GROWTH MIND-SET
What Is Growth Mind-set?
Carol Dweck is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation. She focuses on why people succeed and how to foster this success in schools.
In her research on motivation and achievement, Dweck introduces the idea of Mind-set. Mind-sets are beliefs about yourself and your basic qualities such as your intelligence, your talents and your personality.
People with a fixed mind-set believe that their traits are just given to them so people with this mind-set worry about how adequate or inadequate they are instead of developing their traits. They believe that their talent alone creates success- without effort and they are reluctant to take on challenges.
People with a growth mind-set, on the other hand see their traits as just the starting point and that these can be developed by dedication, hard work and effort.
The term ‘growth mind-set’ refers to a way of thinking, learning and taking on challenges. A person with a growth mind-set is open to constructive criticism, takes feedback and uses it, takes on new challenges, pushes themselves outside of their comfort zone and shows resilience and perseverance.
Studies show that it is people with a growth mind-set (as opposed to a fixed mind-set) who achieve in life, are successful in all they do and are happy.
Some key aspects of Growth Mind-set
- Place effort before talent
- Use the word ‘yet’. I can’t do this – ‘YET’!
- Remember it’s always OK to make mistakes – learn from them
- Never give up! Try a different approach, or use a different strategy
- View challenges as opportunities
- Learn from each other and embrace failure
- Review your failures and mistakes
- Seek constructive criticism
- Don’t compare ourselves with others, but do learn from others
- Challenge yourself – this will help you make progress
- Take risks – don’t limit yourself by taking the easy option
- Join in as much as possible – you learn much more by being involved
- Mastering something new feels so much better than doing something you can already do
- Make a new goal for every goal accomplished
- Value the process, rather than the end result
Grow Your Brain: a collection of helpful literature and useful resources!
Useful Websites:
https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve
http://www.mindsetworks.com/default.aspx
http://afineparent.com/mindset/growth-mindset-introduction.html
How parents can help at home - https://www.mindsetkit.org/growth-mindset-parents