Sometimes things are not what the seem …
Opera Company of Philadelphia \”Flash Brindisi\” at Reading Terminal Market (April 24, 2010)
Even if you hate opera this seemingly spontaneous rendition cannot fail to bring a smile!
Growth or Protection
What are you capable of? … It all depends how you look at it - another useful article from Michael Neill
The Power of Mindset
What’s something you’d love to learn?
Is it a language? A sport? A hobby?
A business tool, like sales, marketing or networking?
A social skill, like speaking with confidence, seducing men (or women), or making friends quickly and easily?
Now, imagine you have signed up for a six week introductory class in whatever it is you’d love to learn, taught by an unquestioned expert in the field. Your teacher stands up at the beginning of the day and says the following:
Good morning, class!
Today is the first day of our introductory classes, and I want to reassure you, there is nothing for you to worry about. What we will be learning here is something you will either be able to pick up easily or not. Each week, there will be a test to assess your level of ability. If you find you can learn it easily, this class and the full course to follow will help you to unleash and demonstrate your innate ability. If not, it will allow you to move on quickly and find something you are more naturally suited for. You may sign up for the full course or drop out of these introductory classes at any time…
How would you approach the class? How would you prepare for the first test? If you did poorly on that test, how would you approach the second? How long would you stay with the class before making a decision about whether to sign up or drop out?
When you have taken a few moments to explore your answers to those questions, take a few moments to imagine this scenario…
You have signed up for a six week introductory class in whatever it is you’d love to learn, taught by an unquestionable expert in the field. Your teacher stands up at the beginning of the day and says the following:
Good morning, class!
Today is the first day of our introductory classes, and I want to reassure you, there is nothing for you to worry about. What I will be presenting here is a learnable skill. Each week, there will be a test to assess how far along you are in your practice. If you apply yourself, this class and the full course to follow will give you everything you need to master this skill. If not, you will no doubt stay stuck at whatever level you currently find yourself at . You may sign up for the full course or drop out of these introductory classes at any time…
Same questions as last time – how would you approach the class? How would you prepare for the first test? If you did poorly on that test, how would you approach the second? How long would you stay with the class before making a decision about whether to sign up or drop out?
In her groundbreaking book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, author Carol Dweck shares the results of dozens of actual experiments not unlike the one above.
In each case, researchers deliberately influenced the mindset of test subjects in one of two directions. Some people were guided towards a Fixed Mindset – one where results were unlikely to change over time and were attributed to innate talent or intelligence. Others were guided towards a Growth Mindset – one where results could and would alter radically in proportion to individual effort, energy, application, focus and time.
In one of the most startling of the experiments, children who received identical grades on an exam were divided into two groups. The first group was praised for their intelligence, along the lines of “wow – 8 out of 10 – you’re so smart!”. The second group was praised for their application, along the lines of “wow – 8 out of 10 – you must have really worked hard!”
To the researchers amazement, the children who were told they had done so well because they were smart (the Fixed Mindset) actually became reticent to take on further, more advanced tests and even lied about their scores when asked to tell others how they had done. In stark contrast, the Growth Mindset children were eager to take on the more advanced work and told the truth about their scores.
So, what can we learn from this?
Well, the first thing to be aware of is how relatively easy it is to predispose someone towards either mindset simply by the words we use to describe and explain the activity.
If I want my kids (and clients and friends and wives and, well, you get the idea!) to approach life with a Growth Mindset, it will be important for me to develop the skill of presenting possibilities and attributing results to learning and application as opposed to any sort of innate ability.
The second is to become more aware of any areas where we ourselves have gotten stuck in a Fixed Mindset. This will often reveal itself in statements like:
- “I’m just no good at maths.”
- “I couldn’t carry a tune if my life depended on it.”
- “I’ve never been able to draw.”
These statements are often accurate assessments of past performance, but become limiting when used as predictors of future possibility.
Here are a few other useful guidelines for noticing what mindset you are bringing to your favorite and/or most important projects:
A classic example of how a fixed mindset can skew even the most positive of findings can be seen in the original intention behind the famous Stanford-Binet IQ tests. Far from being designed as a measure of intelligence as an innate character trait, Alfred Binet created the original tests as a way of evaluating which students needed extra help at school, even going so far as to warn that scores should not be interpreted literally due to the “plasticity” of intelligence.
And if the guy who created the model for modern IQ tests was smart enough to know that, perhaps we can all learn something truly valuable from our IQ score – that we can never accurately measure our future possibilities on the basis of our current reality.
Michael Neill – Tips of The Day
Michael Neill is an internationally renowned success coach and the best-selling author of You Can Have What You WantFeel Happy Now!Effortless Success, and the audio program. He has spent the past 20 years as a coach, adviser, friend, mentor and creative spark plug to celebrities, CEO’s, royalty, and people who want to get more out of their lives. His books have been translated into 8 languages, and his public talks and seminars have been well received at the United Nations and on five continents around the world.
Check out Michael Neill’s Tips of the Day ….
Hypnotherapy could provide significant rehabilitating benefit to Dementia sufferers
Hypnotherapy could provide significant rehabilitating benefit to Dementia sufferers
Researchers at Liverpool University have found that hypnotherapy can help those suffering from dementia improve their illnesses and restore their memory.
Forensic psychologist Dr Simon Duff studied the effects of hypnotherapy on dementia sufferers compared to conventional, traditional methods, as well as group therapy.
He noticed a significant improvement in those who had received hypnotherapy compared to the standard treatment.
Dr Duff, who is conducting further research into the long-term benefits that hypnotherapy can have, said, “Those having regular hypnosis sessions showed real improvement across all of the areas that we looked at whilst the group who received treatment as usual showed a small decline over the assessment period.”
Hypnosis is a totally natural procedure and requires no drug or equipment, completely relying on the relaxation of the patient. It can be compared to ‘day dreaming’ with the subconscious mind taking an active role.
It is believed that the subconscious mind is less affected by the disease and thus tapping into that could provide significant benefits.
He added, “Participants who are aware of the onset of dementia may become depressed and anxious at their gradual loss of cognitive ability,” said Dr Duff, adding that hypnotherapy could help sufferers relax so that they can concentrate on positive activities.
