Defining Mindsets
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“We can embrace mindsets as habits that our minds depend on—formed by previous experiences and the unconscious and conscious beliefs that we form along the way.”
Ana Melikian
I believe that leveraging our mindsets can allow us to release our potential as individuals, groups, and organizations. But before we can tap into it, we need to understand what a mindset is.
The challenge lies in that there are as many definitions of mindset as there are mindset experts. So, when I was writing the introduction to the Mindset Zone book, I intentionally made a deep dive into the different meanings of mindset and organized them into three categories.
In this episode, I define mindsets using three different approaches. I outline positive psychology’s description of mindset as a set of beliefs. I discuss how cognitive psychology sees mindsets as information-processing styles used to accomplish specific tasks. I describe organizational psychology’s view that mindsets are filters that inform our worldviews.
I also share my own definition of mindset and underscore the Mindset Zone’s mission to help tap and release humanity’s potential.
This week on The Mindset Zone:
- Identifying the three approaches to defining mindset
- Mindsets and the human potential for learning and change
- The “fixed” mindset and my self-perception about singing
- The “growth” mindset and how dyslexia became my superpower
- Cognitive psychology’s definition of mindset
- How setting and implementing goals require different kinds of mindsets to be successful
- The difference between “deliberative” and “implemental” mindsets
- The value of knowing when to remain unfocused and focused
- Tapping and releasing our human potential through self-development work and positive psychology
- Understanding our nature as connecting beings
- The different ways to unleash and amplify our potential as human beings
- My definition of mindsets
- Challenging our beliefs and expanding what’s possible
- How learning about habit transformation can shift our mindset and lives
- What it takes to evolve in a constantly and rapidly changing world
- The mission of the Mindset Zone podcast

Resources Mentioned:
- Book: Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation by Gabriele Oettingen
- Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck