Getting to know yourself better is somewhat important. Not only could you define your strengths and weaknesses, you could also save time and effort not doing the mistakes of trying to blend in where you don't belong and don't have to either. Therefore, it effectively means taking on the rein of yourself.
Starting with some problems right out of school, I had to explore some options to fix them whilst continuing my education at the University. It was obvious how to deal with them at the beginning, some new concepts here and there, tons of workload and life balance, new feelings of envy I did not experience before. The major issue is, they were piling up fast, with no possible of a break at sight.
Growth Mindset concepts could offer some remedy, as in part solution part consolation, kind of similar to our talk at school and home, about the heroes of old ages and their stories. But instead, it talks to us, and looks at our problems in a specific and personal format to maximize the impact.
In the Education Bookcast in a summary of Mindset: Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential had a story of a 9 year old kid who would refuse to learn, and a passionate teacher who would not let go. That kid was once asked to participate, and he would not budge, the teacher then told him she won't let his brilliance go squandered, not even by himself, so he stood up and went to the board but won't answer. She would then ask of him to call his mom, telling him: If you do not want to participate, go to the telephone and tell your mother: mother, in this school we have to learn, and Ms. Collins says I can't fool around, so please pick me up. It's then that the student realized how much he mattered to her, and his work is appreciated, only if he did participate.
That very student later on, had a powerful sentence on the subject of Macbeth, and how his misguided thinking lead him to commit murder.
Macbeth should have known that straight thinking leads to straight living.
And even wrote a more powerful quote later on.
Somnus, god of sleep, please awaken us. While we sleep, ignorance takes over the world.… Take your spell off us. We don’t have long before ignorance makes a coup d’état of the world..
My own interpretation, other than the one that was beautifully explained in This Article, is summarized in three points. Firstmost, some obstacles were too big, and my solution was to chip at it once at a time. Next, its important to see your own miniscule improvements day by day, weeks going on and by the end of the year and still have some sense of pride in it. And finally, seeing achievement in others as a source of inspiration and as a possible co-worker in a future project in mind is paramount in building things.
In contrast of how I dealt with success and failures early on using the fixed mindset, as I had great pride in what I knew how to do, and left what did not, in hope that my successes would eventually overshadow my failures, until it did not.
This is what growth mindset meant to me. Do tell me though, what does it mean to you?