We talked about growth mindset a little bit in a UCOL class I took freshman year, but it was really just the advisors saying to focus on progress without mentioning the science, and it didn't really stick with me. I'm not sure about elementary school, but in middle school and definitely high school I had a fixed mindset in regards to learning. I was one of those kids that was told how smart I was from the time I learned to read. I never had the slowly falling grades that the studies show, but my adolescence was spent not trying terribly hard because I didn't have to in order to do well. The way I saw it, I couldn't get higher than an A, so why put in any extra effort? Then college happened and I all but failed my first semester, mostly because only doing the bare minimum of high school work doesn't at all prepare you for homework that takes more than thirty minutes to do. My perspective and my GPA have grown a lot from that point of failure, but I definitely still struggle with aspects of a fixed mindset. I know how to deal with failure now, and I can push through when it happens, but I'm still terrified of looking incompetent in the first place. Sometimes it can be hard to find motivation, too.
That picture is cheesy, but it's the kind of self-talk I'm aiming for. I'm excited to learn more about growth mindset and to try and implement it. I really want to overcome my fear of failure so I can be more open to trying things outside of my comfort zone. For a lot of high school, I had this idea that if I wasn't going to be naturally awesome at something, or at least on the same level as the people around me, there was no point in doing it. I missed out on a lot of opportunities with that thinking, and I don't want to graduate next year feeling like I did the same in college.
Hey Taylor! The first step to changing your mindset is acknowledge that it's fixed. It's hard to change things that you're blind to, but now that you acknowledge how you want to think -- you can definitely start practicing it! I agree that overcoming the fear of failure leads to more opportunities. We're in the moment now, so it's important to remember that you won't want to regret your mindset throughout college in the future. Channel your inner growth mindset, you can do it!
ReplyDeleteHi, Taylor!
ReplyDeleteI think you've shared an experience here with which many people can identify! I was definitely the high school student who did not have to put forth much effort to succeed in school, and that caught up with me in college. I feel that I have developed a better work ethic since then, but I am still not where I would like to be as far as a growth mindset goes. I agree that the self-talk you list above is cheesy, but sometimes, I think those sorts of direct statements do so much to get us through hardship. As I graduate this year, I am really hoping that I can be more confident in holding a growth mindset, as I think that's necessary for successful adulthood.