Believing that your qualities are carved in stone—the fixed mindset—creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character—well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.
Source: Dweck, Carol. S., Pd.D. (2006, 2016). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House LLC, p. 303.
When we have a fixed mindset, we believe that we cannot change and grow. We believe we are stagnant and that we will always be the way we are. We believe that we are unable to change anything about ourselves and our lives.
