Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset - DJ MindCoach

Today I just watched a TED talk by Carol Dweck. I’ve never heard of her before, but I’m glad I did. She talked about the comparison of a fixed mindset and a growing mindset. She stated that being in a fixed mindset can effect you mentally and I couldn’t agree more. She really made me think about my own personal mindset and I started to wonder which category I fell into.

Growing up I had a fixed mindset, I thought that if I failed then that would've defined who I was as a person, a failure, but as I grew older I started to realise that this wasn’t the case. I realised that whatever happens, I did my best. My parents never pressured me to do well in school, I just wanted to prove it to myself that I could get good grades. They always told me “All I ask is that you try your best”. This made me less anxious whenever report cards came home from school.

Picking this course was a real confident booster because I always knew I was good at art and so taking away unnecessary subjects like math, science and business made me focus on my career a bit more. Although I’m fairly confident in my ability to create good artwork, I know that if I get a bad grade it is not over, I am still able to try again and hopefully learn from my mistakes. Like what Carol said, you haven’t failed, you just haven’t succeeded “yet”. I thought this message was very powerful and thought provoking.

My personal goal this semester is to maintain or even do better than last year. Although modules will get tougher as the years go on, my main goal is to maintain a growing mindset throughout it all.

I would be very interested in learning more about growth mindset this semester because the world is going through a pandemic at the moment and so it would really be helpful to have a stable and healthy mindset especially during tough times.

If you have the chance to watch Carol Dweck’s TED talk, I would highly recommend it. Here is the link to Carol Dweck’s TED talk.