About Growth Mindset
Recently I've been exposed to growth mindset — Thanks to my psychologist!
Growth mindset was first developed by Dr Carol Dweck, a Stanford professor of Psychology, in an experiment where she had two groups of kids doing several kinds of puzzles. In one group, once the kids had finished a puzzle, they were praised with compliments reinforcing their intelligence: “You’re so smart”. On the other group, once they finished the puzzle the kids were praised on their effort with comments like: “How hard you’ve worked”. To watch a more detailed speech from Dr Carol herself and this experiment, click here.
More important, the study showed once the ‘smart’ kids finished a puzzle, they were afraid to start a more difficult one because if they were not able to finish it, it would mean they were ‘no longer smart’ and shatter their belief on themselves, while the hardworking group was excited to start a more challenging puzzle, since they believed if they pushed hard enough, eventually they would be able to complete it.
This is very important and it was an eye-opening moment for me since quite often I feel myself stuck or afraid of taking a risk because failing at it would mean ‘I’m no longer smart’ and this leads to me staring at my own dreams go by without pursuing them — like this blog.
This was also evident for me watching the 2020 olympics at Tokio and watching several athletes from Venezuela get medals at their competitions. It is admirable as I know the situation the country is right now and seeing this athletes power through all odds and get these results, it makes you realize there’s no limits at what human beings can accomplish, despite where are you from or how were you raised.
Throughout my life I’ve been guilty of thinking after seeing some other people’s successes ‘They are different’, ‘they are more capable’ or worse, diminishing myself for not being able to focus on a project as my idols did. If you’re like me, please stop right now. You’re valuable, you’re precious. You can accomplish anything you set your mind on as long as you keep pushing forward, regardless of your conception of yourself or being ‘not smart enough’.
"PEOPLE SOMETIMES SHY AWAY from taking big swings because they assess the odds and build a case against trying something before they even take the first step."
Robert Iger
Let’s instead have a growth mindset towards life, towards your dreams.
Let’s improve 1% every day — Or at least, most of them.
If you’re not able to figure something out, be kind on yourself.
Your life is too short to not live the best version of yourself.