Fixed Mindset By John Dweck

Mindset & Me There are many ways to interpret the world around us - through optimism, pessimism, even nihilism - but few people stop to think about the real effect these ways of seeing the world can have on everyday life. The way a person decides to look at life can make or break his or her career, relationships, and happiness. For example, there are two groups people can be broken up into: fixed and growth mindsets. Created by Dweck, this theory states fixed mindsetters believe intelligence and success are concrete, while growth mindsetters see intelligence and success as changeable. After reading Dweck’s book Mindset, I recognized that my fixed mindset had been holding me back from living my most productive, happiest life. Looking back, …show more content…
When I sense I may fail at something, I make an attempt anyways. This helps me break away from the trap of the fixed mindset and into the more productive world of the growth mindset. When I try even though I think I will fail, and end up succeeding, it is a pleasant surprise that inspires me to keep trying. For example, I would often tell myself that I was horrible at math in high school. Based on my past low scores, I assumed my math skills were “fixed” and could not improve. This was a very fixed mindset way of thinking, and caused me to feel discouraged around the subject of math. Even though I felt this way, I continued to push myself and ended up improving an ability I assumed was fixed. My mindset alone had made a change in how I learned. Mental stretching helped me to change the way I learn and try new things, showing me how correct Dweck was in her analysis of fixed and growth …show more content…
In my high school, there was a very competitive environment. People in the accelerated and AP tracks acted as if they were above those who were not in the so called “special program”; I know this because I was one of the people who felt superior for being “smarter” than those not in the accelerated program. I would feel a rush of pride when I was around one of my friends who was struggling with a topic I had already mastered the month before in my harder class. However, there were many students who were far more diligent and hardworking than me in regular level classes. When my friend Lauren Bonarek brought up her regular level humanities class and the topic of hieroglyphics, I felt haughty as I had already learned about them two months ago. However, she blew me away with her in depth knowledge of Egypt. I failed to predict she would be so knowledgeable, because the school system had convinced me, along with many others, that taking hard classes was the best way to prove a person is intelligent. I see now that this is not the case, as a school system valuing perfection over hard work has turned students into fixed