Nurturing a Growth Mindset to succeed

I have always been one to keep to myself. I wouldn't consider myself a complete introvert, but when it comes to school I tend to show up to class, go home and do my work without much interaction between classmates and my professors. While reading Carol Dweck's book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success I realized how destructive this attitude was to my success in classes. As far as my intelligence I had a very fixed mindset. As Dr. Dweck explains it a fixed mindset it believing that our attributes and abilities are fixed, not able to grow or diminish. She outlines that one symptom of having a fixed mindset is the fear of proving to yourself and others that you are not as great as you might appear to be or believe yourself to be. I never thought myself to be the smartest in a classroom, but I do hold the fear that someone might decide that I am not very smart due to a dumb question I asked or a concept I am not understanding. This resulted in my attitude of keeping to myself, attending class and doing all the work on my own. 

Since reading Mindset: The New Psychology of Success I have been trying to nurture the idea that I am not dumb if I ask questions. Because of this effort I feel that I am succeeding in a class that I otherwise know I would be failing otherwise. I have not historically been amazing in my math classes but I have been applying myself and connecting with my classmates in an attempt to truly understand the content of my Math Stats class. At the end of my days I ask myself, "Did I ask for help if I needed it". This plus the other questions on the attached poster are helping me to nurture a growth mindset with the hope of succeeding in my classes and in my life goals. 

Comments

  1. Kassandra BarreraFebruary 28, 2019 at 12:38 PM

    I can relate to this so much! I can sometimes be an introvert myself and I feel like I just have the need to go to class and go home and do my homework. But now that I am in the TRAIN program has really helped me grow and it has helped me reach out to my community. One big think I was also afraid was asking questions, now I am a more comfortable asking questions. Thank you so much for sharing this, I know I am not alone, but sometimes it feels like it! I really like these 15 questions to ask myself, very helpful!

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