In the ADL Program, we have been asked to create our own growth mindset plans.
Carol Dweck offers the following statements to help us determine our Mindset in her book by the same title. Let us see which of these resonates with us while thinking about our intelligence (quoted from page 12):
- Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.
- You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how intelligent you are.
- No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.
- You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.
“Questions 1 and 2 are the fixed mindset questions. Questions 3 and 4 reflect the growth mindset”
You can also answer these same questions about other personal attributes you possess (or believe you don’t possess).
Dweck asks similar questions about personality and character (quoted from page 13), lets see which of these resonates with us.
- You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.
- No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.
- You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed.
- You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.
“Here, questions 1 and 3 are the fixed-mindset questions and question 2 and 4 reflect the growth mindset. Which did you agree with more?”
Do you find that you have a mixed mindset? Do you view your intelligence one way but your character in another light? How about when you look at other abilities? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
While reviewing Scott Jeffrey’s guide How to Establish a Growth Mindset he proposes the following four step process to changing a fixed mindset to a growth mindset:
- Step 1: Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”
- Step 2: Recognize that you have a choice.
- Step 3: Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.
- Step 4: Take the growth mindset action.
In this guide, Scott Jeffrey suggests the following questions to “activate a growth mindset” which he cites were “collected from various sections throughout the Mindset book:”
- What can I learn from this?
- What steps can I take to help me succeed?
- Do I know the outcome or goal I’m after?
- What information can I gather? And from where?
- Where can I get constructive feedback?
- If I had a plan to be successful at [blank], what might it look like?
- When will I follow through on my plan?
- Where will I follow through on my plan?
- How will I follow through on my plan?
- What did I learn today?
- What mistake did I make that taught me something?
- Is my current learning strategy working? If not, how can I change it?
- What did I try hard at today?
- What habits must I develop to continue the gains I’ve achieved?
As we prepare to create our growth mindset plans, the assignment asks us to consider the following questions:
- Why is the growth mindset so important?
- How will you incorporate the four steps?
- How will you communicate the message of “yet” to your others?
- What resources (content, video, media, etc.) will you use to promote the growth mindset?
- When and how often will you promote the growth mindset?
- How will the growth mindset influence or impact the way you approach your work in this course and the program?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic and your answers to these questions as you being to think about your mindset and consider developing your own growth mindset plan.
Dweck, C. S. (2016). The Mindsets. In Mindset (Updated Edition, pp. 12–13). Ballantine Books.
Jeffrey, S. (2020, June 23). Change your fixed mindset into a growth mindset [complete guide]. Scott Jeffrey. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from https://scottjeffrey.com/change-your-fixed-mindset/
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