Ask HN: How to develop a growth mindset?
I want to make a case against having a &quot;growth mindset&quot;. And against fighting procrastination. And any other self improvement stuff.<p>- all these things happen at a much lower level than conscious thought. We have approaches to achieving based on genetics, early upbringing, life experiences, etc. No amount of wanting things to be different will make it so.<p>- there are no recipes. There is just doing stuff, some will succeed, some will fail depending on a huge number of factors. No words from anybody will help in your particular situation for general questions like &quot;how do I get better&quot;.<p>- not wanting to do something (regardless of the perceived value of that something) is not always bad. Resources like time and energy are finite. Failure is costly and things like accelerated aging and burnout are real.<p>- why would you necessarily do what somebody else says you should? Who benefits? For an HN related thing in particular: who benefits from everybody getting into programming and working after work to learn one more tech tool?<p>- &quot;self improvement&quot; in general seems to me to be pushed by life coaches and the like with zero evidence that it actually does anything. I perceive it as a snake oil product.<p>The topic is huge and any attempt to summarize it like this is bound to fail. These are just a couple of thoughts.<p>Also, maybe the best condensation is Allan Watts &quot;The reason why you want to be better is the reason why you aren&#x27;t.&quot;<p>Edit: google the Allan Watts quote, it&#x27;s a few minutes speech - you can listen or find it transcribed. Worth listening for another perspective on getting better.