• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Click here to download the  free ebook of Alberto Juantorena’s  detailed training workouts leading up to the 1976 Montreal Olympics

SpeedEndurance.com

Success in Track & Field ... and Life

  • Home
    • About
    • Contact
  • Track & Field
    • 400 meters
    • 800m & Mile
    • 1/2 & Full Marathons
    • Long & Triple Jump
    • Hurdles
  • Training
    • Weight Training
    • Abs & Core
    • Injury Prevention
    • Shoes & Spikes
    • Masters
  • Coaching
    • Freelap Friday Five
    • Interviews
    • Sports Nutrition
    • Sport Psychology
  • Archives
  • Shop
    • My account
    • Checkout
    • Basket

How to Bounce Back from a Bad Race: the Fixed and Growth Mindset

You are here: Home / Coaching / How to Bounce Back from a Bad Race: the Fixed and Growth Mindset
11
SHARES
FacebookTwitter

July 29, 2014 by Jimson Lee Leave a Comment

This article is guest blogged by Lee Ness, a UKA qualified Event Group Coach for Sprints and Hurdles, the Head Coach/Sprint Coach at City of Salisbury Athletics, and Running Club and Track and Field Team Manager for Wiltshire Athletics Association.

Click here for all articles written by Lee Ness

Mindset Part 1 – Fixed and Growth Mindset

Jimson set me an assignment to write about how an athlete should deal with a perceived poor performance and how a coach should deal with the same situation. I will do this in three parts. This first part will be a background to Carol Dweck’s Mindset model which I will base the other two articles on.

Raed Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Carol Dweck Ph.D. is a world-renowned Stanford University psychologist who has written a number of articles and books. It is her study of a group of High School Fifth-Graders as she was studying what makes people successful that led to a breakthrough and resulted in the book Mindset.

In the study, the 400 students were given an easy IQ test. They were randomly selected into two groups, and each group were given simple but specific praise. Group 1 were told “Great score, well done you must be smart.” Group 2 were told “Great score, well done you must have worked hard.”

They were then offered another task but had two options.

1. They could take a harder test with the opportunity to learn and grow.

2. They could take a similar test, which plated to their strengths, and they were certain to do well.

From Group 1 (The “smart” group) 67% chose to take Option 2, an easy task. From Group 2 (workers), 97% chose the harder task.

See also  Delaying Physical and Mental Fatigue with Phenylalanines, Tyrosine

Later, both groups were given a tough, almost impossible, test. Group 2 worked harder, for longer and enjoyed the test. Group 1 got frustrated and gave up early.

The third test was set at exactly the same difficulty (easy) as the very first one. Group 1 did worse than on their first one and reduced overall performance by 20%. Group 2 did better and improved performance by 30%. This is a 50% performance swing from a single sentence of praise! You can quickly see why this discovery led Dweck down the road of researching this model further. The model she settled on was that people have one of two ‘mindsets.’ (I apologize for the gross oversimplification of Dweck’s work. Read the book). They will either have a “fixed” or a “growth” mindset.

Characteristics of a Fixed Mindset

People are born ‘Gifted.’
People have ‘natural talents.’
Traits are set in stone
Intelligence is a fixed trait
They have a need to look smart at all costs,
Tasks should come naturally
They avoid challenging learning tasks
They hide mistakes and difficulties

In the face of failure they would reduce their effort or give up, become defensive, act up, act bored.

Characteristics of a Growth mindset

Success comes from effort
Success comes from hard work
Success comes from practice
Intelligence can be improved
Setbacks are a natural form of learning
Learn at all costs,
Work hard, effort is key
Capitalize on mistakes and confront deficiencies
In the face of a setback, they would work harder
They are resilient in the face of difficulties

Impact of fixed and growth mindsets

See also  Leroy Burrell's Sprint Training Plan

Labeling people as smart, clever or talented (or derivations of these) creates an expectation in them. Therefore, some types of praise trigger worse performance. People will do things to “prove” the label they have been given, creating a fixed mindset. This creates insecurity so, when something doesn’t come naturally, it means they are not capable and look wanting.

People then avoid the things that they need to get better in order to protect the ‘special’ label they have been given.

When the message is changed to rewarding effort, then people react differently and adopt a growth mindset. Credit needs to go to effort and time on task, but these messages have to be changed across the board both to the people, yourself and when discussing others. There is little use attempting to adopt a growth mindset if you consider others ‘naturally’ talented. Is Tiger Woods successful because of natural talent or because he has been working to improve his golf since he was 2 years old.?

Click below to watch the video:

Carol Dweck – A Study on Praise and Mindsets

About the Author

LeeNess-bookcover250x350My name is Lee Ness. I am a UKA qualified Event Group Coach for Sprints and Hurdles, the Head Coach/Sprint Coach at City of Salisbury Athletics and Running Club and Track and Field Team Manager for Wiltshire Athletics Association. I’ve been coaching track and filed for around 7 years. I coach all the sprints, from 60m to 400m plus the long and sprint hurdles. In my sprint group I have 36 sprinters and 10 hurdlers of various ages, starting from 13. In my group I have three athletes in the UK top 10 rankings for their event.

See also  How to Stop Choking (Part 1)

I write about sports performance in general and have written a book called The Sports Motivation Masterplan which will be released on September 1, 2014 by December House. The book is a support guide for athletes and parents, helping them with the role of mentor through their journey from young aspiring athlete, to elite performer.

Category iconCoaching,  Sport Psychology,  Track & Field Tag iconLee Ness

About Jimson Lee

I am a Masters Athlete and Coach currently based in London UK. My other projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA) and a member of the Track & Field Writers of America.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Recommended

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xbs-aWxyLk

Shop Our Store

  • Bud Winter (9)
  • Championship Productions (6)
  • Clyde Hart (2)
  • Derek Hansen (1)
  • Electrical Muscle Stimulation (2)
  • Jim Hiserman (6)
  • Jimson Lee (4)
  • Uncategorised (0)

Articles by Category

Products

  • Jim Hiserman - Developing 800m Runners: Identifying, Categorizing and Developing 400m-800m Type Athletes $42.99 $39.99
  • Private Coaching - Monthly Plan $600.00 $525.00
  • Jim Hiserman-Developing-Distance-Runnersv2 Jim Hiserman - Developing Distance Runners Volume 2: A Systematic Approach to Developing Individual Success within a Dynamic Team Culture $34.95 $29.95
  • Feed-the-Cats-Clinic-3-Pack-701 'Feed the Cats' Clinic 3-Pack $64.99
  • Tony Holler's Feed the Cats": A Complete Sprint Training Program Tony Holler's "Feed the Cats" Complete Sprint Training Program $49.99
  • Bud Winter and Speed City presents Arthur Lydiard 509x716 Bud Winter & Arthur Lydiard MP3 [Download only] $9.99

RECENT POSTS

  • Oregon22 Coaches Club now Online
  • IFAC 2022: The Return of In-Person Conferences (with Virtual option)
  • Here is our 400m Discussion Recording… over 2 Hours Long
  • The Best Free Coaching Book – post Beijing 2022 Olympics
  • The Ultimate 400m Track Webinar for Coaches & Athletes
  • NACAC Athletics Coaching Science Series 2022
  • Top Six 400m Predictor Workouts (Number 4 is my Favourite)
  • Best 6 Podcasts for 2021 (and Beyond)
  • Why Karsten Warholm’s 45.94 400mH WR is my Highlight of 2021
  • Sprinting: 10 Research Articles for Effective Sprint Training [Part 23]

Copyright © 2023. SpeedEndurance.com is owned and operated by Aryta Ltd. Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}