Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is very interesting idea. Although, I wouldn't call the premise behind it new. I've never heard of this specific research before, but I've known that challenge is the key to learning for a long time, and I think society as a whole quite familiar with the idea. I remember when I enter my elementary school's "gifted and talented" program, my mom talked about having a similar program in her school when she was my age. They had different names, but the premise was the same. They were there to help provide more challenge to students who weren't being challenge enough in their regular classes. That being said, for myself at least, the program didn't really succeed. Most of what we spent our time doing was less challenging than our regular schoolwork. I think that's the real challenge of growth mindset. I think it's less about what needs to happen and more of how we approach it.

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From my own experience, I can definitely see the benefits of a growth mindset. When I came in my freshman year, I joined one the competitive robotics teams, particularly one for freshman and sophomore level students. I was one of the most experienced people on the team because of my time in FRC, so I volunteered to be the captain. I hadn't had much leadership experience up to that point, but I wanted to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone, and I failed miserably. I didn't communicate properly, I took my own experience for granted, and I tried to do everything myself. It was great. Don't get me wrong. I was terrified at the time. I hadn't failed so completely at something in a very long time, but in just a few months, I learned more about leadership than I could have imagined, all because I decided to challenge myself to do something just a little beyond my capabilities.

This cartoon from the RSA video reminded my of that experience:

Jack Welch quote
Taken from RSA Animate video