My Mind & Me

Selena Gomez said it best when she said,

"My mind and me, we don't get along sometimes..."

Do you ever feel like you cannot quite keep the thoughts in your head under control? As I started this journey with the ADL, I found myself really struggling to keep my focus on learning and growing and not being hyper focused on grades, on performance.

As I read through Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, I was challenged by Dweck's (2007) idea that a Growth Mindset is more than the power of positive thinking. She shares over and over again how those with a Growth Mindset are focused more on the process over the end results and how they have grown and learned. She also addresses how we need to stop preaching the "just try your best" mantra that we are always (well meaningly) telling our students. We do not want them getting this idea that as long as you try it is all good. It is about what did you gain from that experience? What did you learn? You may have not received the best GRADE, but can you tell me what you learned? Did you learn a lesson about not waiting to the last minute? Did you learn how to work with others? The questions you could ask here are endless, but it goes well beyond, "Did you try your best?".

You may think that with my opening discussing grades I was not receiving the best grades... That's not true. I actually received very good grades, but I was so upset by the few minor things I lost points on that I could not even see all of the amazing things I had done and in spite of some very overwhelming and upsetting personal circumstances happening at the time. I learned to work through trials and that I can do hard things in the midst of tragedy and heartache.

The fixed mindset definitely still shows up, frequently, but I have learned how to deal with it. It helps to remind myself how Growth Mindset brains even look different on an fMRI than fixed ones do. It encourages me that the brain CAN change and also that we have so much power over our thoughts.

Even though my mind and I may be fighting about which mindset to have, I am hopeful that with more practice the Growth Mindset will grow stronger and become more natural.

Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Ballantine Books.