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Growth Mindset



Today I participated in a webinar about "Growth Mindsets". Essentially, if you believe that you (and others) can do anything if you work hard enough, then you have a "growth mindset". The theory revolves around mentorship and modeling this in your life.

One of the resources provided centered around reframing mistakes. The text explained how young people can often feel like mistakes they make are "catastrophic". I can still remember that one of my most embarrassing moments in grade school was based on a silly little oral reading error. To sum it up, I pronounced the silent "s" in "Arkansas". Which means, yes, I swore. Out loud. In front of the entire class and my teacher. I was mortified.

Growing up in a more impoverished city, I had a lower quality education. However, I took advantage of all opportunities and read everything I could get my hands on. Jane Austen was (and still is) my very favorite author. I used to read British classics aloud in my bedroom just to hear the sound of the flowery words floating off my lips. Little did I know that I was mispronouncing most of these words. Unfortunately, I did not find out until college, when I tried out my extensive vocabulary in the educational and professional environments. I went from being the smartest person in the room in high school, to being the silliest. Mortifying.

Yes, I persevered. Determination is just in my nature. I try to learn from my mistakes, embarrassing though they are, especially at the moment. I may have been under-privileged (a fact I know now, although I was completely unaware of at the time), but I learned something from my background - hard work. While determination came naturally, science and math did not. I stayed after my AP Math class for an hour each week to do my homework with the teacher in the room, so I would have a resource in case I had questions. In college, I studied, studied, studied while my friends partied, partied, partied. I took advantage of every opportunity afforded me including summer jobs and internships so I could build my resume to be competitive amongst my more privileged peers.

Hard work trumps silly mistakes. I am better than "smart". I am CAPABLE. I can ride the waves of adversity and come out stronger on the other side. So you may hear me mispronounce a word every now and then, but it's only because I read it somewhere, I know the meaning and I never heard it in conversation. I may not have privilege, but I have knowledge and no one can take that from me.

So now I am able to teach others that they can do anything they put their minds and hands to, because I know I can.

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