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Lessons on Mindset from Conor McGregor
I’ve always had a passing interest in the UFC, but lately I’ve been paying a lot more attention to the sport. All because of one man – Conor McGregor. The Irish-born fighter has a strong legion of fans who follow him around the world to watch him fight. He is currently the Featherweight Champion, and most recently made a bold move by going up two weight classes, from 145lbs to 170lbs.
It would be easy to get the wrong idea about McGregor if you’ve ever heard him trash talk his opponents in the lead up to a match. But I believe his in-your-face pre-fight attitude is just a tactic – to not only intimidate his opponents, but also to create buzz around his fights to ensure he continues to break gate records. Despite this, he has always been humble in victory & defeat, and the more I hear McGregor speak, I can’t help but admire him for his dedication and attitude.
After his original opponent withdrew from injury, Nate Diaz, another fighter from the Welterweight class, stepped up on late notice to be McGregor’s opponent. McGregor would lose the match two weeks later, made to submit in the second round.
In Carol Dweck’s book ‘Mindset’, she argues the difference between success and failure boils down to which Mindset the person adopts – the Fixed Mindset or the Growth Mindset.
People with the Fixed Mindset tend to believe their ability and intelligence is fixed and cannot be improved. They avoid challenging tasks due to a fear of failure and are reluctant to learn. If things go wrong, they avoid responsibility and place blame elsewhere.
Those with the Growth Mindset have a strong willingness to learn, and believe that effort is the key ingredient to success. They thrive on challenging tasks, seeing them as a chance to learn and grow. They embrace failure for what is truly is – another chance to learn.
Dweck clearly shows through her research that a Growth Mindset is the key to success throughout life and it’s easy to see that Conor McGregor embodies the Growth Mindset.
Lesson #1: Talent Will Only Get You So Far. Effort & A Willingness To Learn Is The Key to Growth & Success.
“There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equals as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that’s that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.” – Conor McGregor
The above quote perfectly encapsulates the Growth Mindset, and demonstrates McGregor's humility, his willingness to learn and his emphasis on effort & hard work. McGregor doesn’t believe he is better than anyone else, and he doesn’t cite talent as the reason for his success. He just works hard. Effort is the most important thing to McGregor and this is why he has been so successful.
Those in the fixed-mindset tend to rely on their talent to carry them to success, believing that if hard work was required it would mean they weren’t talented. It’s this ‘superiority complex’ that sabotages their career and stifles their growth. The case of the highly talented sports star who never quite reaches his or her potential is the perfect example of the fixed mindset. They neglect hard work and effort because they’ve been constantly told their whole lives that they are ‘naturally talented’.
Lesson #2: While Failure Is Disappointing, It Is An Opportunity to Learn. Don’t Make Excuses. Embrace It And Learn From Your Mistakes.
After his defeat to Nate Diaz, the haters came out of the woodwork:
“He’s not good enough for Welterweight, he needs to go back to Featherweight where he belongs.”
“He looks pretty stupid now.”
“Diaz just gave him a massive reality check, hopefully now he knows his place.”
These comments scream fixed-mindset. Instead of praising the effort and the risk McGregor took by chasing another challenge, these fixed-mindset critics have decided his abilities aren’t good enough for the Welterweight class, and have criticized him for failing.
McGregor’s post-match response, however, perfectly summed up the situation.
“You win or you learn.” – Conor McGregor
McGregor accepted responsibility, stated that he had learnt from the experience, and vowed to return to the division at a later date. Simply by taking the chance to challenge himself shows how in sync with the growth-mindset McGregor is. His post-match comments are further proof.
And,
It’s the same for entrepreneurship. Are there people in your life who tell you it can’t be done? That you’re not good enough? Who criticize you when you fail? Next time somebody says these things to you, analyse who the person is and where they are in their own life. It’s likely that they are unsuccessful and probably working at a dead end job, but they’ll assure you they are just being ‘logical’ and ‘realistic’. These people have a fixed-mindset, and their attitude is like poison. If you identify people like this in your life – run the other way!
The way you respond to failure is also a good indication as to which mindset you have. Do you get depressed and feel sorry for yourself when something goes wrong? Or do you stay positive, learn from it and then move forward as soon as possible?
To adopt the growth-mindset, we need to embrace failure instead of looking at it as something shameful. When you take on challenging tasks again and again, failure is inevitable. But failure is a learning experience, and every time you learn you are growing, developing and becoming the person you need to be to reach success.
I have no doubt that McGregor will continue to be successful in the division he is Champion, and I have full faith that he will return to the Welterweight division one day and be victorious.
