Growth Mindset : Unlocking Potential
EPISODE 34
In this episode of the Moonshots Master Series, hosts Mike and Mark embark on a profound exploration of the Growth Mindset, unraveling its transformative power and practical applications. Join them as they dissect key insights from luminaries across various domains, paving the way for personal and professional evolution.
Episode Highlights:
1. The Power of Neuroplasticity (3m19) Andrew Huberman and Dr. David Yeager kick off the episode by shedding light on the core tenets of the Growth Mindset. They illuminate the fascinating concept of neuroplasticity, revealing how our brains possess the remarkable ability to change and adapt through deliberate effort and practice.
2. The Learn-It-All Philosophy (3m52) Drawing inspiration from Satya Nadella's wisdom, the hosts delve into the significance of maintaining humility and a perpetual thirst for knowledge. Discover how adopting a 'Learn-It-All' mindset fosters continuous growth and resilience, propelling individuals towards success and fulfillment.
3. Embracing Adversity (2m34) Jocko delivers a poignant reading from "The Obstacle Is The Way," emphasizing the transformative potential of confronting challenges. Explore how embracing adversity catalyzes personal growth, enabling individuals to transcend limitations and forge new paths toward success.
4. Cultivating a Challenge-Seeking Behavior (3m04) In the concluding segment, Carol Dweck imparts invaluable advice on fostering a mindset primed for growth. Discover the transformative power of embracing challenges with enthusiasm and tenacity, paving the way for continuous learning and self-improvement.
Conclusion: As the episode draws close, listeners are invited to reflect on the guests' profound insights. From embracing adversity to fostering a relentless pursuit of knowledge, the Growth Mindset emerges as a guiding principle for unlocking one's full potential and navigating the complexities of life with resilience and determination.
Tune in to the Moonshots Master Series: Growth Mindset no. 34, and embark on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment, where obstacles become opportunities and setbacks pave the way for growth.
Transcript
00:00:02:00 - 00:00:31:11
Unknown
Hello and welcome to the Moon Shots Master series. It's episode 34. I'm your co-host, Mike Parsons, and as always, I'm joined by the man himself, Mr. Mark Pearson. Freeland. Good morning. Mark. Hey, good morning Mike, and good morning, members and subscribers. Boy, Mike. We've got yet another action packed, glorious, life affirming, but also inspiring and practical episode on the master series today.
00:00:31:12 - 00:00:55:15
Unknown
Don't we? Yes, it is rather fully featured, Mark, and it's a big one. So I'll let you do the honors of introducing one of our favorite topics. It is one of our favorite topics, and it's a topic that I know our subscribers and our members also have an affinity and an absolute desire to lean into. And that, Mike, is the topic, the theme and the concept of growth mindset.
00:00:55:15 - 00:01:25:22
Unknown
Growth mindset being an idea and an approach and a behavior, even a habit that we've discussed on the master series before. But Mike deserves yet, I think, a deeper dive. We want to do a little bit of due diligence and justice, I think, towards this concept in this theme, because I know that all of us, when we do start interacting and understanding the value of growth mindset, and this is certainly true for me, it really captures your attention.
00:01:25:22 - 00:01:49:24
Unknown
You suddenly can see everything in the matrix. You start to understand and this is the way forward. This is how I can get better. This is how I maybe can succeed. So I think maybe I'm overselling it a little bit. And I think hopefully when we get into the clips, you'll probably agree, as will our members. But Mike, I'd say that growth mindset is really one of the secrets to great success, don't you think?
00:01:50:01 - 00:02:40:15
Unknown
I will take it a step further. Let's turn it up to volume 11. I say, like, if we have discovered anything in the 250 plus episodes of The Moonshots podcast, what we're bringing to the Moonshot Master series today is the single greatest consistent theme amongst success in the sports field in business, academia, publishing, thinking. Wherever we go, we invariably discover that the person who is succeeding and thriving has a growth mindset, and this is more frequent than any other mindset, pattern, or habit.
00:02:40:17 - 00:03:13:18
Unknown
It is this idea that truly defines the great moonshots heroes, stars, heroines. It is the it's the growth mindset and it blows me away how important this is as a signal that we've found from our research and our study. But also personally, when I discovered that it's not talent that wins, it's persist, it's that wins. It's not inspiration, it's perspiration.
00:03:13:20 - 00:03:42:07
Unknown
Wherever you go. I have discovered that the ability to continuously learn and challenge myself and embrace discomfort is at the very beating heart of how I want to live. It's how successful people that we have studied live, and it was one of the greatest blockers in my life until I and screaming into this idea of a growth mindset, I was scared of failure.
