Sunday, our pastor referred to a book called Mindset by Carol Dwek and offered a quick explanation of it. Intrigued I downloaded the sample of the book on my kindle to see what it was about. From the website:
In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.
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. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.--http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/
I began to think about some ways I was stuck in a fixed mindset and some ways I was already into the growth mindset and then quickly moved on as the week became more intense. But then Tuesday I got a quick live refresher course.
I was on campus at one of our clients. I was riding the elevator going down for a tool I forgot (but I’m not getting old, just preoccupied). On the elevator, there were two students, one male and one female. Once I selected the floor, I dug out my phone to check my emails when the young man reached over and pushed the button I pushed. I looked at him and he said, “Oh I’ve found that you need to verify that the button actually lights up, yours didn’t so I pressed it again for you.” Impressed at his thoughtfulness, I said, “So I’ll bet that’s happened to you before and it’s really frustrating.” He said, “Yes, it was the first time but then I learned to check. Lots of change going on my first semester so I just added it to my list.”
He got off the next floor and I was thinking about what I saw. I explained to the young lady, “That was a great illustration of the book Mindset.” I gave her a short synopsis of the book (it’s a really slow elevator) and she said, “I need to be more like that.”
Now two things I wonder about. 1: With that attitude, I wonder what amazing things that young man will accomplish. 2: I wonder if that young lady will begin to adopt a more Growth mindset.