Like most self-help books, this one falls into the panacea trap. The one where the researcher/author has spent so many years studying the effects of this one thing, that they now think that fixing this one thing will fix all or nearly all the things. They start with intros along the lines of “this is something I am confident will improve your work life, your personal relationships, your health and even your driving skills!”

Since our lives are not compartmentalized, every aspect of our lives touches nearly every other aspect, and so one change can “improve” many parts of our being. But it doesn’t fix everything.

A growth mindset has been having its moment in the sun, following on heels of Grit and 7 habits and the like. It is important? Absolutely. Does it guarantee exceptionalism in any part of your life you apply it to? No. As this book reads, athletes with a growth mindset will get to and stay at the top. With a fixed mindset they are destined to angry ignominy. She conveniently ignores that some people really do have different starting points. Some people are built swimmers and others built for gymnastics. And even though there are occasional exceptions, they are rare. No amount of growth mindset will get me into the WNBA at this point. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t get better, if I cared to, but I have some natural limits.


Specific to the book, she just had more examples than were useful. 1 or 2 will usually suffice, but each section had 3,4,5 + stories about how a fixed mindset ruined this athlete’s, businessman’s, or married couples life’s and counter examples of how a growth mindset made it soooooo much better. By 1/2 way through the listen I was ready to be done.

But, as with most books of this genre, some good ideas to be gleaned and used, so still worth 3 stars.