MINDSETS CHANGE THE MEANING OF EFFORT
As children, we were given a choice between the talented but erratic hare and the plodding but steady tortoise The lesson was supposed to be the slow and steady wins the race. But really, did any of us ever want to be the tortoise
No, we just wanted to be a less foolish hare. We wanted to be swift at the wind and a bit more strategic say, not taking quite so many snooze before the finish line. After all, everyone knows you have to show up in order to win
The story of the tortoise and the hare, in trying to put forward the power of effort, gave effort a bad name. It reinforced the image that effort is for the plodders and suggested that in rare instances, when talented people dropped the ball, the plodder could sneak through
The little engine that could, the saggy, baggy elephant, and the scruffy tugboat-they were cute, they were often overmatched, and we were happy for them when they succeeded. In fact, to this day I remember how fond I was of those little creatures (or machines), but no way did I identify with them. The message was: If you're unfortunate enough to be the runt of the litter-if you lack endowment-you don't have to be an utter failure. You can be a sweet, adorable little slogger, and maybe (if you really work at it
and withstand all the scornful onlookers) even a success Thank you very much, I'll take the endowment
The problem was that these stories made it into an either-or Either you have ability or you expend effort. And this is part of the fixed mindset Effort is for those who don't have the ability People with the fixed mindset tell us, "If you have to work at something, you must not be good at it They add. "Things come easily to people who are true geniuses
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