Carol S. Dweck
✄ ✄ ✄ | Since I began school, I've always lived with the idea that there were people with abilities that no one else had. For instance, intelligent students as well as students who got low grades. With this vision, I actually thought that being smart was no choice, either you were born intelligent, or you were simply born without this ability. I was pretty skeptical and I based my thoughts in stereotypes. I saw how a couple of students got a 5.5 as an average, but only one or two got a 7.0; that was "impossible". As soon as I met someone with a 7.0 as an average, he was automatically a genius, not that the other students weren't, it was just that I had the idea that a 7.0 was BRILLIANT --which is-- , the student was born to get good grades. |
After relaxing for a couple of days, I've started reading "mindset" by Carol S. Dweck, which talks about the new psychology of success. Just by reading the first chapter, I've clearly understood the concept of having to possible MINDSETS: FIXED vs. GROWTH Regarding the idea of both mindsets, they are very simple, yet there is so much to explain and to elaborate about them. Many people probably are not aware about how the mindsets work, but there is an entire theory behind these, and it is extremely important to understand them in order to be "positively successful" in life. "I don't divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures... I divide the world into the learners and non learners" |
Fixed Mindset The fixed mindset is basically the common mindset that you are trained to since an early age. It is a mindset that basically refers to people that once they fail when trying they quit, they don't believe in the idea that they might get better. In other words, if at first you don't succeed, you probably don't have the ability. You are not capable of changing how you are. "Believing that your qualities are carved in stone -- the fixed mindset -- creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over" | Growth Mindset The growth mindset is when people stretch themselves to get better even when things are not working as they thought. Basically, when they use failure as a tool, and they are willing to learn from their errors. It's people, capable of changing a little bit no matter their abilities, they are willing to change substantially certain things about themselves. "The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts" |
--is there a wrong or right answer as to which mindset should you have?--
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As I've been analyzing each mindset, I've found out that I have both a growth and a fixed mindset. This might seem impossible, yet this happens because I think differently depending on the situation; sometimes I'm scared of taking risks, but at the same time I'm not scared of trying new things. What I've noticed is that I would like to switch that piece of a fixed mindset into a growth mindset. A solution is definitely to try new things. From now on, I need to accept any type of failure, learn from it, and then iterate with the same activity. I want to try to master what I once couldn't. |
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