Role of Mindset in Personal Growth

There are two different types of mindsets that everyone possesses- a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Growth mindset is when one believes that intelligence and success can be achieved through someone’s own personal effort. Psychologist, Carol Dweck, was the one who developed the concept of growth mindset and in her article Brainology she states, “And they understand that even Einstein wasn't Einstein until he put in years of focused hard work.” showing the key to growth mindset is effort.

Having a growth mindset helps one to establish success in school, our growing relationship with new technologies, and athletics.

Most parents and educators tell students that education comes first before any extracurricular or outside activities because school is an important aspect in everyone’s lives as it helps to set us up for our future. Whether it is learning about life skills or mathematical problems to solve complex equations we must have a growth mindset to do so. Having a growth mindset in school will only help to further achieve greatness in your education and life after school.

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“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point.” said Dweck. Dweck shows that naturally being good at school isn’t what makes someone successful in their education. It is the work that the student puts into their education that makes them successful. In school, we are always told to put in our most effort because it will help us excell in the future, the actual effort that you decide to put into school is your growth mindset.

In today’s day and age most humans have to pursue an education and get a degree if they want to make it further in life like getting a job, our growth mindset is what helps us to do so. If the student is to have a growth mindset then they use all of their challenges, failures, and difficulties in setting forth a way to become more educated and strive through all of those obstacles that they might face. Not only is it the students own self to establish a growth mindset, but it is the student’s educators own encouragement that starts as a basis for the students. “Studies on different kinds of praise have shown that telling children they are smart encourages a fixed mindset, whereas praising hard work and effort cultivates a growth mindset” (Mindsetworks.com). Our very own teachers and professors being communicative and social with us influence us to understand that it takes a growth mindset to make achievements in the classroom setting, it isn’t about declaring whether you are smart or not smart. In an article by Bradley Busch, a registered psychologist, he says, “The majority (86%) of children praised for their intelligence asked for information about how their peers did on the same task. Only 23% of children who had been praised for effort asked for this type of feedback – most of them asked for feedback about how they could do better.” Many students might lose focus on having a growth mindset due to a few low scores on a test or quiz, but it is seen historically through social and observational testing that when someone such as a teacher interacts with the student on the positive outcomes that can be achieved through their efforts then the student retains their growth mindset. In school it takes the influence of both yourself and your teachers to help establish a successful grasp of your own growth mindset.

Growth mindset has also recently been seen to have a vast impact on the growing relationship with the new advancements in technology over the past years. Today almost all of society is run by different forms of technology since it has developed greatly in the past forty years or so and new forms of technology are being created all the time; therefore, our own minds have to keep up with the consistent change in technology and all of the new inventions. In having a growth mindset with the evolution of new technologies it allows us to use these new devices to discover new concepts and come up with new perceptions of different things. In the setting of work and school, technology has helped for many to expand their growth mindsets with new programs and ways of completing task. In an article by Jim Taylor he says “ What is clear is that, as with advances throughout history, the technology that is available determines how our brains develops.” Historically in the past such advanced technology was not available, so people in school or at work would have to read books or complete task by hand and not by the help of some form of technology which would help to further their growth mindset. From studies done by many researchers and technology writers, it has been seen that when using technology people become more engaged and their attention is focused on completing that task in which they are using technology. For example, in school using a computer or tablet to do work helps to show a student that they are completing the task and in the end it has the ability to tell them what they have gotten wrong right away and can step by step show them how to solve the problem drawing in the students attention do the problem directly after doing the work. With the evolution of technology it can be said that the growth mindset of individuals is increasing with the ability to discover and develop new ideas and successes.

Lastly, having a growth mindset in athletics plays a major factor into performance and interactive abilities. When having a growth mindset in athletics, the athlete has a better chance in believing in their abilities and helps to improve their skills. Athletes who possess a growth mindset have the ability to think of things such as: improving skills, that skills occur due to hard work, challenges help to test skills, learn from feedback, setbacks are a learning experience, and that effort is a needed skill (Gregg article). From research done, Dweck showed that “Almost 40% of the students in the fixed mindset, perhaps feeling that their poor scores were a reflection of their permanent ability, lied about their scores. Only 13% of those in the growth mindset saw fit to falsify their performance.” Through the research that has been done it is seen that those who fulfill a growth mindset over a fixed mindset in athletics performance is better. In athletics however, there are also social skills that come into a factor. You have to be able to interact with teammates and coaches. Athletes have better attention skills when communicating to their coaches and teammates as they have a growth mindset because they want to be able to improve on any skill or aspect of their sport. It is commonly known that to an athlete their own coaches and teammates are the ones who mentor and help to improve; therefore, athletes are willing to put in extra time and effort to look over reviews and practice extra skills to improve their performance showing that they are using a growth mindset. Having a growth mindset as an athlete helps to improve the way a player performs.

In conclusion, growth mindset plays a major role in helping for an individual to grow and succeed whether it is in the school environment, with the evolving advancements in technology, or in athletics. It takes individuals to be communicative with others and put in their own effort to have the achievement of their own growth mindset. Having a growth mindset is your own choice, you can either decide to put in the effort to achieve your goals or you can decide to be someone who does nothing to exceed in your skills.