Growth Mindset: Difficult Roads Lead to Beautiful Destinations

 

An inspirational quote relating to the Growth Mindset 

(Photo by Hello I'm Nick on Unsplash)

This was the first time I had ever encountered Carol Dweck and the concept of the "Growth Mindset," and my mind was honestly blown listening to her TED Talk. I grew up in a very fixed mindset household and school setting. It was always "make a 100% on every assignment, make an A in every class, and be the absolute best at everything" from my parents. Until coming into college, that was all I ever knew – essentially, you were perfect or you weren't good enough and not the best person you could be.

While I have slowly switched out of that mindset, I honestly did think it made me into the person I am today for the better. Like I talked about in my introduction post, I'm an enneagram 3, who thrives on getting things done and making everything as good as it can be. I always get work done on time, no matter what it is, and I've managed to keep a 3.95 GPA throughout college, and I don't think this would have happened if I wasn't raised and pushed like how I was for all of my younger years.

I'm not at all saying that the fixed mindset is wrong or that the growth mindset is not the way to raise up a child, because I do see both having good and bad sides to them, much like everything in the world does. Personally, just for me, I do not think I would thrive/have thrived in a growth mindset situation growing up. Based on how I'm wired, I need a hard-core schedule, deadlines and guidelines to follow. But, out of all of that, I have grown into who I am today, where I've learned to cut myself some slack and reach the "not yet" point, like in the growth mindset.

I chose the photo used above based off of the quote because I think it relates to the concept of growth mindset, in that when she talked about needing a challenge instead of making things easy. When things are hard, you grow SO much and learn things about yourself you never thought you would. And, the growth mindset teaches you that while you might not instantly get where you want to be, you'll always end up in a beautiful destination.

After learning just a small amount about the growth mindset for this assignment, I definitely plan on doing a little more research. I'm a sociology major, so things about humans and how they interest and make decisions sociologically intrigues me so much. I'm also going to start looking for more ways to implement the growth mindset concept in and out of my schoolwork, internship, and even relationships.