Welcome Back to The Cog
Dear High Performers
Last week we talked about tilt and how your brain decides to sabotage you when you get frustrated. This week we’re talking about something even sneakier that decides if you’ll actually improve from frustrating experiences or just keep repeating them forever like a broken record. It’s all about what you believe about improvement. One mindset keeps you stuck. The other actually helps you get better. Invisible, but decisive.
This isn’t fluff. Dr. Carol Dweck at Stanford has studied this for decades across sports, business, and school. People with the same starting point can end up worlds apart simply because of what they believe about getting better.
Fixed Mindset Sounds Like an Excuse Factory
A fixed mindset is the belief that you are either born good at something or not. You either have talent or you don’t. Your abilities are static and forever. An example of fixed mindset thinking is: I’m just not good at this and never will be. This statement immediately shuts down effort, learning, and improvement. Every challenge becomes a threat. Every mistake becomes proof you suck. Avoiding difficult situations feels safer than risking failure.
Growth Mindset Sounds Like the Stuff My Coach Made Me Run Laps For
A growth mindset is the belief that abilities can be developed with effort, strategy, and learning from experience. Talent is just a starting point. What matters is what you do with it. An example of growth mindset thinking is: I’m not good at this yet but I can improve with effort and practice. This statement opens the door to challenges, learning, and improvement. Mistakes are data, not evidence of failure. Effort is the engine that drives results.
Effort Isn’t Weakness It’s How You Stop Being Terrible
One of the dumbest ideas in fixed mindset culture is that if something is hard, you must suck. Tiger Woods hitting balls until his hands bled? Dedication. A beginner doing the same? Obsessive. Effort is how anyone actually improves, whether you’re trying to break 80 or crush your business goals. Dr. Anders Ericsson shows that the difference between experts and everyone else is deliberate practice. Talent is just the starting line. Effort is the engine.
How Your Language Betrays You
The words you use show whether your mindset is helping you or holding you back. Fixed mindset language sounds like: I’m just not good at this. Growth mindset language sounds like: I’m not good at this yet but I can improve with effort. Catch yourself using fixed mindset language and reframe it. Not as motivational fluff but as literally rewiring your brain to get better instead of staying stuck.
Complimenting Talent Makes People Worse
Telling someone they’re naturally talented can actually make them worse. Kids praised for effort chose hard tasks 92 percent of the time. Kids praised for intelligence chose easy tasks 67 percent of the time. Focus feedback on what people did strategically, what effort worked, and what part of the process produced results. Reinforce improvement, not innate ability.
Although he can be a corn ball, this is such a great quote for an athlete at the highest level
Changing Your Mindset Isn’t Just Positive Thinking
Mindsets can change. You can go from thinking abilities are fixed to thinking you can develop them. But it takes actual practice. Recognize fixed mindset triggers, reframe challenges as learning opportunities, celebrate effort and strategy not just outcomes, and learn from setbacks systematically. Shift isn’t instant but it’s real. You catch yourself thinking in fixed mindset terms and consciously reframe. Over time, growth mindset becomes automatic.
Your Ceiling Is Imaginary
The primary thing limiting your improvement isn’t talent, genetics, or age. It’s your belief about whether improvement is possible. Think you’ve hit your ceiling and you’ll stop improving. Believe improvement is possible and you’ll keep growing. People who improve for decades aren’t naturally gifted. They just never stop believing they can get better. Stop blaming talent. Start doing the deliberate practice that actually works.
I know this was shorter than normal. This is because I want to really understand the concept and not get buried in research. This concept is such a good motto to build not only your golf game but also life around. Have a great week everyone and see you on Friday.
Know someone stuck thinking they’ve hit their ceiling? Forward this to them
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The Cog is where golfers come to upgrade their mental game. Every Tuesday and Friday!
