For my first blog post at CCSC, I’d like to share an amazing concept with you that I was introduced to at the end of last year. I feel like this idea is not only relevant to our college’s vision and values, but also to each of us as individuals in so many aspects of life.
Dr Carol S. Dweck is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University who has extensively researched our implicit theories of intelligence. Her 2006 book titled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success explores the idea that our mindsets are closely linked to our achievements.
According to Dweck, people can be placed on a continuum according to their viewpoints on where abilities come from. Some have a “Fixed Mindset” and believe that the achievement of success is reliant on the innate capabilities that we are born with. Others have a “Growth Mindset” and believe that abilities and intelligence can be developed over time with continued effort, practice and perseverance.
After learning about these ideas, I began to reflect on my own mindset. When I thought about it, I realised that as a child, I most definitely had a Fixed Mindset towards learning and achievement. Although I did quite well in college, I was never very confident to challenge myself and would often give up on things if I couldn’t do them straight away.
Reflecting further, I realised that I now have much more of a Growth Mindset and began to consider how my thoughts have changed over time. It didn’t take long for me to identify that my life experiences had actually helped me to develop a different kind of “inner script” that saw a change in the language that appeared within my thoughts. Further reading revealed that this idea was actually a very important aspect of developing a Growth Mindset:
The things we “say” to ourselves are obviously extremely important when it comes to the development of a Growth Mindset (as is praise, but that might be addressed in a future post). The most exciting thing about this is that it may be possible to influence a change in our own, our students’ and our children’s mindsets through the teaching and practise of different self-talk.
Dweck suggests that a great place to begin may be with one very tiny but very powerful word…
“Yet” can change the impossible into something very achievable:
“I can’t ride a bike… yet.”
“I don’t know how to read… yet.”
“I’m not good at Maths… yet.”
Encouraging ourselves, our students and our children to use this word may allow a shift in mindset through the empowerment of self and a commitment to perseverance. “Yet” can remind us that failure is not the end of an opportunity, but rather a necessary step on the long and rocky pathway to success.
Perhaps it’s time to consider your own mindset. Are you are already of a Growth Mindset? Do you know that failure is a necessary part of improvement? Do you recognise that challenges are necessary to overcome in the pursuit of success? Or are you just not of this mindset…yet?
Adrianne says
Great little article. I’ve just started tertiary study from a very long study break and found that my mindset is so different from even a few years ago. Giving our children this growth mindset and developing ourselves to think that way is a worthwhile effort and now I have a few tools to keep me on track.