), delves into her findings that the kinds of kids who actually do well at school aren't necessarily naturally gifted at anything - they just take joy in challenges and, crucially, believe they can get better at things. It is something we could all do well to remember. Perhaps we just haven't quite got to wherever we want... yet. There Isn't A "Growth Mindset Type" And, reassuringly, in an interview with ANZ, she points out that there isn't any particular kind of person who is blessed all round with this kind of thinking. There isn't a "Growth Mindset Type" per se. All of us can be optimistic about our abilities and ambitions in some areas yet crushingly pessimistic in others, she says. And she advises we would do well to be aware of those areas of our life where we close off opportunities to ourselves in the mistaken belief we do not have what it takes to get there. It might be wise to keep that in mind next time we catch a "fit of the envies"...
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Barry Schwartz On Satisficing: When "Good Enough" Is Better Than "The Best"It's not giving up and it's not settling for second best. Why learning the art of being "satisficed" is key to decision-making & happiness Can "good enough" really ever be good enough? Your answer to that question will determine which of the following two categories you typically fall under: Maximiser or Satisficer (and yes, it is spelt that way). According to psychologist Barry Schwartz, a Maximiser wants the absolute best of everything. It has to be perfect, nothing less will do and all options must be exhausted before the holy-grail-of-whatever is finally found. While this might seem admirable - and in certain situations, it is - a Satisficer is often the one who actually wins out in the end, according to research. Satisficers Vs Maximisers A Satisficer has a clear idea of what they are looking for but will happily settle for the first option that meets their requirements. They make their decisions quicker (saving time), maintain higher levels of satisfaction with their choice, have fewer regrets and are less likely to compare themselves to others, leading to higher levels of happiness. Conversely, Maximisers might ultimately be more successful in life - including financially - but are less grateful for what they have. The issue is perpetual dissatisfaction, always wondering if there is something better out there that they have not yet discovered. Not surprisingly, people in this category can be prone to depression. Why We Need Satisficing Being satisficed with your lot, then, might be something worth considering, at least in the a short term. Getting tangled up in a quandry over every single decision can be frustrating, self-defeating and demoralising. It can also distract you from other things you can be getting on with and there is a lot of evidence to say you will come up with a "better idea" at a later point, anyway, if you switch off and walk away. And if that's not enough, practicing satisficing as a technique can be a nice way of confronting any perfectionist tendencies you might be secretly harbouring. So the next time you spend an innordinate amount of time internally anguishing over the ramifications of that decision you just took, then this might be just the thing for you.
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