People who do creative things often hear the words “you are so talented”. While that may seem nice, it causes a number of problems. According to psychologist Carol Dweck, we need to start attributing talent to processes and actions, not people.
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She explains why:
Whether we are praising or criticising, my work suggests that you focus on the process not on the person. So if there is a success, even a great success, you don’t say, “You’re a genius! You really have talent!” because it puts people into a fixed mindset. And then it makes them afraid of doing hard things or of making mistakes, which will dampen future creativity or innovation. If you are giving negative feedback, it should be about the process rather than the person. So you can praise what was good about the process, but then you can also analyse what was wrong about the process and what the person can do in order to increase the likelihood of succeeding next time.
Doing so promotes the idea that talent isn’t a fixed trait but rather something people can gain and develop through hard work and creative thinking. Individually, that means letting go of our fears of failure and embracing the idea that talent is attainable even when we think we have none.
This works for adults in the same way that it works for young children. We’re often impressed by how kids can sometimes produce some amazing things when they’re allowed to try, especially at a very early age. They don’t worry about mistakes. They don’t feel self-conscious yet. If we worry less about our image and expend that effort in creative endeavours, talent isn’t far off.
Talent Isn’t Fixed and Other Mindsets That Lead to Greatness [The 99u]
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