For our final reading reflection, I’ve
selected Mindset: The New Psychology of
Success by Carol Dweck.
1) Dweck’s argument
in this book centers around the difference between what she calls “fixed
mindsets” and “growth mindsets.” According to Dweck, a fixed mindset is one
that sees a person’s abilities as predetermined and unable to move in any
direction. Conversely, she describes a growth mindset as one that accepts its
own capacity to freely learn, grow, and adapt one’s own abilities and
circumstances in life.
2) This book directly
parallels many of the philosophical underpinnings of ENT3003. Dweck promotes
virtues such as tenacity, persistence, and adaptability throughout Mindset – virtues which have been echoed
and refined in many of our experience exercise. Specifically, Dweck dedicates the
entirety of Chapter 5 to the ways in which a person’s mindset can influence his
or her success in business/entrepreneurial environments.
3) If I could design
an exercise based on this book, I would ask students to choose a person in
their life who they consider successful, evaluate whether or not this person
has a fixed or growth mindset, and explain why.
4) My biggest ‘aha’
moment came when Dweck connected growth mindsets with sports in Chapter 4. My
athletic experiences have been deeply formative in my own philosophy of
personal accountability, so I was fascinated by Dweck’s exploration of growth
mindsets in the context of athletic achievement. I had always intuitively
recognized the presence of growth mindsets in sports, but never considered how and why this type of mindset became so prevalent.
Hi Zachary,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you chose a really interesting book for the third reading assignment! I enjoyed your answer for the third question. I think this would make students dig deeper into a successful persons mind and understand how they may have gotten so far in their endeavors. The students would probably find this helpful within themselves to understand how their mind works and the best way for them to compliment it.
Hi Zachary,
ReplyDeleteI did not read this book so I was interested to see what you thought of it. I think the idea of having a fixed or growth mindset is very important because we really can't grow at all in anything if we don't except growth and change. I also like the exercise you made up. I think this was my favorite little bullet we did in class. It would d be fun to make up exercises for our group!
Thanks for sharing,
Sydney