Growth - A book by Brooke

I am going to take more academic risks where they are applicable. I will use my guide to dealing with my fixed mindset on academic failure that I talked about earlier in this journal. 

And last but not least, I will add “yet“ to negative self-talk sentences. (I.e “I’m not good at this yet.”)

If 5 is super gritty and 1 is not gritty at all, I am 3.375. I think that I have a good balance of commitment and passion and also knowing when I need to quit. I can definitely work hard but usually I do better if it’s a topic I really care about. I often set goals for myself about what I want my future to look like and then I do research on how I can get there. 

Learning beliefs and school.

I am going to turn one of those things that I am fixed-minded about and turn it into growth. I am going to change my mindset about doing well in academics. I always feel pressure to do well in school because I come from a very academic family. I’ve always been told to put out my best work and apparently an A is a marker of that. I like to do well and feel accomplished and I have always done well in school. It’s that part of me that makes me always want to try my best and want to get good results. But because of that, I haven’t dealt with much academic failure. Sure there have been tough assignments that make me cry but I still try super hard to get a good grade. I think that my fixed mindset on good grades will hold me back in the future because I will be afraid to take risks if I think I might fail. 

To change my mindset on academics I want to try I few different things. 1. Positive affirmations 2. Take small risks whenever possible

3. Think about the learning from mistakes instead of dwelling on them

Sometimes I hit a wall when I fail or just can’t get something right. I get very frustrated wondering why I can’t do it. I think now that I recognize my fixed mindset I can start to change the way I react to failure. I have always been told that I was smart but as much as I enjoy being flattered, types of feedback like that have greatly impacted how I deal with being less than what is expected of me. 

Sometimes I am too hard on myself and end up quitting early even though I know that I could do more. I like the things I do to turn out good, not just good but great. And then when I hold things to such a high standard it puts too much pressure and I want to quit.

We recently learned about the difference between fixed and growth mindset praise. An example fixed mindset praise would be “Wow you did that so well! You must be really smart.” Whereas growth mindset praise would be “Wow you did that so well! You must have tried really hard.” 

I think that I have been given fixed mindset praise about my academics for most of my life.  Fixed mindset praise has greatly contributed to my fixed mindset about academics and the standards that I hold myself to.

Now that we are coming to the end of this journal, It’s time to think about moving forward. What am I willing to fail at this year in order to learn? How will I continue to keep a growth mindset task after task, project after project?  How will I tackle failure and success while keeping a growth mindset?

First things first, I will try to do more reflections on my mindset, like this journal. 

Name

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