00:03:42:07 - 00:04:02:22
Unknown
I was scared of uncertainty and therefore would not fully commit to things for fear of that failure. Whereas with growth mindset says, hey, you should always be learning, you should be getting uncomfortable, you should be learning from your failures, you should be enhancing. You know, so much of the good things in my life have come from this mindset.
00:04:02:24 - 00:04:32:17
Unknown
So I, you and I went to transport transmit this secret that we've discovered because it's everywhere in ourselves, Mark, in the sense that we do in over 250 shows, almost all of them have a narrative around growth mindset, so our members deserve to know about it. I can't wait to unleash the growth mindset. Oh, Mike, I think that was the perfect setup into this topic that we're going to dive in on episode 34.
00:04:32:19 - 00:04:53:17
Unknown
So I reckon, Mike, with your permission, let's jump straight into that first clip to whet this appetite and help our members really appreciate exactly the passion that both of us have, and all of us at the moonshot family really have towards this mindset and this behavior. So we're going to kick off mike this show today with one of our moonshot favorites, Doctor Andrew Huberman.
00:04:53:23 - 00:05:19:12
Unknown
An individual that I know for a fact is going to help all of us understand and really present this idea with great mindset today we're going to hear from Huberman chatting to David Yeager, Doctor David Yeager, author of 10 to 25. He's going to talk to us a little bit about the concepts of mindsets. Let's build up a bit of a foundation so that you and I can make our case, because the real foundation that all of our members need to remember is that all of our brains can change.
00:05:19:14 - 00:05:42:04
Unknown
Can you tell us your definition of growth mindset? I think most people have heard of it. They have some sense of what it is. But you've worked very intensely on growth mindset for a number of years. So I'd love to know how you define it. Yeah. So it's it's simply the belief that your abilities are your potential in some domain can change.
00:05:42:06 - 00:06:10:12
Unknown
a huge confusion as people think. It means if you try hard, then you can do anything. But that's not really the idea. It's simply that under the right conditions, with the right support, change is possible. And you know that ends up being a pretty powerful idea because the opposite is so stressful, right? The idea that you are static, nothing about you can change is is really kind of stressful idea.
00:06:10:14 - 00:06:39:23
Unknown
Of all the studies on growth mindset, including yours ones that you've participated in, what 1 or 2 kind of high level results, stand out to you as the most striking, surprising, exciting or meaningful. And here I will encourage you to discard with attribution. We know that, or everyone should know that Carol Dweck is the originator of the growth mindset idea.
00:06:40:00 - 00:07:16:22
Unknown
as a field. And she deserves, tremendous credit for that. So, yeah. so when you stand back from the field, given that it's, it's mushroomed into this very large field now and you look at the research which results kind of stand out as like, wow, that's really cool, really meaningful. People should know about that. What stands out to me a lot, first of all, is just the field experiments that the idea that you can distill a complex idea about the brain, about malleability, you can give it to a young person at a time when they're vulnerable and that that can give them hope, and then they can do better at school or whatever.
00:07:16:24 - 00:07:41:03
Unknown
So our 2019 paper in nature, that Carol, Greg Walton, Angela Duckworth, a lot of us collaborated on took a very short growth mindset intervention two sessions, about 25 minutes each for ninth graders. And we found kids were eight, nine months later more likely to get good grades, by 10th grade, more likely to be in the hard math classes.
00:07:41:05 - 00:08:06:10
Unknown
And the unpublished results find effects for years later on graduating high school with college ready courses from short intervention that happened. You know, just 1 or 2 times, no reinforcement. So that there's a lot of reasons why that's true. That sounds magical and and outrageous. And there are a lot of mechanisms, but that just demonstrates the overall value of the phenomenon.
00:08:06:15 - 00:08:26:13
Unknown
And we in that study, we did everything we possibly could to address legitimate skepticism. Right. Are we collecting and processing the data in ways that could bias it? No. Third party is it. Are we handpicking schools where you could get the best effects? No random sample of schools? Did we post hoc decide on the analyzes that would make the results look the greatest?
00:08:26:13 - 00:09:07:23
Unknown
Now pre-registered. So that's a good like okay, this phenomenon is not something that falls apart in the hands of anyone else besides a select few researchers. Boy, I just want to repeat the pattern of what they did in that research. They did two sessions of 25 minutes with grade nine and ten students, and they could track meaningful upside for years later, still from 2 to 25 minute sessions that they were graduating with grade degrees, etc..
00:09:08:00 - 00:09:42:20
Unknown
This think of anything in life that you only did once and has such profound income. Yeah, outcome that. That's crazy. What was really cool is he also mentioned a, of course, Carol Dweck, who we're going to hear from in this show, the Queen of growth mindset. but also, Angela Duckworth, who we studied her book grit, where she studied, students at the military school in the US and found that basically, growth mindset was the distinguishing factor between those succeeding, those who didn't.
