Growth Mindset: Wise Words from Dad

When I began my undergraduate career back in 2017, I was still riding my high of never needing to study and pulling straight A's while barely breaking a sweat. Then freshman year happened. I pulled a B in all but one of my eight classes. I was devastated (little did I know how much worse it would get...)

One of the things that my dad emphasized when I finally came home for the summer, and continues to point out on a regular basis, is that for most of our college careers a lot of the learning doesn't happen in the classroom. We are all learning who we are as individuals and how to function as adults in a world that suddenly thrusts countless responsibilities upon us as soon as we turn 18. A big help in adjusting to this new phase of life is learning to not be so hard on ourselves. There's no user manual for adulthood, and just because the grown-ups in our lives may seem to know what they're doing doesn't mean they aren't mentally screaming into the void like the rest of us. They've just had more practice at hiding it.

So I guess this is a two-for-one mantra post:

Made with Cheezburger

Made with Cheezburger

Growing My Growth Mindset

Growth mindset seems be a very useful tool in college careers. I know I personally suffered from the results having the type of childhood critiqued by Carol Dweck in her first video. Growing up, I easily aced all of my classes very little effort. This has taught me to fear failure, avoid challenges, and to not valued learning purely for the sake of learning as much as I should. Having failed two classes in my undergraduate career thus far, I believe that focusing on a “not yet” frame of mind will help me to not only complete my studies, but succeed in life overall. Not to mention keep me sane. This semester I am excited to explore the mantra/motto option for growth mindset extra credit. I’m always looking for cute quotes to put on the dry erase board on my fridge. Here’s to a semester of “not yet”!

Adorable Growth Mindset Kitty has an important message (Source)