Growth Mindset Resources

Note: though I own and have read each of these books and highly recommend them, the links are affiliate links, and as such, if you purchase one of them using the links below, I will earn a small commission at no extra charge to you!

The books listed above are all great resources for understanding your brain and mindset. Mindset is the grandmommy of them all. Dweck basically put the word “mindset” in the lexicon and has pioneered an entire movement.

Normal Doidge, M.D.’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself is an absolute mind-blower. It was written relatively early in the 21st century (as, actually was Dweck’s Mindset), not long after the idea of brain plasticity came into its own.

The stories in this book will astound you and give you much hope for your own outlook.

The most irreverent of the 4 books above is You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero. Sincero swears a lot and is pretty sassy, but I implore you not to use that as a reason to skip it.

I did just that for quite a while, but when I finally checked out the audio version from my library, I was blown away. Enough so that I eventually listened to all of her books!

I can almost guarantee you won’t be disappointed. If you’re offended by the F-word being thrown around, just suck it up a bit and grit your teeth through it. I’m not offended in the least by it, as I throw it around all the time myself. 😉

Books About Happiness

These four books above are more or less on the topic of happiness (as evidenced by two of them with that very word in their titles).

Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, is just a wonderful way of sharing daily practices that, if done consistently, can actually rewire your brain toward happiness.

Achor says that it’s not success that makes you happy, but rather it’s the other way around: learn to be happy (not the definition of happiness you probably have in your mind), and that will lead to success!

Deep Kindness really can’t be explained. Just read it.

Russ Harris’s The Happiness Trap is a little different. It’s basically a guide to ACT (pronounced like the word act) or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This is a form of behavioral psychology that aims to:
   • Reduce stress and worry
   • Handle painful feelings and thoughts more effectively
   • Break self-defeating habits
   • Overcome insecurity and self-doubt
   • Create a rich, full, and meaningful life
(taken from the book description)

I love this concept as instead of focusing on your thoughts and how to control them, you embrace and accept them. You just basically give them space to exist. They’re neither good nor bad, but either helpful–they lead you toward your values, or unhelpful–they lead you away.

It’s really quite freeing.

Write It Down, Make It Happen is kind of an outlier. Not expressly on the topic of happiness, but author Henriette Klauser says if you practice her methods you can “turn your dreams into reality by taking matters into your own hands.”

If you’ve read anything I write on this website, you know I’m no woo-woo kind of person who believes in magic, or The Law of Attraction.

But there is something about writing down what you want, and how you plan to get it that seems to be the almost magical ticket to making it happen.

Now get reading and change your life! 📚