I’ve always had a passing interest in the UFC, but lately I’ve been paying a lot more attention to the sport. All because of one man – Conor McGregor. The Irish-born fighter has a strong legion of fans who follow him around the world to watch him fight. He is currently the Featherweight Champion, and most recently made a bold move by going up two weight classes, from 145lbs to 170lbs.
It would be easy to get the wrong idea about McGregor if you’ve ever heard him trash talk his opponents in the lead up to a match. But I believe his in-your-face pre-fight attitude is just a tactic – to not only intimidate his opponents, but also to create buzz around his fights to ensure he continues to break gate records. Despite this, he has always been humble in victory & defeat, and the more I hear McGregor speak, I can’t help but admire him for his dedication and attitude.
After his original opponent withdrew from injury, Nate Diaz, another fighter from the Welterweight class, stepped up on late notice to be McGregor’s opponent. McGregor would lose the match two weeks later, made to submit in the second round.
In Carol Dweck’s book ‘Mindset’, she argues the difference between success and failure boils down to which Mindset the person adopts – the Fixed Mindset or the Growth Mindset.
People with the Fixed Mindset tend to believe their ability and intelligence is fixed and cannot be improved. They avoid challenging tasks due to a fear of failure and are reluctant to learn. If things go wrong, they avoid responsibility and place blame elsewhere.
Those with the Growth Mindset have a strong willingness to learn, and believe that effort is the key ingredient to success. They thrive on challenging tasks, seeing them as a chance to learn and grow. They embrace failure for what is truly is – another chance to learn.
Dweck clearly shows through her research that a Growth Mindset is the key to success throughout life and it’s easy to see that Conor McGregor embodies the Growth Mindset.
Lesson #1: Talent Will Only Get You So Far. Effort & A Willingness To Learn Is The Key to Growth & Success.
“There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all equals as human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that’s that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.” – Conor McGregor
The above quote perfectly encapsulates the Growth Mindset, and demonstrates McGregor's humility, his willingness to learn and his emphasis on effort & hard work. McGregor doesn’t believe he is better than anyone else, and he doesn’t cite talent as the reason for his success. He just works hard. Effort is the most important thing to McGregor and this is why he has been so successful.
Those in the fixed-mindset tend to rely on their talent to carry them to success, believing that if hard work was required it would mean they weren’t talented. It’s this ‘superiority complex’ that sabotages their career and stifles their growth. The case of the highly talented sports star who never quite reaches his or her potential is the perfect example of the fixed mindset. They neglect hard work and effort because they’ve been constantly told their whole lives that they are ‘naturally talented’.
Lesson #2: While Failure Is Disappointing, It Is An Opportunity to Learn. Don’t Make Excuses. Embrace It And Learn From Your Mistakes.
After his defeat to Nate Diaz, the haters came out of the woodwork:
“He’s not good enough for Welterweight, he needs to go back to Featherweight where he belongs.”
“He looks pretty stupid now.”
“Diaz just gave him a massive reality check, hopefully now he knows his place.”
These comments scream fixed-mindset. Instead of praising the effort and the risk McGregor took by chasing another challenge, these fixed-mindset critics have decided his abilities aren’t good enough for the Welterweight class, and have criticized him for failing.
McGregor’s post-match response, however, perfectly summed up the situation.
“You win or you learn.” – Conor McGregor
McGregor accepted responsibility, stated that he had learnt from the experience, and vowed to return to the division at a later date. Simply by taking the chance to challenge himself shows how in sync with the growth-mindset McGregor is. His post-match comments are further proof.
And,
It’s the same for entrepreneurship. Are there people in your life who tell you it can’t be done? That you’re not good enough? Who criticize you when you fail? Next time somebody says these things to you, analyse who the person is and where they are in their own life. It’s likely that they are unsuccessful and probably working at a dead end job, but they’ll assure you they are just being ‘logical’ and ‘realistic’. These people have a fixed-mindset, and their attitude is like poison. If you identify people like this in your life – run the other way!
The way you respond to failure is also a good indication as to which mindset you have. Do you get depressed and feel sorry for yourself when something goes wrong? Or do you stay positive, learn from it and then move forward as soon as possible?
To adopt the growth-mindset, we need to embrace failure instead of looking at it as something shameful. When you take on challenging tasks again and again, failure is inevitable. But failure is a learning experience, and every time you learn you are growing, developing and becoming the person you need to be to reach success.
I have no doubt that McGregor will continue to be successful in the division he is Champion, and I have full faith that he will return to the Welterweight division one day and be victorious.
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