"**When I was exchanging my fixed mindset for a growth one, I was acutely aware of how unsettled I felt**. For example, I’ve told you how as a fixed mindsetter, I kept track each day of all my successes. At the end of a good day, I could look at the results (the high numbers on my intelligence “counter,” my personality “counter,” and so on) and feel good about myself. But as I adopted a growth mindset and stopped keeping track, some nights I would still check my mental counters and find them at zero. It made me insecure not to be able to tote up my victories. Even worse, since I was taking more risks, I might look back over the day and see all the mistakes and setbacks. And feel miserable. What’s more, it’s not as though the fixed mindset wants to leave gracefully. "If the fixed mindset has been controlling your internal monologue, it can say some pretty strong things to you when it sees those counters at zero: “You’re nothing.” It can make you want to rush right out and rack up some high numbers. **The fixed mindset once offered you refuge from that very feeling, and it offers it to you again. Don’t take it**. Then there’s the concern that you won’t be yourself anymore. It may feel as though the fixed mindset gave you your ambition, your edge, your individuality. Maybe you fear you’ll become a bland cog in the wheel just like everyone else. Ordinary. "**But opening yourself up to growth makes you more yourself, not less**. The growth-oriented scientists, artists, athletes, and CEOs we’ve looked at were far from humanoids going through the motions. They were people in the full flower of their individuality and potency. ([Location 3966](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B01M036N60&location=3966)) --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[fixed-mindset]], [[growth-mindset]] **Source** -- [[20250429082504 - B - Mindset]]