00:09:43:00 - 00:10:08:18
Unknown
And it was not talent. it was the capacity to grow a growth mindset. Now, the crucial thing here is we heard about just one study that has been done, growth. Growth mindsets had a lot of studies done on it now. But we only had just one there. And it is so relatable because I was such an idiot in U9 in year ten.
00:10:08:20 - 00:10:56:03
Unknown
If someone had sat me down and said, you do not have to fear discomfort, you don't have to run away from it. When challenges come, turn them into opportunities. If I had had that, I cannot begin to tell you. There is a litany of things that I abandoned because I had a fixed mindset. Yeah, and this is something that puts me on a bit of a mission to introduce to as many people as possible as early as possible, to actually understand what a growth mindset is, because it reshapes your fears and doubts, which are all preventing you from being the best version of yourself.
00:10:56:05 - 00:11:27:14
Unknown
Yeah, I believe, Mike, that when we first of all have heard from those favorite moonshot individuals like Angela, as well as obviously Carol, not only I think are we starting to now really make that case, but I completely agree. Your personal experience is similar to mine. I was listening to, you know, Doctor Yeager and Andrew chatting just then thinking, why didn't I know this when I was younger?
00:11:27:16 - 00:11:57:14
Unknown
Because there's a lot of time. And this reminds me of the Jensen show that we did on the moonshots podcast as well. This I do have an expectation now. For me, I think expectation really did influence my ego, influenced my decision making, probably at certain points within my career, certainly when I was younger. But when growth mindset on the idea of leaning into discomfort, obstacle is the way we're going to hear a little wink and a head nod for our members.
00:11:57:14 - 00:12:14:22
Unknown
We're going to come back to that in a little bit of time later in the show. But once we understood, once I understood that change was possible and that I was in control of it, and I would see improvements in myself and my general behavior if I was to lean into that same thing, I would be doing this.
00:12:15:03 - 00:12:40:06
Unknown
I would have been doing this straight away, but I did not appreciate it. And I think it's so wonderful that now all these studies are taking place, that we can start to be inspired and lean into this type of work going forward. Yeah. It is what what an exciting idea. I think the only idea I think that can challenge it would be, the official, member trumpets that have become very famous.
00:12:40:06 - 00:13:07:06
Unknown
Mark. So I think it's only appropriate that we tip the hat to our very, very dear and loyal members. Yes, I think you're totally right, Mike. Individuals that we know for a fact are leaning in towards this idea of growth mindset include Paul, Bob, Ken, Dietmar, Marge, Ancona, Lisa, Sid and Mr. Bonjour, Paul, Berg, Kalman, Joe, Christian, Samuel, Barbara, Deborah and Lassie, Steve, Craig, Ravi, Yvette, Raul, Nicole.
00:13:07:12 - 00:13:34:05
Unknown
Ingram, Dirk. Van cutter, Marco. Jet. Roger and Steph, raw. Nim. Alan. Diana. Christophe. Dennis. Smitty. Corey. Diana. Daniela. Sorry. And Mike. Well done guys. All of you are into our annual member club and beyond holding those heroes Antonio, Zachary, Austin and Fred, Jez, Ola, Andy, Diana, Margie and Chris and our brand new members Ron and Jasper. High five to you guys.
00:13:34:05 - 00:13:58:15
Unknown
Welcome in to the Moonshot Master Series. We're so glad to have you with us. And we really hope you're getting inspired. And we're making the case for this idea around growth mindset being a habit that I think we can all foster. Yeah. So tip of the hat, to all of our members. And we really, very appreciative of your support.
00:13:58:15 - 00:14:20:23
Unknown
And, it really goes a long way to us, you know, putting out regular shows and all of the Mac, as you well know, there's all these hidden costs. You have to pay money to Adobe, then the hosting company, then the analytics company, then this tool, then that tool. It doesn't end. And it's thanks to your support that we can put out this show.
00:14:20:23 - 00:14:45:04
Unknown
Every single month for the master series and every single week for the Moonshots podcast. And, as we go along that journey, we are learning a lot. And Mark, we're going to go to one of the greatest exponents, one of the greatest case studies of a growth mindset, because he didn't only change his own fortunes with the growth mindset, he did so with his family and he did it in the office.
00:14:45:04 - 00:15:11:15
Unknown
And he's got a couple 100,000 employees too. Yeah, that's right Mike. We are of course, talking about Satya Nadella over at Microsoft, who we know has seen incredible success in all of those realms you just mentioned. And I believe, Mike, you're quite right. The secret to that is his ability to not only remain grounded, as you can see in this next clip, but also appreciate the fact that the learn it all does it best.
