I picked my son up from school the other day and asked him to usual, “How was school today?”
He explained that they took a quiz in one of his classes to see if they had a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. He said that he has a growth mindset, which he was excited about. “What does that mean?” I asked.
He said, “It means that you think you can keep growing and learning and getting better at things.”
I looked it up and started reading more about the fixed vs. growth mindset. In the fixed mindset, there are things that people tell themselves about what they are and aren’t good at. They believe that is the way that they are, that they are good at something or they aren’t. The growth mindset says that you can work and learn to become better at things.
This got me thinking. While I know that there are some things that I’m not naturally good at and others that come more easily, any of those things can improve with hard work, perseverance and determination. Even though I’m wired to gravitate more towards certain things, I can grow in lots of different areas.
But what lies do I tell myself?
You’re not good at that…
You’re behind where you should be…
You should be more…
And then I just tell myself to stop! Those statements don’t help. But they can be flipped around.
My goal is to work harder at…
I feel successful about this part of my life…
I will take it one day at a time…
I’m making progress…
I’m grateful for…
I find joy in…
How do I want to grow and improve?
I don’t want my kids to believe lies about themselves either. Because it is so easy to take the lies that we tell ourselves and convey them to our children. Whether it’s talking negatively about your body where your kids can hear you or some other negative comment, I don’t want them to believe those things about me or themselves. I want them to believe that they can get better at whatever they want to try, and to know that they can improve and reach their goals with time and effort.
