Last year I was blessed enough to be contracted as an instructor for an international school that allows individuals to earn certificates and degrees online. One of my tasks is to check assignments and offer feedbacks on how each student under my advisory should improve in their writing and life skills. Yes, you read it right, life skills. I think that is the unique thing about this international school that I am affiliated with, they include in their curriculum life skills such as time management, financial education, correct mindset and religion. The philosophy behind it as I have understood is, when students are able to take care of their individual lives, that is, if they are able to set things in order at home, they will most probably become better students or even at their best selves at the academic field.
Today I would want to share one of the things that I learned as I served as a contract instructor. I am sharing this for the purpose of helping each of us here excel in our individual lives too. I am talking about, growth mindset. As I have understood it, growth mindset is the type of mindset that a person has in which he or she believes that every difficult circumstance can help him or her grow. When a person has this type of mindset, he sees a difficult time as an opportunity to grow and improve and not as a circumstance to punish him or her. An example of a situation where a growth mindset is manifested would be; a student who finds Math very difficult but keeps on trying to learn and study it despite the difficulty that he or she experienced. It can also be seen in a writer who tries and tries to get his or her article right despite the difficulty or an artist who continues to create his masterpiece despite the many difficult times he has been through. In simple terms, growth mindset is a type of mindset that says, “I will continue to strive, no matter what.”
Now, you might be wondering, what could be the opposite of a growth mindset? Well, the opposite to growth mindset is fixed mindset. From the term itself it suggests, stagnant and unprogressive. When the person has a fixed mindset, he thinks that his abilities are fixed and that he can never improve. Having this type of mindset will lead someone to think that he or she can never reach his or her goals and that he or she will never amount to someone in this life. For example, if you have a growth mindset you might say something like; “I will never learn how to play the piano or “I will never excel at school or maybe something like, “He is successful because he is born intelligent”. Obviously, this type of mindset impedes growth and progress.
Why is having growth mindset a good suggestion for all of us? Well, I think this is not a good suggestion but rather, it is the best suggestion! Having the first type of mindset-growth mindset, will help you find more opportunities of growth and improvement. It will bring you out of your comfort zone and it will bring you to places you have never been, including things you have never done, which will lead you to success you have never yet experienced. It will also help you change the view you once had about yourself and your capabilities. You will then see your self as someone capable of doing all the good things that you imagined doing. You will realize that the only thing that is stopping you from achieving your dreams and goals is YOU. Fixed mindset can be so limiting that it can lead someone to believe that he is destined to be a loser for the rest of his life. So, beware of that time of mindset.
Now, a question might be asked, how and where do I begin so that I will have that growth mindset? Well, you must begin in your mind, begin by changing the way you think about you. I am not a psychologist to recommend this trick, but I have seen its power in many occasions that I have tried it for myself. When I change the way, I think of myself and others, things around me changes. When I change the way I look at situations, so many other things change along with it. So yes, begin in the mind, slowly change the way you think of yourself and other people.
I can never thank Professor Carol Dweck who proposed these types of mindset along with his speech about the Power of Yet in a Ted Talk. The many article and books she wrote helped me in understanding the wonderful effects of this mindset and the many wonderful change it gives to anyone who seeks to apply it in his or her life.
I hope you learned something good from this one. May you choose to have a growth mindset than a fixed one.
Yes that's right. A growth mindset is always better. Actually I learned more of that in the BPO industry. Haha. The training we received and also the things I experienced at work and outside of it started the growth mindset in my mind. Actually if we experience a lot of hardships that's when people should be able to learn how to grow and take it as a learning experience.
Unfortunately not everyone is able to grasp and realize that on their own. Even if you tell them, some people will just choose to ignore you. Not everyone knows how to face and deal with difficult situations and so those are the ones who just give up on themselves. Those are the people most likely to get involved with drugs, alcohol or depression instead. That's the hardest situation to see, especially if it's a family member who continues to spiral down and waste their life away instead of using the hardships they experienced to improve and become a better person.