The power of "yet" and the growth mindset

The power of “yet” and the growth mindset

I've always said "yet" while teaching my own kids and my students. I never really thought much about it before starting the MED program at Lamar University. My son and students would say, "This is too hard, I don't know/ understand how to do this." I would always answer back with," You don't know/understand yet. That's why we are here, we are learning. You WILL understand as we continue to try." I interpret the message of "yet" as we all have the ability to grow and learn, regardless of our background and current situation. Some people have those "yets" happen quicker and easier than others depending on the situation or subject, but I feel that we all have the opportunity for that "yet" moment to happen. We just have to put in the work and stay consistent and it will happen. 

As for the growth mindset and the acceptance of feedback I see this every day. There are some of us who can't handle criticism regardless of if it's constructive or not. If you have a growth mindset you are going to see that constructive criticism as a way to learn from your mistakes and fix or tweak the way you do things, or how you go about something. It's never easy to hear or be criticized regardless of the type of mindset you have. It's what you do with that criticism that shapes who you are and who you will become. With a fixed mindset you take the feedback and automatically think you aren't good enough or smart enough, that you can't do whatever it is you are trying to do, and most will give up. Therefore, if you try and switch your mindset to more of a growth mindset you can say, "I don't know how to do this YET" use the feedback and turn it into I can and I did. 

Before this program I had never heard of the two kinds of mindsets, but I realized very quickly that I have always had more of a growth mindset than fixed. I realize that I do resort back to a fixed mindset on a few occasions, but I tend to lean more toward a growth mindset more than the other. I always took someone saying I couldn't do something and turned into, "Watch me!" I always tried to learn from my mistakes and thought of it as a trial-and-error thing more than failure. You are never going to be perfect at everything and the more you try the better you will become. My goal is to continue to embrace the growth mindset and embrace challenges in all aspects of my life. I will continue to look at shortcomings and failures and use them as tools to grow from and just keep trying until I get to where I want to be. 

As for my classroom I want to discuss the different types of mindsets and how we can try to move toward the growth mindset in all aspects of our lives. When we try and model this for our students, I feel they will learn more and start trying it on their own as well. 

References

Briceno, Eduardo. [TEDx Talks]. (2012, November 18). The Power of belief -- mindset and success | Eduardo Briceno | TEDxManhattanBeach [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN34FNbOKXc&t=1s

Dweck, Carol. [Stanford Alumni]. (2014, October 9). Developing a Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiiEeMN7vbQ&t=4s