What you believe affects how you behave.

Never is this more true (and less obvious) than in the case of The Talent Trap. Its as simple as this; when you believe that your talents are fixed, and basically unchanging, you trap yourself in a web of negative emotions and behaviours.

It doesn't matter if you think you've got a lot of talent or only a little; those who believe that IQ is a fixed thing, or that great sportsmen are born not made, or that empathy is a gift that some have and others don't; if you think that some people have an ear for music or an eye for design then you are in the Talent Trap, and you can be sure that you will spend your time trying to avoid the one thing that would actually help you improve that talent; practice.

I believed this all my life until last year I came across the work of Professor Carol Dweck. Over the period of a quarter of a century, Prof. Dweck has developed and tested these theories, which lead to sometimes startling conclusions. The bottom line was that by choosing to give up my beliefs in fixed abilities I have changed almost every aspect of my life, and the changes have been without doubt for the better.

I have no financial gain from this, nor any scientific or educational training. But I thought a site like this might help people like me share our experiences. If I can do anything to spread Prof. Dweck's work I will strive to do so. Everyone would benefit from understanding it; parents, teachers and trainers should consider mastery of these ideas to be the greatest gift they could offer their charges.

If you have encountered Prof. Dweck's work, please sign up and post your story.

If you are interested, please take what you can from here - or get a copy of "Mindsets" or "Self-Theories". If you can't afford to buy one, and can't find it in the library; I'll lend you mine.

And please check out the links on this site...

Note that this stuff is also referred to as entity theory, or fixed mindset vs growth mindset