🍀 Growth Mindset
AI prompt + Why it matters? | #Wisdom Letter 254
In a world that constantly challenges our abilities and resilience, how we perceive our capacity for growth and learning is more important than ever.
While a fixed mindset—believing our talents and intelligence are static traits—is often our default mode, it can lead to self-limiting beliefs and stunted potential.
What we really need is a growth mindset.
This is a life altering idea, if you want to achieve anything significant in your life, you need to imbibe growth mindset.
Let’s understand growth mindset with a short parable -
The Tale of Two Seedlings: A Parable of Growth Mindset
In a vast garden, two seedlings sprouted side by side: Oak and Willow. They were planted on the same day, in the same rich soil, under the same warm sun.
As days passed, Oak noticed that Willow was growing faster, its slender trunk reaching higher towards the sky. Oak became discouraged.
"I'll never be as tall as Willow," Oak sighed. "I might as well stop trying." Oak stopped stretching its leaves towards the sun and resigned itself to staying small.
Willow, hearing this, rustled its leaves and spoke: "Dear Oak, don't be discouraged. We may grow at different paces, but that doesn't determine our ultimate height or strength. Each day, with each stretch towards the sun, with each root we push into the soil, we grow stronger and taller. It's not about being the tallest today, but about continuing to grow tomorrow and every day after."
Oak considered Willow's words. "But you're already so much taller. How can I ever catch up?"
"Growth isn't a race," Willow replied. "Look at the mighty oaks around us. They took centuries to reach their height, but now they're the giants of the forest. Every challenge - be it wind, drought, or storms - made them stronger. They never stopped growing."
Inspired by Willow's words, Oak decided to change its approach.
Instead of comparing itself to others, Oak focused on growing a little each day. It stretched its leaves towards the sun, no matter how little it seemed to help. It pushed its roots deeper into the soil, even when progress was slow.
Years passed.
Willow grew into a beautiful, graceful tree, its branches swaying gently in the breeze. And beside it stood Oak, not quite as tall, but with a thick, strong trunk and branches that spread wide, offering shelter to countless creatures.
One day, a great storm came.
The wind howled and rain lashed at the trees.
Willow bent low, its flexibility saving it from breaking. Oak stood firm, its strong trunk and deep roots anchoring it against the gale.
Both survived, each in their own way.
After the storm, Oak turned to Willow and said, "Thank you, old friend. If I had given up all those years ago, I wouldn't be standing here today. I've learned that it's not about being the best, but about always striving to be better than I was yesterday."
Willow rustled its leaves in agreement. "And look how magnificently you've grown, my friend. We've both become exactly the trees we were meant to be."
And so, Oak and Willow continued to grow, each in their own way, always reaching for new heights, their growth mindset carrying them through every season.
A growth mindset is a belief system that views abilities, intelligence, and talents as qualities that can be developed over time through effort.
It stands in contrast to a fixed mindset, which sees these qualities as static or unchangeable.
People with a growth mindset believe that they can improve their skills and intelligence through dedication and hard work.
Why it matters?
A growth mindset helps with -
Enhanced Learning
Increased Resilience
Improved Performance
Better Relationships
Greater Life Satisfaction
It impacts every area of life.
Once you internalise the idea, then its how you start doing everything in life.
Here’s something to think about today -
How might your life change if you truly believed that your intelligence and abilities could significantly improve with effort?
Growth Mindset Thinking - AI prompt
I’ve designed a prompt that you can use with any AI chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and train it to have a growth minded approach to any difficult situation in life.
Use to break through your fixed mindsets and grow out of every challenge that you face in life.
Copy the prompt from this page -
Just copy the prompt from the Notion page above, and paste it into a an AI chatbot, and then type in any big challenge you’re facing in life.
And see the magic!
Further Reading
Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck | Stanford Alumni | YouTube
The Mindset Shift That Changed My Life | Ali Abdaal | YouTube
Read our summary of the book Mindset in the keys to wisdom
From the Archives
3 interesting posts from The Wisdom Project archives -
Last weeks top link -
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Cheers,
Ayush & Aditi