Growing a Brain

Growing A Brain

By Ariane C.

A book on the topic of my experience with a Growth Mindset

What have you realized about your own grit and effort?

I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I am certainly not the “grittiest” person out there. Although I do show determination to keep trying in some tasks (such as art, music, or reading), I feel that it isn’t the same as “grit”. I suppose it’s normal for children my age to not have a strong passion or goal; but I do feel as if I want that to change for myself.

Grit isn’t simply just infatuation or interest in a certain topic. It’s the willpower and perseverance to keep at it. In a sense, it’s similar to yet different to the concept of “don’t give up.” Many people “don’t give up” until they succeed. From what I understand, grit is the will to keep going until you succeed, and even afterwards.

Where do you show these skills best?

Even though I feel as if I currently don’t show many examples of grit, I still believe I have shown some examples in the past. I remember when I was eleven years old, I was absolutely terrible at drawing. I had kept comparing my artwork to the artwork of others and slowly became my worst critic. Eventually I had decided to stop being so hard on myself, and I had instead decided to make a goal of drawing every day. My drawings had slowly improved; and I’m now happy with them even if they still have room for improvement.

How could you use those skills more?

I feel that I could endeavour to use this skills more in everyday life by finding something I’m passionate about, and keep trying to improve or participate in that certain activity. For example, I am very passionate about reading. However, I tend to read multiple books at the same time. Instead of trying to balance 3-5 books at the same time, I could stick with one book or one series and focus on finishing that first.

I also love playing instruments. However, I currently am trying to improve at playing the clarinet for concert band, and the guitar simply because I enjoy playing it. Instead of balancing both instruments, I could try getting “gritty” about one, and pursuing the other at a later date.

This way, I could avoid the attitude of feeling bad about myself and stressed out. I tend to berate myself when I don’t play a note correctly, or if I fail to finish a book before my library loan is due. If I learn to focus on one passion at a time, and pursue it as much as I can, I could therefore boost my overall mood instead of feeling bad about myself.

What are you willing to fail at this year in order to learn?

The idea of going into something with the expectation to fail scares me. However, if I have learned anything throughout the process of writing this journal, it’s that failure is the first step in learning. People LEARN from failure. Consequently, I have decided that I’m willing to fail at writing fiction in order to learn from it.

What factors can you identify that will help you succeed?

There are a number of factors that I can identify that will help me succeed. I know that realistically, I won’t be a mastermind at creative writing; it’s inevitable that I’ll make a mistake sooner or later. However, I know that through reflecting on failures, I can improve. Also, I am aware that my first attempts at creative writing don’t have to be perfect. I don’t need to be “pressured” about making every sentence, paragraph, and page perfect. In the end, this is a hobby, and also only an experiment. Because of such, I have the “mindset” needed to succeed at learning creative writing.

How will you keep your growth mindset time after time, task after task, through failure and success?

When I fail, I can take a break from my work and let myself “wind down.” Afterwards, I can reflect on what went wrong and why, then decide on how I’ll do things differently next time.

Once I succeed, I think it’s important to also reflect on what went right and why. Then, I can make the decision of repeating the same action in the future OR trying a different approach to success.

Regardless of whether one reaches failure or success, I feel like the value of reflecting on one’s experiences is still of utmost importance; as it is part of the learning process.