00:15:11:17 - 00:15:27:22
Unknown
There's a big theme for you. It runs through your book. It runs through a lot of your comments today, and that's culture change. A lot of CEOs at Davos talk about culture change. You've made it pretty central in your five years at Microsoft. And I think it's widely seen that you have, really changed the culture in some ways.
00:15:27:22 - 00:15:54:08
Unknown
Can you give us three concrete examples of things you did that you really see playing out, on the ground in ways that have been transformative? I innately recognize one thing which is, as a mere mortal CEO taking over from Steve, who may not have been a founder but had founder status and after obviously after Bill and Steve, for them, culture and mission were all implicit.
00:15:54:08 - 00:16:18:02
Unknown
After all, they created Microsoft. They grew it from nothing to what it had become. So I realized that, you know, there's no way I'm going to fill those shoes. And I needed to make both that sense of purpose and mission and culture, something that is first class that I talked about. Everyone inside the company were having a conversation about these two, but also yours.
00:16:18:02 - 00:16:38:12
Unknown
I mean, you have to respect theirs, but make it yours. That is correct. and the thing that we picked. So one of the thing I went on this big quest of what should be the handle again, everybody. How should we even make this conversation? first class? How do we even create a meme around which we can bring people together?
00:16:38:12 - 00:16:57:07
Unknown
So, in fact, it was my wife who introduced me to this book, called mindset by Carol Dweck, which I'd read maybe multiple years, before I became CEO, more in the context of our children's education. And they're in she captures what to me is one of the more biggest insights in life, which is to say, take two kids in school.
00:16:57:07 - 00:17:13:08
Unknown
One of them has a lot of innate capability, and the other one has led innate, less innate capability. But the person who has less innate capabilities to learn it all, and the person who has more innate capabilities and know it all. We know how that story ends. They learn it all does better than they know it all. And I said, God, this is powerful.
00:17:13:08 - 00:17:35:24
Unknown
This applies to me as much as anybody else. And so I said, I got to become a learn it all. and I said, then, you know, it applies to us as a, as a company. So we took this growth mindset me and adopted it, and we put some real structure. There is things around inclusivity. And do you have managers you have mandatory training on some of.
00:17:36:00 - 00:18:03:19
Unknown
Yes. So we adopted. But I'll come to the sort of the real crux of we have customer obsession and, you know, diversity and inclusion. And one Microsoft is the three pillars in this training and all of us go through it. But I don't think this would have worked if it was considered new dogma from a new CEO, if it was all about me somehow having read one book and sprung it on people, then I think it would have gotten rejected.
00:18:03:19 - 00:18:23:04
Unknown
I think the reason why it has picked up steam and it's grounded is twofold. One is we framed it not as sort of a one time transformation, but a continuous process of renewal. Sometimes even people that come at Microsoft me and say, Satya, we found the five people who don't have a growth mindset. And I say, look, that's not the point.
00:18:23:06 - 00:18:45:07
Unknown
The point is for me to confront my fixed mindset and be comfortable. in that every day. And so that's helped because we never sort of claim victory. And it's about individuals pushing themselves. The second thing, though, is I think it speaks to us as human beings. It's again, as I said, not corporate dogma. It makes us better parents.
00:18:45:09 - 00:19:09:04
Unknown
It makes us better coworkers. It makes us better leaders. So it speaks to, I think, what is, you know, all of us seek in life. and that's the reason why I think that cultural transformation, at least at Microsoft, seems to be working. Oh, boy. Marky Mark, have we seen things? I mean, no, it over it is learn it all.
00:19:09:04 - 00:19:36:14
Unknown
It's so well said. Yeah. I think the first thing that I want to point out for us to consider is that he didn't say, this is one of the biggest business lessons. I don't know if you caught it, but he said, this is one of life's biggest lessons. Yeah, yeah. And you'll notice that they were using the same idea not for work, but for the kids and how they want to instruct their kids.
00:19:36:16 - 00:20:02:04
Unknown
Yeah, that's what I wrote down to write what to reveal. So when I was getting all fired up at the beginning saying, hey, this is huge for me personally, I'm not messing around. And listen, if our members don't believe me, Satya Nadella is saying exactly the same thing. The fact that he can apply it with his children, in his family, in his home and in the office, this is so powerful.
00:20:02:06 - 00:20:29:12
Unknown
And I think at the heart of things is he juxtaposed it with a fixed mindset. And what I'd love to do, Mark, is share with you and all of our members this great. It's very simple diagram, and I'll put it up here for us, and I'll shrink it here so we can have a good look at it. But this really compares the two mindsets, right.
