Growth Mindset

(Image sourced from Robert Cullen's Tweet posted earlier this morning)

Before this assignment I had never heard of Carol Dweck and this idea of growth mindset. However, after watching the two videos I realized that growth mindset is not a new concept in society, the term has just never been coined before.


I think humans innately know that we need to challenge ourselves in our relationships, in our workplaces, and especially in our comfort zones, it’s just a matter of actually doing it. I think Carol Dweck is onto the idea that Growth Mindset and challenging out minds needs to be enforced in schools otherwise we won’t do it. Most people need that extra push in order to do so.


My favorite this Professor Dweck said in her ted talk was “Praise the Process, not the end result.” As a creative person, this is something that I have come to know and live by. One of my favorite things to do is write and I know that in my writing there is a process that takes place. In my writing classes I’ve come to know and love the process it takes to create a blog. However, this does not translate well when I focus on courses that involves numbers.


When it comes to math or business related courses I get trapped in the mindset of now. I don’t appreciate the difficult process it takes to find the end result of an equation because I have trained my brain that I am not a math person, thus making me a failure at all math related things. This goes directly against the Growth mindset that Professor Dweck is so passionate about.


I believe growth mindset is something that I would be more interested in getting to know and understand, as it is applicable to everyday life. This semester I already feel like I am growing my brain just by figuring out the groove of each of my classes. I have a multitude of online classes, I’m skyping with professors who teach out of New York, and I’m getting used to the different online platforms that my professors are choosing to use.


Growth mindset is key in our learning abilities. I think that everyone deserves to know that they have value and worth even when things don’t go as planned. There is joy to be found in the journeys and the process it takes to get to an end result. Whether that end result be a math problem, a creative writing piece, or just to a turning point in ones life.