Growth Mindset , The good and the bad...

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source: Metrifit

Before taking this module I had never heard of Carol Dweck before, thus being my first time listening to her work. Straight off the bat, I commented to myself that she has a lovely mellow speaking voice which I found exceptionally easy to listen to as explained the growth mindset.

She approached sharing her message in a different perspective than I have heard other people explain before. She went on to describe the difference between the two main mindsets in which the majority of us were raised. These mindsets are the “fixed” and “growth” mindsets.

The first mindset “fixed “ explained how children that are raised receiving constant praise and appreciation for their natural talents rather than hard work tend to breeze through the early stages of life thinking that they do not need to work for anything because they have been told by everyone around them that they are a “natural”.They are simply “gifted”.

This works fine when they are children but as they grow up, the natural talents tend to fall into the background and since the child has never worked for anything before, the second things become difficult for them they do not know how to deal with it and they start to fall behind their hardworking working piers who get ahead as a result of being raised with the growth mindset.

The growth mindset is a method of praising hard work in children rather than overpraising any natural talents. Instead of raising the child into thinking that they are a gifted child, the child is raised to understand that they are equal to their peers and that hard work and trying their best is the way to succeed. Although the child initially may fail or not do as well as their counterparts, they are raised with the mindset to try again and again, and eventually, as they grow, they significantly improve in every aspect of their work, until all of a sudden the are ten miles ahead of everybody else. Not because of their talents but because of their mindset.

These children grow into teenagers and adults who work hard for their goals, who understand that failure does not mean giving up and they do not crave reward or appraisal for their accomplishments, they simply live for themselves and their own goals. They do not rely on anybody else for their success but themselves.

                                                                 TED Talk presentation by Carol Dweck

In the video that I have attached above, you will see a  presentation by Carol Dweck where she explores the two mindsets and explains it in a phrase that I feel captures the essence of the overall message so powerfully yet so tremendously simple.

Dweck says, “We have already raised a generation of young workers that can’t get through the day without an award”.

That quote struck home with me as I find myself constantly needing approval from my peers and family as I go about my life.

My entire childhood I was always ahead of my class and was told by teachers that I was a natural in class and my parents should be proud. Of course, they were but as I grew up I found myself not working hard yet expecting the same results. I wanted everything in life to be easy and fun and as the workload got harder I had never pushed myself before so to cope I hid from the work and fell behind. It wasn’t until recently I discovered how capable I truly am when I put in the effort.

I am slowly coming out of the fixed mindset and found this topic extremely interesting and so personal.

It is a tough cycle to break when it is all you have been raised to believe, but the first time you see the results after that hard work, it’s like an adrenaline shot and you only want to work harder.

I absolutely want to dive into this topic deeper and understand this on a more meaningful level, not only for academic purposes but for personal purposes as well . This information is so beneficial to everyone and it has already opened my eyes so much to habits I never knew I had.