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Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement

Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement

Why Having a Backup Plan Is Making You Fail - Burn the boats with Matt Higgins

Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement · Mar 13, 2026 · 44:53

0:0044:53

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In 1519, Hernán Cortés landed in Mexico and promptly set fire to his own fleet. By any conventional measure of military logistics, this seems profoundly counterproductive. It wasn't.

Matt Higgins — Shark Tank investor, Harvard Business School lecturer, and accidental dropout — has spent his career studying what happens when humans remove their own escape routes. Spoiler: it tends to go rather well, and there's solid science to explain why.

A landmark Wharton study found that merely having a backup plan measurably reduces both your motivation and your likelihood of success. The safety net, it turns out, is cutting the tightrope.



Why the brain mistakes "prudence" for "self-protection" and how to catch it




The four-step process for synthesising your risk tolerance before you commit




How to extract more value from failure than was taken from you






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Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Cortés Burning the Boats01:31 Introducing Matt Higgins04:08 The Problem with Plan B06:11 Managing Risks10:53 When You Should Be Able to Retreat15:18 Why We Should Not Romanticise Failure17:38 Life After Shark Tank24:30 Optimising Strengths vs Improving Weaknesses31:48 Importance of Commitment and Setting Intentions33:47 Inspiring Women37:00 The Investor Anxiety Exchange39:45 Rapid Fire Questions
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Episodes: Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement

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