By now, many people have heard of the paradigm-shifting research of Dr. Carol Dweck that led to her definition of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. “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. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” Children who are taught that intelligence is innate and either you have it or you don’t, and who are praised for being smart when they do well rather than being praised for their hard work, are less likely to invest effort when confronted with challenging learning. 

Like a lot of people, I find growth vs. fixed mindset to be an unlock for a huge range of human behavior. For instance, I used to advise people how to work with young children with challenging behavior. A huge number of the well-meaning educators I worked with had the view that the child was just inherently a monster, and could not be changed. That a 3-year-old could not learn something new. Fixed mindsets led teachers to give up on children who had been figuring out how to live in human society for 36 months. For 30 of those months, they didn’t know how to control their bowels. People were giving up on children with only months of experience living on the planet.

As an adult, I was certain that I could not learn new behavior. After 40+ years of trying and failing to control my eating, my drinking, my mental health, and failing over and over, I thought it was hopeless to manage my behavioral health. Had you asked me if I could learn new behavior, I would have gamely said I would try, but I would have secretly had no confidence that it would stick, and I was inherently fated to be obese and addicted from cradle to grave. I believed this, despite the fact that I learned new things all the time – new ways of working, new digital tools, new ideas from books. The breakthrough came when the keto diet allowed me to finally master overeating (mostly) and have success in losing weight (I lost over 200 pounds). I’d given up on the idea that I could change, but then I did. It changed my perspective, my confidence grew, and it started an avalanche of dedication and hard work to changing other behaviors in my life that I thought were unchangeable.

I also think about the scarcity mindset that informs how many people think of economic policy. There are a lot of people who think that the economy is a zero sum game – for you to do well, that means I lose. There is only so much to go around, and the more I take from you, the more I have. Decades before, Stephen Covey had defined a scarcity mindset versus an abundance mindset, and that applies here too. The fixed/scarcity mindset operates under the assumption that there are only so many dollars floating around, and you aren’t getting any of mine. The world is divided up into winners and losers, and for me to win, you have to lose. This despite an economy that has consistently grown for nearly all of our history. When we invest in people, they grow. They bring the economy along with them. There is enough in our world for everyone. 

I do believe this, and at the same time believe that our obsession with endless growth also needs to be tempered by changing our mindset around whether what we have is enough. Do we have enough money to provide a world-class education for all of our children? Yes. Do we have enough money to allow 40% of our population to live like Donald Trump? No. Do we need that? No. It’s not just a question of “can there be more,” but what that “more” would look like. More self-actualization. More people with their growth mindsets finding meaningful, satisfying work. More of realizing the potential of digital intelligence. More exploring our universe, from atoms to animals to galaxies. More natural resource preservation with more sustainable sources of energy.

And it’s a friendlier and more hopeful world when you believe you can change, people can change, our economic structure can change. It’s a hopeless and mean-spirited world when you think that there is never enough and you are powerless to change. The more we experience growth and abundance instead of scarcity and fear, the more we believe we are capable of positive change. It’s a world where we can all win.