A Mindset for Success Everybody has a mindset and it is up to each individual on how they apply it to their own life. Dr. Carol Dweck’s inspiring novel Mindset: The New Psychology of Success explores the differences between a fixed and growth mindset. Before reading this book I had no idea as to what the difference was between the mindsets. So, for some background, a fixed mindset is where someone believes that a person cannot learn new things. As Dr. Dweck puts it, “human qualities [are] carved in stone. You were smart or you weren’t, and failure meant you weren’t” (Dweck 4). On the other hand, a growth mindset is where a person continues to grow as they age. They also do not believe in failure as it is actually learning. Dr. Dweck …show more content…
She starts off the book by asking a series of questions so the reader can identify with a certain mindset. I thought this was helpful as it allows the reader to determine which mindset they currently have and how they can change or continue to have that mindset. As the author says throughout the book, “you can change your mindset” therefore if you did happen to lean more towards the fixed mindset you could easily change it by focusing towards the growth mindset (Dweck 14). Next, Dr. Dweck explores the ideas of labels and how by changing a few words it affects the individual later. In one group she praises them for being smart. However in the other group, she tells them they must have worked hard to do well. The difference between the fixed and growth mindset lies in those few words: smart and work hard. The students who were told they were smart did not want to tarnish that label. They rejected challenges and new …show more content…
I enjoyed the way she had so much evidence to back up her claims. She consistently had studies that showed how each mindset affected the students’ outcome of learning. However, her experiments about the fixed versus growth mindset had me puzzled. In her experiments she would get half the group thinking the way of the growth mindset and the other half thinking in the fixed mindset. I found myself asking throughout the story, if those kids which were fed the fixed mindset would be harmed. In other words would they be able to change back into the growth mindset or would they be permanently stuck in the fixed mindset? I feel like the kids future was not worth all the evidence she provided. From the reading standpoint, I believe that all her research was good. It made her novel extremely convincing. Before reading Mindset, I did not think about my mindset. I went through life attempting to do my best at everything. I am a perfectionist and therefore it is hard for me when I am wrong. However, I used my will to succeed to push on and do the things I want to accomplish. Now, after reading this book I can look at my mindset in a new way. I can focus more on attempting new challenges and giving effort rather than trying to be right about everything. This will help me to not only grow as a person, but try more things that I may not have done before. I thought the author did a great job at covering all
There are many differences for me between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. First, I think having a growth mindset means that you are willing put in the time and dedication to do something. Then having a fixed mindset to me means that if something is challenging you give up and quit. In addition, having a growth mindset means you want to learn new things even if you know they are challenging. At my job this affects me a ton.
During that time in my life, I was healing from brain lesions that caused me to have slow processing speed. The public school, understandably, could not slow down its curriculum to wait for me to heal. As I read this book, I related to Melody and her struggles. Beyond that, this book taught me how to look outside of myself. It showed me that people tend to be more than they appear.
There are two known mindsets, a fixed mindset, and a growth mindset. The two may sound similar, but they are quite different. A growth mindset is a good mindset; it allows you to believe in yourself, it lets you try new things, and it helps you never give up. On the other hand there is the fixed mindset; this mindset is one that everyone has on some part or aspect of their life. A fixed mindset, as it sounds, makes your thoughts stay fixed about something; for example if someone is not good at math they might say that they are not a math person.
Carol Dweck, the author of the book entitled “Mindset”, did a great job of portraying her inquisitive thoughts throughout the book. Also, the book was informative and made me wonder about my “mindset” and my life in the future. Dweck, throughout the book, explains that mindsets start early as a child and perseveres into adulthood. She explains that this mindset can drive many aspects of our lives going from parenting and being in relationships to sports, school, and work. Most of the book which stands out to me, is the author’s encouragement to her readers, that anyone can change their mindset at any time, age, or state of mind in their life.
The meaning of having a growth mindset can mean many things such as dedication and hardwork development. When putting both together to succeed can be amazing because in order have intelligence you have to be hardworking and dedicated. According to Carol Dweck's essay she stated "yet those people with the growth mindset were not labeling themselves and throwing up their hands(pg70)" meaning even people who knew they were intelligent(gritty) weren't using it. The advantages of having a growth mindset is it creates motivation and not only that you would be very productive when it comes to business,education and sports it also makes relationships better.
According to Dweck, when a student has a growth mindset they are set up to become smart while a fix mindset would lead them to failure. To support her claims, Dweck uses studies she has conducted, although the studies were indeed related to her argument, some pieces of her evidence were not convincing. Essentially, Dweck argues that having growth mindset, as opposed to a fix mindset, automatically will make a student smarter; however the human mind is more
The growth mindset believes that their potential intelligence comes from learning, while the fixed mindset thinks they only have a certain amount of intelligence. Along with their differences in learning, these students also have a difference in school priorities. The students with the fixed mindset only cared how smart they would appear and turned down opportunities that were critical to their success. Students with the growth mindset thought about their efforts, and when they work harder it will show in their abilities and accomplishments. I agree with this because everyone will react differently to a setback, especially if they already react differently to education.
Dweck explains, “This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts” (p. 76). In other words Dweck means that people with a growth mindset feel that their traits can develop and change if they work towards a task. An event that happens does not define a person or reflects who they are; there is always room for improvement. In the beginning of last school year I was put into Spanish class. I did my work as usual but I noticed that I was way behind and lost, considering the fact that I last had Spanish two years ago.
A growth mindset is when people appreciate a challenge, they don’t mind failing. The person would rather fail and learn from their mistake then keep
When they do make mistakes or reveal deficiencies, rather than correct, they try to hide the mistakes.” Dweck says this about a growth mind-set “By contrast in growth mind-set, students care about learning. When they make mistakes or exhibit a deficiency they correct it, for them effort is a positive thing.” For instance, my brother has a fixed mind-set and my cousins has a growth mind-set, they have many similarities and differences. My brother has a fixed mind-set because he doesn’t try very hard in school.
In the article “ Brainology: Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn” by, Carol S. Dweck, she differentiates the two different kinds of mindsets that students have when learning. Those mindsets are fixed and growth. A student with a fixed mindset has the mentality that every student has a substantial amount of intelligence. However, a student with a growth mindset realizes their intelligence is through learning. Students with a fixed mindset tend to give up once they make a mistake, but students with growth mindsets learn from their mistakes.
In life, having your own experiences and behavior corrections is what sets your mindset, being fixed or growth. What you develop as a kid practically follows you and it is there for the rest of your life. This is one of the most important things we’ve talked about in class in my
It taught me that strength and perseverance can make a significant impact in life. I also learned that forgiveness and the ability to forgive is much more powerful than I ever realized. This novel sucked me into the story and its characters and took me on an emotional ride of highs and lows. Finally, it forced me to reevaluate my previous judgement of the homeless.
The Mindset “Although people may differ in every which way- in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments- everyone can change and grow through application and experience.” Does the people that an individual is surrounded by have an impact on someone developing a growth mindset? For years people have been wondering why people think and act differently from each other. In the article “The Mindsets,” Carol Dweck talks about two different types of mindsets that she has studied for thirty years.
Reading this book made me realize how easily we accept things without ever questioning them. As we grow up, we grow out of the stage where we question everything we see or hear. This might be because we are learning things in school or have access to it on the Internet; however, it is at this point when we start to accept being complacent with the easy answer. Three questions that stood out to me while reading were; “what can a question do?; why are you climbing the mountain?; and, what if