Have you recently wanted to improve your academic performance and personal development? Achieving these goals requires developing a growth mindset for students. This post will define what a growth mindset is and the benefits of having one.
You are more than likely here because you are chasing self-improvement. There will be moments in your life where having a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset will benefit you greatly and differentiate you from others around you.
This post will cover everything from what a growth mindset is and exploring its benefits.
Table of Contents
- What is a Growth Mindset?
- Reframing Your Mindset
- Benefits of Having a Growth Mindset
- Other Posts You May Like:
What is a Growth Mindset?
To have a growth mindset is to believe that anyone can develop any skill if they work hard enough and stay consistent. It is the willingness to learn from mistakes and grow from them. This is contrary to having a fixed mindset, which assumes that everyone is born with a certain set of predetermined skills that cannot be improved.
Let us take an example of a college student taking a biology exam. A student with a fixed mindset that received a bad grade on their exam may believe they aren’t good at biology and there is no fixing that. On the other hand, a student with a growth mindset would use it as an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and understand that with a change in study methods, they can improve their understanding of biology and improve their exam scores.
Reframing Your Mindset
The Power of Effort
Effort is something those with a growth mindset capitalize on. Consistent effort allows us to reach every goal we work towards. The power of effort can be seen through a simple stepwise formula: effort → success → confidence boost → personal development.
Value of Mistakes
To develop a growth mindset it is also important you understand how valuable mistakes really are. Rather than seeing mistakes as failures, see them more as a test trial that may have resulted in a loss but taught you more about how to get a win next time. Examining mistakes allows you to understand where you went wrong, what you can do better next time, and how to improve.
Benefits of Having a Growth Mindset
With a growth mindset, you will find yourself having more positive mental health. Those with a growth mindset handle stressful situations better and see greater personal development in their life.
If you come across a stressful situation, having a growth mindset will allow you to be more persevering. Instead of taking on stressful situations and simply accepting that that’s the way things have to be, having a growth mindset will cause you to examine what went wrong and how you can improve on it.
Following this, you will also have greater confidence in yourself because you understand that you aren’t just born a certain way with no possibility of improvement. You will understand that with hard work you can improve in any way you want.
The Ben Carson Story
Let’s take the case of Dr. Ben Carson, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. If you’ve seen the movie Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story which is based on the autobiography of Ben Carson then you know exactly where I’m going with this (by the way, if you haven’t seen that film I highly recommend it).
Throughout his life, Dr. Carson faced various setbacks like struggling poverty, academic difficulties (yes… academic difficulties), and low self-esteem. Despite these struggles, Carson maintained a growth mindset in which he worked incredibly hard to improve his grades and eventually was admitted to Yale University. Even throughout his professional career he continued facing discrimination yet persevered and achieved remarkable success.
One of Dr. Carson’s biggest accomplishments occurred in 1987 when he operated on a pair of twins conjoined at the back of the head. previously, operations to separate twins conjoined in such a way had always failed, yet in the end, the operation was a success and the twins could survive independently.
“Success is determined not by whether or not you face obstacles, but by your reaction to them. And if you look at these obstacles as a containing fence, they become your excuse for failure. If you look at them as a hurdle, each one strengthens you for the next.”
Ben Carson
Thus, developing a growth mindset is vital for those seeking self-improvement as it will allow you to become more resilient, confident, and successful.
Leave a Reply