Welcome to the Daily Quote, the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and this episode is brought to you by the Great News podcast. Because great news should be heard, and the link is right here in the show notes.
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Today’s quote is associated with Carol Dweck, an American psychologist best known for her research on motivation, achievement, and what she calls a growth mindset.
Dweck is a professor at Stanford University and the author of the bestselling book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, published in 2006.
I said associated with earlier because there is a longer version of this quote that was said in 1913 by Thomas Oliver, professor of medicine.
But Carol’s version gets straight to the point…
Carol Dweck once said…
“Becoming is better than being.”
Now, that's a pretty short quote, but there's a lot packed into those four words. The idea is that life isn't just about who we are right now. It's about who we're becoming.
Think about how often we define ourselves by what we've already accomplished or the labels we've given ourselves.
”I'm a salesperson.”
”I'm an accountant.”
Or… ”I'm not very good at technology.”
”I'm not a creative person.”
We start believing that because we're not good at something today, we'll never be good at it. And that's where the idea of a growth mindset comes in. Instead of saying, ”I'm not good at that,” what if we said, ”I'm not good at that yet”?
That one little word changes the whole perspective. It recognizes that our abilities aren't necessarily fixed. We can learn, improve, develop new skills, and get better through effort and experience.
And this applies to just about every area of life. Maybe you've always wanted to learn a musical instrument, start a business, get in better shape, or become a better communicator.You might not be very good at those things right now. But that doesn't mean you can't be. The important thing is to get started and keep improving. And here's another thing worth considering: becoming doesn't necessarily mean achieving some huge goal or making a dramatic change in your life.
Sometimes it's about the small things. Becoming a little more patient. A little more confident. A better listener. More knowledgeable. More physically active. A little better at managing your time. Those small improvements add up.
So here's the question:
Are you more focused on who you are today, or who you're becoming?
Is there something you've always wanted to learn or improve? Is there a skill you'd like to develop, a habit you'd like to change, or perhaps a new direction you'd like to explore?
What would happen if you stopped thinking of those things as things you can't do and started thinking of them as things you haven't learned to do yet?
You don't have to transform your life overnight. Just make a little progress today. Then do it again tomorrow.
Because the goal isn't to become perfect. It's to keep moving forward, keep learning, and keep growing.
And perhaps that's the real message behind today's quote:
Don't become so focused on who you are today that you forget who you still have the potential to become.
Becoming is better than being.
That's going to do it for today. I'm Andrew McGivern signing off for now, but I'll be back… tomorrow! Same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.That’s going to do it for today. I’m Andrew McGivern signing off for now, but I’ll be back… tomorrow! Same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.
