Change is painful. Change is risking the safety of what one knows to explore the vast unknown. To allow change to intrude into one’s life is to endure discomfort, to endure pain. As difficult as it may be to let go of the familiar, change is a necessity for human development. Without change, there is no growth. Once one decides they have a desire to improve themselves as human beings, they must introspect deeply, and question how their beliefs and mindsets shape their achievements, relationships, and goals for their future. I am willing to do this exact thing, my success in life depends on it. My beliefs and mindsets have truly impacted me as a person. We will explore these impacts by exploring my achievements, my relationships, and lastly, my goals for the future.
Mindsets have played their parts in my personal achievements. One example is when, Sophomore year of High school, I was placed into regular Biology. I requested to be switched into advanced placement, but was dismissed because the only Sophomores allowed in were ones who had taken Biology the year before. Half of the school year flew by, and it all felt like a waste. I got up one day and went to the counselors. I told them if they were not going to put me into AP Biology, I was going to take the test anyway. And so, just a few days after, there I was in advanced placement Biology, an entire semester behind everyone else. Regular Biology was completely effortless for me, so coming into AP, I had a fixed mindset.
“Mindsets are an important part of your personality, but you can change them.”(Dweck 46) Carol Dweck author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success says this because mindsets aren’t permanent and you are able to change your mindset about anything. How you approach things in life and what mindset you use toward it can affect the outcome of what occurs. How you take the results of how you did can affect the future of how you go about doing things. One of the reoccurring themes of the growth mindset is trying a new approach at a goal or a situation that you don’t know how to go about.
Mindset is the ability to either motivate yourself,or hold yourself back. Mindset can be broken down into two categories: fixed and growth. People with a fixed mindset believe the only intelligence they have is what they are born with. They don’t believe that you can keep learning more and more to become more intelligent. People with fixed mindsets are constantly trying to prove their worth, which is why they tend to take it hard if they fail. They put themselves down because they feel that they aren’t good enough. People with growth mindsets, however, are the complete opposite. They don’t get discouraged when they fail, they simply see it as a way of
Once the distinction was made, I was quickly trying to see which category I fell under. However, as I continued to read the experiences of others, I found that I had parts of both mindsets. Also, I found that I have different mindsets for different parts of my life. Personally, I think when it comes to school I have a more fixed type of mindset. My grades are high, but I find myself guilty of often preparing more for the test than actually learning and understanding the material. I often value my grades more than truly becoming a better student from a class. I have avoided certain classes that interested me because they could have possibly brought down my grade point average. For example, I enjoyed the challenges of Advanced Physics, but I did not take the AP course because I did not want to receive a grade that could hurt my class ranking or GPA. Having a fixed mindset with my schooling has limited me and lowered my overall education. However, I do have a growth mindset for many parts of my life as I never give up easily, I am always ready to put in effort, and I know how to accept criticism to make me a better person. Cheerleading is what really taught me growth mindset traits, and these traits eventually found themselves into all parts of my life. By being aware of the mindsets, I can now be more conscious of always having a growth
Though life review and ordinary remembering seem synonymous, the two share very compelling and diverse similarities and differences. Life review and ordinary remembering are similar in that they both deal with recollections of the past from the onset of adolescence. The pivotal difference is that a life review takes a further step and helps the older adult recollect past memories by search for meaning within each experience and tapping into the emotions of those experiences. Ordinary remembering refers to a more informal and objective recollection of past experiences, while life review is the more formal, structural, and subjective examination of past
In many situations the fixed mindset has lead me to failure; in sports, in school etc. It has lead me to failure because, for example, when playing volleyball if the opposing team shows that they aren’t as good at the game
On the other hand, people with a fixed mindset see their abilities as stable traits that will not change no matter how much effort is put in. Those with a fixed mindset believe that what you see is what you get, at least regarding abilities. These individuals are less likely to try new or challenging tasks. Luckily, everyone can change their mindset to
There are two basic mindsets, growth and fixed. Carol Dweck, a world-renowned psychologist from Stanford University, discovered that people who operate in a growth mindset, believe that their simplest abilities can be advanced through commitment and diligent work. Growth mindset people think that their intelligence can be improved, and if they try hard and persevere they will succeed. Growth mindsets are the opposite of fixed mindsets. Fixed mindsets are people who think that they can’t change anything and were born with certain talents. In contrast, people with a fixed mindset imagine that their most fundamental qualities can not be changed and that, without effort, only talent can create
Mindset to me is something that can always be changed depending on your attitude. I do not believe that mindset is something that is fixed, and that you are only as good as your genes allow. I think you can develop new skills or improve any current skills anytime in life as long as you put in the work. In the letter I wrote to a future student I talked about my first real test in college. It was in BIO 105 and I bombed it. When I saw my score the first thing I thought was that I wasn't cut out for college. I was used to not putting much effort in when I was in high school and still doing good. From a little help from my teacher I was able to change my work ethic when it comes to school work. From that point on I've done much better in school
I have always believed that our mindset it what we make it. Those that push themselves and what to achieve more, will. Those that have a fixed mindset will have a hard time achieving what they want. You can look back through history and see whom had a fixed or growth mindset. One examples would be Lucille Ball. She was told when she attended the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts she had “no future at all as a performer,” We all know that this was not the case. In fact, she is an icon that most people know, even though she's been gone for almost 30 years.
This summer, I read Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: The Psychology of Success. Dweck’s work, identifies fixed and growth mindsets. She also explains how mindsets can be reprogrammed.
Sometimes in life it’s the little things that can make someone’s lever move up or down towards the right direction. The book mentioned a few easy ways to change mindsets around you and they were very simple answers. The first one stated “All it took for the hotel maids to lose weight was a short talk about how physically active they were”(Achor, 2010). Another example was “All it took for the Asian women to excel on a math test was a researcher reminding them of their innate intelligence” These 2 statements showed how mindsets affect our performance. They also showed how much of an influence that we can be with different
If you were to write a life review of your own life, where would you begin?
By having a fixed mindset, I didn’t know where to begin or even try to succeed. Then I decided to change upon myself and to start shooting for a goal. Thus, making me more successful in the long run when I actually did all my homeworks and assignments and helping me ace the test. To sum this up, I believe that if you keep your mind to a goal and working to maintain it, you can achieve
Even the most gruesome of challenges is capable of making life changing experiences, despite the setbacks. One of them is the possession of a fixed mindset, which has proven to be harmful and can negatively influence the thought process of an individual. From personal experience, the transition from middle school to high school deemed to be difficult as the exams and expectations became overwhelming. Critical thinking and memorization skills became prominent tactics in order to earn high marks in classes and on exams. However, even the smallest of work habits can create the most effective results. For me, one subject had kept me focusing on the fixed mindset, which led to the cycle of self-doubt.
One's dream and aspirations to supersede in life must be stronger and greater than limitations set forth by others. The experience that were bestowed to me during my short life has elevated me to the woman I am today. Please walk with me as I give you the opportunity to see the world from my eyes: