Fixed Mindset

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Have you ever wondered why your decisions affect your outcome differently compared to others? According to Carol Dweck, “For twenty years, my research has shown that, the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life” (6). Meaning that the way you view yourself determines the decisions you make. People may view yourself as having a fixed mindset or growth mindset. Dweck suggest that if you have a fixed mindset then you believe that your qualities such as intelligence, personality and character are permanent and unchangeable where a person with a growth mind set can develop or improve on those same qualities through practice and effort. So I depending on the situation will act on it with a fixed or growth mindset. …show more content…

In a challenge situation where you have to do something you’ve never done before, a person with the fixed mind set would avoid that challenge. They would see it as a risk which they aren’t willing to take because of the fear of failing. I’ve had challenges where I could have chosen to take them on with a fixed mindset or growth mindset. A challenge I had was when I was working at a job where I painted houses. In this job I would have to climb up and down ladders daily. The tallest ladder I have ever used was a 32ft ladder, so when they gave me a 48ft ladder to climb I rejected that challenge. I thought I could try it but then thought what if I couldn’t go all the way up? I didn’t want to fail and have other workers laugh at me. I felt I would just stick with what I was comfortable doing and didn’t climb that ladder. Having that fixed mind set here prevented me from challenging myself but I was fine with that whereas if I had dealt with it having a growth mind set I would have at least tried without caring if I …show more content…

For example, in a situation where I would be at school in math class and I had a hard math problem the approach I would take would be different from that other example. I would use a growth mind set. I know if I put more effort into that math problem or into learning how to do it I would eventually understand it and get better not just with that one problem but with math in general. Just being open minded and having a positive attitude even though you won’t learn it the first time. Having the mentality of thinking I don’t know how to do this yet or I have to just keep trying is a better way of achieving it then having a fixed mindset on it. Unlike a person with a fixed mind set might not put as much effort into learning how to that that math problem because they believe that there is no use. Because if they knew how then they would solve it but otherwise its must not be important because in their mind they should have know

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