Growth Mindset: Confidence

 

Beyoncé

Picture by Unknown

Source: Wikipedia 

3 Tips to Boost Your Confidence 

After watching the video, 3 Tips to Boost Your Confidence, I feel so much better about this semester, DAT, and life in general. The first tip was my favorite, which was picturing your success. I think this is great advice. I think picturing myself taking the DAT while in a stressful environment really helps make the studying more realistic, and I automatically feel closer to my goal because I'll have one obstacle out of the way of my ultimate goal. The second tip was to have a growth mindset. This means knowing you can improve. I believe there is always room for improvement, and with a reminder that failure isn't an option, and to "keep swimming," as Dory so wisely said,  is a great motivator to reach even closer to my ultimate goal. The third tip was to practice failure. It sounds harsh, but it's really not. This means to fail, and fail some more until you've reached your ability to be comfortable in challenging environments and set backs. It makes sense because experiencing failure gives you an advantage of experience, and knowing how to handle stress in the future. 

I think this was such a helpful video. It was also something I really needed to hear at this point in my life...good timing. I will remember these three tips for the future, as well. Having confidence is so important because I feel success and confidence go hand in hand. The first person I think of when I hear confidence is Beyoncé, so I included the queen in my post. The link is posted above. I hope this video serves as a helpful tip to all my readers.

Week 8 Growth Mindset

 

 Success

Picture by Unknown

Quote by Winston Churchill

 Source: Brainyquote

Wow, it's crazy how much we grow in one semester. I've been trying to focus on my own progress the most this semester in all areas of my life. I'll start off with college. I think it's really important to compare your past and your present. I like to ask myself how I feel in my classes every week to get a reality check. Some weeks I feel really overwhelmed, and other weeks I feel pretty great about school. This is a self reflection tactic I use. I like to plan out my week in my planner, and try to go back, and see what I really accomplished at the end of the week. I think it's important to pick one thing that I got done, and be proud of accomplishing that one goal. I feel like I have to "achieve" something really "big" every week to feel good about myself, so I set little goals in my planner to work on. Little goals turn into big achievements because my weeks have been super hectic this semester. 

A way to reflect on my progress in my relationships is by reflecting on certain memories made. For instance, I am celebrating my two year anniversary with my boyfriend in a couple weeks, and we just planned when, where, and what we will be doing. This is a big step for me because I feel like I wait till the last minute to plan, and just making a plan is a big achievement.

I think seeing progress in myself makes me want to better myself even more. There is always room for improvement. Focusing on my own progress will remind me of that, and will help me grow as an individual.

Growth Mindset

 

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Source: Growth Mindset Memes

I have never heard Carol Dweck, but after listening to her speak about the concept of growth mindset, I feel like I need to apply the concept of "not yet" throughout my life. Dweck mentions that some students were given a grade of "not yet" instead of an actual letter grade. I feel this idea is definitely one that needs to be applied more in schools. If I were to be given an opportunity without knowing the pressure of a letter grade being the reward, I would enjoy more of my classes that I do not enjoy as much like Physics. It's about learning the concept, and wanting to be challenged, and not about making that A. I definitely want to learn more about growth mindset throughout this semester because it serves as a good reminder that I am here to learn. I am very excited for this course, and Organic Chemistry this semester. However, I'm worried about Physics. I think Dweck's ideas will really help me in accepting challenges in that class in particular. I would like to see this idea being taught to students more because the world would be a better, less stressful place. I believe society puts a lot of pressure on numbers and grades. However, numbers and grades do not make up a great professor, doctor, firefighter, etc. It is the idea of wanting to do better. I hope to see more of this in the future.