I've always enjoyed learning, though, and haven't shrunk from challenging classes, whether physics, calculus, and AP courses in high school or some of the more intensive courses offered in my major. With school, I think the issue I run into is tiredness rather than fear of challenge, even though challenges can often cause me great anxiety. I'm still too focused on what others think of my work and what grade it will get.
I think I have much more of a fixed mindset when it comes to work. In my mind, jobs/careers are a whole other ballpark from school; it's okay to mess up in school, but with work more perfection is expected. I'm more afraid to accept challenges at a job, because I'm terrified of making a mistake. I'd rather stick with the easy stuff I know well. I'm worried this will affect what kind of jobs I think I can handle and will apply for when I finish school, because I'll underrate my abilities and not want to take jobs I'm probably qualified for. I have a lot of work to do to develop a growth mindset in this area!
How I feel sometimes - a little person with a big task.
source: Growth Mindset Memes
Aha, now you have met the growth mindset cats! The cats have worked out so nicely for this project: on the one hand, they are very curious (and curiosity is one of the best things about the growth mindset), but they can also be scared sometimes too (and being fearless is another one of the great parts of growing). If you listen to some of the Dweck videos where she talks about herself and her own past, I'm sure you'll be able to relate: she was a great student in school, straight As and all that, but she was also a perfectionist and, looking back on it now, she can see how she did not achieve all she could have because she avoided taking risks because she couldn't afford to fail. I love how her project has so much to offer recovering perfectionists (I am also one!) and also to students who feel like misfits in school, frustrated by being labeled and even punished for the time it takes them to learn something. And growth mindset is now HUGE in the business world because the risk-taking and learning process is just as important at work as it is at school; in fact, I see more useful growth mindset literature in the business magazines I read like Forbes or Harvard Business Review compared to, say, the Chronicle of Higher Ed. And Carol Dweck is doing a great job of reaching out to ANYONE who is interesting in exploring growth mindset and finding good strategies to encourage and develop it in school, at work, for sports... anywhere! It's also great for writers and as a writing practice. I've been a fan of hers for years and I am so glad that I finally found a way to make her work an explicit part of the class... plus the cats, of course. :-)
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