Thoughts On a Growth Mindset

     

Some easy to understand brain activity (OpenClipart)

I have never directly heard of Carol Dweck or the "growth mindset", but the general idea is one I have heard often in the past. It is an idea that I have struggled to implement myself. I can completely understand that the mindset I was taught growing up was not a good one. I can understand that having a mindset that appreciates challenges and potential growth is much more beneficial and healthy. However, it is much, much harder to put into practice. When you've been conditioned your whole life that failure is bad, facing failure with a positive attitude is nearly impossible. Your emotions take over because you're scared of the consequences or angry at the results, and logical, healthy practices are the last thing on your mind. I fully support Dweck's suggestion that education be reformed to focus more on failure than success. If you are taught young enough that failure is okay, you won't struggle to accept it and grow later in life. Trying to shift that entire mindset as an adult is awful.

    I believe I have gotten better at implementing this growth mindset as I've spent time at OU. I think my major definitely helped drive that change. Every assignment is full of critical thinking challenges and chances to be creative. That means there's more opportunities to fail. I also have ample opportunities to compare myself to better more experienced students because our projects are often showcased one by one to the class. Often, I see my productions as the worst ones. In the beginning, this made me feel incapable and unfit for this field. As time has passed, I have noticed that I can confidently use much more of the equipment involved in my field, I understand stories better and I can see improvements in my editing. Now, I can more easily see my past "worst in class" productions as experiences in which I learned something and improved. That makes it much easier to have a growth mindset going forward. 

    I hope I can continue to improve in this area and continue to grow my mind through failure. I hope future generations will not have to struggle with this change as much as I have.