00:20:29:14 - 00:20:52:15
Unknown
So for those of you that are watching this you can see it. But if you're listening we'll talk it out a little bit. But I think this is where we can get into defining it and talking about what it is and what it is not. So this first idea is that I can learn anything I want to. That's a growth mindset, whereas a fixed mindset is I'm either good at it or I'm not.
00:20:52:17 - 00:21:14:20
Unknown
Right. And this is really important because a lot of people say oh I could never do that. Right. It's the easiest excuse isn't it. It's a very handy but also quite distracting ability to say, you know what, somebody else is better at it. it's not in my capacity. Absolutely. So this is like the foundation.
00:21:14:20 - 00:21:37:04
Unknown
What's the next one on the on the growth mindset list? May. Well, when the growth mindset. So you can see on the left hand side when I'm frustrated I persevere. Whereas more of a fixed mindset would be when I'm frustrated I give up. That's it. Gosh that one applied to me. Oh my gosh, that's all. Yeah, yeah. here's the next one.
00:21:37:04 - 00:22:00:11
Unknown
I want to challenge myself to a growth mindset. And what's on the other side might look fixed mindset. Traditionally I don't like to be challenged. Nope. I prefer that slightly easier route. When I fail, I learn that's a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. When I fail, I am no good. Okay, we should pause on that one. That one's a huge one.
00:22:00:13 - 00:22:25:19
Unknown
A lot of people immediately associate shame with failure. Yeah, big time big time. It and and you know, it's one of those things, Mike, that really distracts you and hits you off course, doesn't it. You know, regardless of whether things, succeed at work or not, whenever I've had maybe a tough, challenging project, I'll often think, oh, I'm not very good at this.
00:22:25:19 - 00:22:46:11
Unknown
Maybe I'm not very good at my job. Maybe this business isn't for me. Yes, maybe the industry is wrong. So you can really extrapolate, can't you? You can dig a hole. It's like a dream, right? But here's the thing, though. Isn't it interesting when we've got over ourselves a bit in those situations, we can look back perhaps a year or two later and go, actually, that was really good for me.
00:22:46:13 - 00:23:04:15
Unknown
Yeah. So if you can just remember that that's what always happens in the end and then bring that forward into the moment and say, hey, when I'm fail, I'm learning. This is good. You know, Jeff Bezos has his famous, sayings and ideas around, like, if you're not pissing people off and making mistakes, then you're not. You're not trying hard enough.
00:23:04:17 - 00:23:30:08
Unknown
Yeah, right. Yeah. Okay, here's the next couple of, growth mindset ones. tell me I try hard. And what's a fixed mindset? Tell me I'm smart, right? Prove my intelligence. Yeah, rather than my desire. Yeah. And, another growth mindset is if you succeed, if you succeed, I'm inspired. Whereas a fixed mindset would be if you succeed, I feel threatened.
00:23:30:08 - 00:23:56:14
Unknown
Oh, that's the one. That's an untold puppy syndrome. Yep. really tearing down others and their success. You can even use this with competitors. For example, if someone is successful in a company or service similar to yours, you can say, well, that's validating that there's a market there, and I'm sure this world's big enough for two, right? As opposed to, oh my gosh, we're in huge trouble, right?
00:23:56:16 - 00:24:42:01
Unknown
And here's the last one. My effort in attitude determined everything. You. Oh I like that. Yeah. And what's the fixed mindset man. The exact opposite. Like my abilities determine everything. My abilities i.e. skills, intelligence. This cell on talent. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the funny thing is, like when you look at the stories of Elon sleeping on the office floor, on Michael Jordan being the first and last to Einstein obsessing about equals MC squared for decades before he got it for decades.
00:24:42:06 - 00:25:16:10
Unknown
Thomas Edison 10,000 light bulb tries right. Dyson that is thousands of prototypes. Effort and attitude determine everything I like. That's the line isn't it. Effort and attitude equals everything. Mike. That's good. That's good stuff, isn't it? Yeah. Now we have mentioned Angela. Duckworth, we've mentioned Carol Dweck. We've mentioned David Goggins, Andrew Huberman, we've done shows on all of those on the regular moonshots podcast.
00:25:16:10 - 00:25:38:10
Unknown
Now, when one go, if they were looking to dig into that back catalog. Oh, well, you know what, Mike? A little bit like a growth mindset. I know that we can understand or learn anything if we go out and search for it. So what I'm encouraging all of our members who I know, understand where they can go and grab these great episodes.
