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Your failures and misfortunes don't threaten other people. . .It's your assets and your successes that are problems for people who derive their self-esteem from being superior.
Carol S. Dweck
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Your successes can intimidate others who base their self-worth on being better than you.

This quote highlights the perspective that while personal failures may not affect others, your achievements can make them feel inferior. It suggests that for some individuals, self-esteem is built on a notion of superiority over others, which can lead to discomfort or resentment towards those who achieve success.

Themes

SuccessSelf-EsteemSuperiorityFailuresMisfortunes

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech to encourage others to embrace their success.

More from Carol S. Dweck

Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn't mean that others can't do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training.
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Some students start thinking of their intelligence as something fixed, as carved in stone. They worry about, 'Do I have enough? Don't I have enough?'
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In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you're not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn't need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.
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Our message to parents is to focus on the process the child engages in, such as trying hard or focusing on the task - what specific things they're doing rather than, 'You're so smart. You're so good at this.' Although it's never too late to change, what you do early matters.
Carol S. DweckRead
Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going.
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I loved everything. I loved sciences and I loved humanities. But ultimately, I felt that in the humanities, you know, you're writing about things that already exist. But in the sciences, you're discovering things that no one has known before. Ultimately I chose psychology because it seemed to combine science with things that I liked to think about.
Carol S. DweckRead

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