“It Sucks Not Being Good!”: Growth vs. Fixed Mindsets (Heroic +1 #1,957)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic one. I started typing this on a flight from Austin to the east coast to train some heroic leaders. I was reading Joe decenna's new book, extreme paradoxical principles that make you a champion. Joe wrote it with Ben Askren, a former two time NCAA championship wrestler and UFC fighter who now runs a world class training facility, and a guy named David Sacks, Ph.D. who's a clinical and sports psychologist who has trained thousands of people. The book is really good. Joe and company walk us through how to dissolve eight dichotomies to create what they call extreme balance. We'll chat more about what that means soon. For now, I grabbed my phone from my backpack and started typing this plus one because I was reminded of Emerson throwing axes last weekend and a comment he made. Yes, we went axe throwing. It was the fun group outing for our second cohort of heroic workshop instructors at our training event in Arizona. In Austin, we all played laser tag. Now, Emerson loves playing laser tag and especially enjoyed the time with our heroic crew because he got to play with a couple former Navy seals who gave him some pro tips. So Emerson had never thrown an axe before. Nor had I. Have you? He was throwing and throwing and throwing and missed every single time after I don't know how many throws. It was a lot. He said to his mom. It sucks to be so bad to it. She reminded him, you've got to be willing to suck if you want to get good. Then she grabbed a guy who worked there and asked him for some coaching. Pretty soon Emerson was crushing it and so was Eleanor. She threw at least as many as he did, which was hundreds of throws and only made 20. She counted. But she won the award for most joyful hustle. Now, I started writing this because Joe talks about the growth mindset in his book. Here's the quick recap. The fixed mindset person is so afraid of looking bad that they don't even try to do something new like throw an axe. The growth mindset person, on the other hand, takes the most pride in getting good at something that they initially sucked at. And that's today's plus one. How about you little PS Here? I knew I would suck when I started, but I also knew I'd be pretty good by the time the night was over. Laughing. True story on both counts. I sucked and I got pretty good by the end.

What's up? This is Michael, president and head coach at Heroic. One quick note before we go. I just think it's so amazing that Brian keeps reading all these books and distilling them into more wisdom in less time. By the way, thank you Brian for continuing to read the books distill them for us. I love not having to read the book, just getting them more wisdom and less time through the plus ones of Philosopher's Notes. And if you're into this kind of thing, expressing the best version of yourself and using your greatest gifts to make a positive impact on the world, make sure you head to Heroic Us to check out all the other resources that we have available to you. You can download a bunch of free goodies including Philosopher's Notes masterclasses in our scientifically proven Heroic app. You can also explore advanced resources to help you go next level, including live and virtual workshops, working one on one with the Heroic Performance Coach or even becoming a certified coach yourself as you master Heroic Performance, the fundamentals of Coaching Excellence and Heroic Coaching prosperity. Again, head to Heroic Us to get the ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools you need to activate your heroic potential and change the world together. And please do hit subscribe, appreciate you have a fantastic day and see you again soon.