00:25:38:12 - 00:26:04:14
Unknown
But just for a reminder for everyone, it's moonshots. Dot I o you can go and find all of our episodes or 255 of the regular moonshot show. Obviously you can get access and inspired yourself by the 34 episodes we've got from the master series over there. We've got transcripts, you've got learning materials, you've got all sorts of fun stuff over at moonshot, Dot IO.
00:26:04:16 - 00:26:30:12
Unknown
Now, the next thing that we've got coming up on this show is the collision by between two of our most favorite, favorite superstars. Let it rip. Yeah. That's right. If we've heard about Duckworth and we've heard about Carol, we're also about to hear from that Dan and, Jocko willing who might in this, pretty cool clip. It's actually reading from one of our other favorites, Ryan Holiday, and his book, The Obstacle Is the Way.
00:26:30:12 - 00:26:56:11
Unknown
So without further ado, let's hear from Jocko. Tell us a little bit about how life is all about growth and the way in the year 170 at night, in his tent on the front lines of the war in Germania, Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of the Roman Empire, sat down to write. Or perhaps it was before dawn at the palace in Rome, or he stole a few seconds to himself during the games, ignoring the carnage on the floor of the Colosseum below.
00:26:56:17 - 00:27:23:13
Unknown
The exact location is not important. What matters is that this man, known today as the last of the Five Good Emperors, sat down to write, not to an audience for publication, but to himself, for himself. And what he wrote is undoubtedly one of history's most effective formulas for overcoming every negative situation we may encounter in life. A formula for thriving not just in spite of whatever happens, but because of it.
00:27:23:15 - 00:27:46:16
Unknown
At that moment, he wrote only a paragraph, only a little of it was original. Almost every thought could, in some form or another, be found in the writings of his mentors and idols. But in a scant 85 words, Marcus Aurelius so clearly defined and articulated a timeless idea that he eclipses the great names of those who came before him, is more than enough for us.
00:27:46:18 - 00:28:24:17
Unknown
Quote. Our actions may be impeded, but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes. The obstacle to our acting. And then he concluded with the powerful words destined for maxim, quote, the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way, in Marcus's words, the secret to an art unknown as turning obstacles upside down to act with a reverse clause.
00:28:24:17 - 00:28:53:13
Unknown
So there's always a way out or another route to get where you need to go, so that setbacks or problems are always expected and never permanent, making certain that what impedes us can empower us. There are a few things to keep in mind when faced with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. We must try to be objective, to control emotions and keep an even keel, to choose to see the good in a situation, to steady our nerves, to ignore what disturbs or limits others, to place things in perspective.
00:28:53:13 - 00:29:20:03
Unknown
To revert to the present moment. To focus on what can be controlled. This is how you see opportunity within the obstacle. It does not happen on its own. It is a process, one that results from self-discipline and logic, and that logic is available to you. You just need to deploy it. The obstacle is the way, right? I mean, how cool is that holiday and willing all mixed up.
00:29:20:03 - 00:29:51:11
Unknown
Yeah. Ready team up. That is just just a special one for us. So you know, we were armed in the previous clip with this idea of fixed versus growth mindset, you could almost see this next idea that we just got from Yoko and from Ryan is about where do we point that energy? Like if, if that was the how in the growth versus fixed, this is really the direction, you know, what are we doing?
00:29:51:11 - 00:30:22:23
Unknown
Which direction are we going. And. What, what what is so important is if you're working out physically and it's starting to be a bit of an obstacle, it's like aching, hurting. It's it's hard right. Then it's actually doing good for you. if you read a book and they're presenting an idea and you're like hang on a second, I don't get this.
00:30:23:00 - 00:31:03:22
Unknown
This is, this is hard right. That's good. If you're starting a business and it's not easy. Well that's good because if it was easy everybody would be doing it right. Yeah, exactly. You wouldn't have anything special. I think if we turn obstacles and challenges such as competition, hardship, lack of resources, lack of time, and we don't make excuses, we don't indulge victim like thinking, but rather we say, okay, cool.
00:31:03:24 - 00:31:26:11
Unknown
It's getting tough right now. I'm going up a hill. I'm going up the metaphoric hill. And it the lactic acid is in my entrepreneurial legs. Right? And you don't stop running just because it's a hill. Because, you know, on the other side of the hill there's a nice dip in. It's oh, we were in a way we go, we just got to get to the top of the hill because there's like every, every hill, every mountain has a peak.
00:31:26:13 - 00:31:41:01
Unknown
And you go up one side and come down the other, right. Yeah. Yeah. And while it kind of sucks at the time when you're climbing, when you're on the plateau or you're in the valley or somewhere else and you look back at them out in the night, I did that. That's pretty cool. I got something to put in the David Goggins cookie jar.
