Very Happy Phil

Are you a believer? Or
Are you a non-believer?

Are you wondering what the heck I’m talking about?! Well, despite what you may have guessed I am not talking about God (maybe next week!). I am interested to know whether you believe you can improve a skill or improve on knowledge.

What are you good at?
Can you walk?, talk, swim? Run? Read?

We never start out gifted and brilliant at anything (apart from automatic inborn skills like breathing and peeing!). We learn. We get better.

What 3 things do Michael Jordan, Jonny Wilkinson and Andy Murray have in common?
They WERE all RUBBISH!
(Andy’s mum told me so. Jonny and Michael got kicked out of teams as kids.)
They all BELIEVED they could improve!
They all became GREAT!

If you have read my book ‘Winning Mentality’ you know all this already. I point out that some of our beliefs are false. I called them ‘santa claus beliefs’! We thought it was true until we found out crucial information (the truth!)

Surely we are all smart effort to be accurate about our beliefs. Wrong Do you know that MOST drivers (70%) think they are above average drivers!
Only 45% of drivers can be above average!
About 1% (or 10% at most) can be around average driving ability. 40% are below average!
So 30% of people (1 in 3) have a false belief about their driving!

Most kids (and adults!) have a fixed mindset. They believe when they are good at something its because they were ‘born talented’ in that skill. And when they are not good at something they believe they are ‘born untalented’ in that skill and they cannot learn it or improve it. This is a ‘ ‘Fixed’ (non believer) mindset and is a terrible mindset for a child or adult to have. Even kids that do well can soon ruin the rest of their lives/academic career by developing a fixed mindset!

What is the worst thing you can say to a child who has done well?

“Well done!”

Praising kids can have a damaging effect!

I will give you an example; Carol Dweck carried out a mindset research study; “We praised the children in one group for their intelligence, telling them, “Wow, that’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.” We praised the children in the other group for their effort: “Wow, that’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.” That’s all we did, but the results were dramatic.
The children praised for their intelligence lost their confidence as soon as the problems got more difficult. Now, as a group, they thought they weren't smart. They also lost their enjoyment, and, as a result, their performance plummeted. On the other hand, those praised for effort maintained their confidence, their motivation, and their performance. Actually, their performance improved over time such that, by the end, they were performing substantially better than the intelligence-praised children on this IQ test.

“Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?
“In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.

It's never too late to change your mindset. Mindsets are beliefs—powerful ones and ones that shape our motivation—but beliefs can be changed.

Children love the idea that their brain is like a muscle that gets stronger as they use it to learn. They also love the image of their brain forming new connections when they work hard and learn.”
-Prof. Carol Dweck

I will tell you a little story;
A keen piano player is in the audience of a concert and he witnesses a great performance by a fantastic piano player. At the end after the clapping and cheering has stopped he says, "Wow. What a talented piano player. I would give half my life to play like that". The piano player over hears the comment and reply’s, 'I did'.

"It doesn’t matter what he does he will never amount to anything." Teacher to Albert Einstein’s father! ( 1895 )

Your task this week: think of one thing you want to learn (e.g. winning mentality) or skill you want become great at (e.g. riding bike fast) and BELIEVE in yourself! Realise that you CAN.
Time. Effort. Practice. Good role models/teachers/coaches. And great learning methods.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes which inspire me;

“Can people with ‘fixed’ mindsets change to a ‘growth’ mindset? Yes. I did!”
-Prof. Carol Dweck

“If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right.”- Henry Ford

“P.A.S.S.= Success
Positive belief + Action + Skill + Strategy =Success”
-Phil McNally, ‘Winning Mentality’

“The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.”
- Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, Nobel Prize winner

"Difficult takes a day. Impossible takes a week."
-Kanye West

Nothing is impossible

There is no such thing as can’t. You just knock the ‘T’ off.

Have a happy BELIEVING week!

Keep positive!
Phil McNally
Author & Happiness Expert

Remember,
“What do you believe? What do you achieve?

What we achieve, comes from what we believe.”

– Phil McNally, Author & Happiness Expert

PS Have you read 'Winning Mentality-7 mind techniques used by Winners'?

"Every school should have one."
-Aberdeenshire Librarian Susan Wright

Visit this website to buy the book or get the first chapter at no cost.
http://www.veryhappyphil.com/content/winning-mentality-book-testimonials

© Phil McNally 2009