00:31:41:01 - 00:32:19:16
Unknown
Right. My thing is here, what we are presented with is a case like if Ryan Holiday and Yoko is saying hey at the obstacles away, if Marcus Aurelius is saying if Sinclair and all the Stoics are saying it Harold Dweck, Angela Duckworth. If we can be a little bit objective and detached when we see the hardship coming our way, the obstacles coming our way, and we just go right, and we just change our attitude and say, I'm not going to run from it, I'm going to do the best job I can.
00:32:19:18 - 00:32:38:09
Unknown
It's a big mountain, so I'll take it one step at a time, right? just one step at a time and almost no, like, I don't know, want to go up that mountain, but like, I'll put that in the back in the parking lot for now. Just focus on taking one good step at a time, one good breath at a time.
00:32:38:11 - 00:33:05:23
Unknown
Spirit of rhythm. Okay. And you'll be amazed at what you can sustain and achieve over time. to me, right now, where there's a little bit this thing where everybody wants a special condition, everybody thinks they're entitled to things. and what we have to remember is that life is the greatest challenge that we're going to face, right?
00:33:06:00 - 00:33:42:17
Unknown
Life is going to throw up some crazy stuff. Mark. Guaranteed. And you know what? If it's anything that is an absolute guaranteed fact in life is that mistakes will happen, problems will happen, unexpected challenges will happen. Yeah. And you just got to go. All right. This challenge is presented to me for a reason. Sometimes I might not even see the reason, but the reason why I draw this line between whether you're working out, trying to learn something new, or starting a business or running up a hill, the pattern is the same.
00:33:42:19 - 00:34:10:11
Unknown
Yeah, we know that hardships coming our way. And how good is it feel when you do that swim? That's a bit longer. When you run that hill, it's a bit higher. Or you try and figure out this whole new model of framework. It's so damn rewarding, right? So you change your perspective when you see them coming. You see all the obstacles coming away and you're like, okay, this is not totally insanity.
00:34:10:11 - 00:34:32:17
Unknown
Impossible. It's how I and that's okay. I mean, half of the stresses, the worry about the obstacle that's coming rather than the obstacle, you know what I mean? Big time. Yeah, yeah, there's there's three kind of key areas that stand out to me from hearing that clip from Yoko reading out the obstacle as a way, as well as some of the things you've just been reflecting on as well.
00:34:32:17 - 00:34:57:14
Unknown
Mike, the first one is that nothing's permanent. You know, I think once you realize that it's it's a real, mind opener, I suppose you could say, because once I realized, you know, the good stuff isn't always permanent. You know, it will hang around for a little bit of time if I allow it to. But also, it is inevitable that life is going to throw some curveballs and it's going to get a little bit tricky.
00:34:57:16 - 00:35:18:06
Unknown
It's going to be some uphills along the way. But remember is exactly as you point out, nothing's permanent. So that stress that you feel, that anxiety that you might have, whether it's a job or fitness or whatever, it might be a life situation, those things do pass. And that leads me on to the next insight that I certainly picked up.
00:35:18:06 - 00:35:46:10
Unknown
And that's the adaptability. You know, Marcus is really is his words. Your brain will get better and, be malleable, based on the thing that you were running into. Yes. Which means, in my mind, the next time I run into a situation that's somewhat similar, maybe it's even worse than the first time. I'm a little bit stronger because my brain and my patience and my ability to cope with it, because it's malleable and adapting is that much stronger.
00:35:46:10 - 00:36:22:03
Unknown
If something gives me that little bit of reassurance. Absolutely. the, the, the, it's almost like. Unless you reconfigure yourself and say, hey, like tough times or good times, if you until you get there, you're always inclined to quit, stop, pause, or make an excuse or be a victim or cut corners. And I think, the takeaway here for our listeners is just start with, okay, life is the greatest competitive.
00:36:22:03 - 00:36:41:18
Unknown
We're going to face it. And that's okay, because if we meet that challenge, we're going to be stronger and better for the next day. But hey Mark, this would not be a growth mindset. Show if we didn't go to the first lady of growth mindset. That's right. We have our president coming up for us as our closing clip.
00:36:41:18 - 00:37:09:11
Unknown
Mike, we've heard lessons around persistence, resilience, the idea of being adaptable and malleable. But let's hear from Carol Dweck herself, who's going to give us some lasting advice on behaviors and what I think is the key takeaway today and how we should always take the challenge. What are some specific behaviors you can do to get yourself on the road to a growth mindset?
00:37:09:13 - 00:37:39:22
Unknown
Here are some ideas. So first, if you have a choice of something, say, versus a challenge, take the challenge. If you hit an obstacle, try to interpret it in a growth mindset way. So what can I learn from this? What can I do next? As I mentioned before, if you see someone who's better than you, go learn from them.
00:37:39:24 - 00:38:15:18
Unknown
so those are a set of behaviors you can start doing in addition to, as I also mentioned before, monitoring those fixed mindset triggers. And the thing is that it's a journey that one is always on. It's not ever the case that you've arrived at a full, permanent growth mindset. It's something how that you have to, look at all the time because even I hear.
00:38:15:18 - 00:38:53:16
Unknown
So listen to that voice in your head at the trigger points, because even I hear myself saying sometimes in my head, I was never good at that. Whoa, what did I say that? So listen to the that voice. It's constantly running in your head. And I actually recommend that as a very, very first step. the first few weeks that you embark on this journey, don't push yourself to exhibit any growth mindset characteristics.
00:38:53:18 - 00:39:28:10
Unknown
Just listen to that voice that says, don't try this. You might look foolish. You made a mistake. If people knew that, they wouldn't look at you in the same way. that person's better than me. I hate them, just whatever that voice is saying in your head. Listen to it and even do it with friends. Discuss it. Or when you see someone doing something that looks effortless or you thinking, oh, they're just brilliant and talented, catch yourself thinking that.
00:39:28:11 - 00:40:00:04
Unknown
Or someone who's struggling. are you thinking, oh, they're not really good at that. Albert Einstein says, I, I'm not that smart. I'm not smarter than other people. And he meant it. You said I just stick to things longer. That's why people thought he was slow. Originally. He knew he didn't understand time, space, energy and so forth. So I would say the very first step is the first few weeks just listen to that fixed mindset voice.
00:40:00:04 - 00:40:25:13
Unknown
It's there. We all have it. And if you don't hear it, it will rule your behavior. Oh I here are the things that you our members together with Mark and I get to banish. So when you hear your mind saying I'm not good at this, that thought is gone. Right. Mark. Go. It's gone. When you say I give up.
00:40:25:15 - 00:41:01:22
Unknown
Gone. It's good enough. It's kind of good enough. Gone. I can't make this any better. Oh, definitely gone. Oh, this is too hot. Oh! Strike that. Oh, stupid me. I just made a mistake. Oh, ignore. Oh, I can never do this. No, I'll definitely reassess. Oh, I'll never be that smart. Oh, challenge yourself on, playing I didn't want, definitely banish that victim mentality.
00:41:01:24 - 00:41:28:07
Unknown
And here you go. This is the start of the journey. What? We are leaving you with our members is things to stop doing, to stop being fixed. What we have seen throughout all of our shows is we vastly underestimate our potential. One of the key things we're trying to do is limit those negative thoughts and start embracing a growth mindset.
00:41:28:09 - 00:41:53:06
Unknown
Oh wow. The job. Mark, where are you starting your homework? Where does this all begin for you? Look, I think this, closing clip from Carol actually, revealed quite a nice build, I think, to where we went with growth mindset, and that is to, make sure you get inspiration from others and maybe even if you notice others, you are leaning towards something that is maybe more fixed.
00:41:53:06 - 00:42:16:08
Unknown
Or let's give it a name of victim mentality, to help them. So I like the idea of growth mindset being something that you work on every single day. It's something that you keep on getting better at, but also something that you can share with others. What about you, Matilda? I like her idea. like, if you see someone doing something better than you, like, learn from them.
00:42:16:10 - 00:42:40:12
Unknown
Yeah. How good? Don't. Don't fall for the jealousy. just be like, good for them. Like, how can I do it like them? Which is essentially everything we're doing on this show where literally, just like Carol Dweck. Amazing. What can we learn from them? You know, but it's a superpower, isn't it? Yeah. Once you realize other people may have done this before and I can learn from them or it it'll save so much time.
00:42:40:17 - 00:43:05:12
Unknown
So, oh, so much work to do. But the first thing I'm going to do is say thank you to you, Max. Thank you for your help pulling together this Epic Shots Master series. And thank you to you, our members, joining us here for episode 34 of the Moonshot Masterclass, where we went deep into growth mindset. First, we learned from Huberman our brains can indeed change.
00:43:05:14 - 00:43:40:14
Unknown
Then we went to Mr. Nadella and he's like be a learn at all. Then, of all people. Yoko reads Ryan Holiday to tell us that the obstacle truly is the way. And we brought it home with this idea of always taking the challenges from the First Lady of a growth mindset is Carol Dweck. So this is everything we could want to give to share with you, our members, to help you on your way to being the very best you can be, to really realize what you can do in this world and leave a great legacy.
00:43:40:20 - 00:43:47:22
Unknown
Because that is indeed what we're all about here. On the Moonshots Master Series. That's a wrap.