Growth Mindset: Week 15

For this week I looked at memes again. Last week's meme really got me thinking and so I wanted to do some more exploring.
This one really stuck out.
  

Cat Meme. Source: Growth Mindset Memes

I've been doing a lot of thinking recently about where I'd like to go post-graduation. I'm not exactly sure of what I want to do and I've been struggling with that. With the growth mindset I know that I just need to learn from what I'm doing and how I'm feeling and set up goals and a path to understand where I want to be in a few months. 

I need to think about the big picture and how I'm going to get there. This helps me in school and in life. I'd like to have a successful semester and I will do so by learning from my mistakes of this past semester and keep growing from there. I want to have a job post-graduation and will make goals and a plan to accomplish this.

Growth Mindset: Week 14

For this growth mindset challenge, I looked through the growhth mindset memes. This meme really stuck out to me.

Cat Meme. Source: Growth Mindset Memes

Looking for opportunity is something that I've begun to do the past month or so. As I look for internships and/or jobs, it's easy to just let things slip by. I've never been one to actively seek out opportunity Rather, I just let it come to me. By seeking opportunities I've recognized a more rapid growth in myself and in the opportunities I've been able to capture. Without actively seeking opportunities, I now know that I could possibly miss a great one and just let it slip by.
This was useful because it made me actively think about seeking and looking for opportunities. I've been trying to, but this meme and thinking about the growth mindset made me realize that I need to do it even more.

Growth Mindset: Week 13

My Other Classes

For this growth mindset, I wanted to focus on my other classes and the challenges I face in those.
This semester I over-committed myself. Way over-committed myself. At the beginning of the semester I was averaging 4 hours of sleep - on a good night. After awhile I realized that this wasn't working for me and had to realign my priorities. I was doing a lot for the organizations I'm involved in and my for classes and it was getting to me.

I realized that I had to take time for myself and de-stress and in the future, plan out my schedule so that I am able to commit myself 100% and not lose my health and sanity in the process.

This challenge allowed me to focus on the most challenging aspects of my semester and what I have learned from them. I learned to take time to focus on myself, because if you don't take time for yourself and rejuvenate what you have, how can you expect to give any of yourself out at your maximum potential? My challenges in my classes and over this semester have helped me to grow and be successful now and in the future.

Cat hanging on. Source: Pinterest

In the future, I will plan out my schedule as to not spread myself too thin. This will allow time for myself and time to give 100% to everything I involve myself in.

Side note...this class is awesome and has helped me so much in many other areas in life other than just mythology. Doing assignments for this class actually helps me to de-stress.

Week 8: Growth Mindset

Marching band. Source: Pixabay

I completed the 'beyond school' challenge. This was a useful challenge because it made me think about how I can inspire others and have them effectively incorporate the growth mindset in their own lives.
I teach band every morning. Sometimes the students aren't always eager to push themselves and get better. Having the growth mindset myself makes me aware that I can always be a better teacher and work on the traits that allow this to occur.
Band itself teaches students the growth mindset. You're constantly practicing and getting better, no matter your talent level. There's always room for growth.
My favorite instructor once told me that "it's not about perfection, but the perfect approach" and I feel like that is applicable in all situations in life.

Growth Mindset

I had never heard of Carol Dweck or the growth mindset before this.

I have learned a lot about my own learning while at OU. I have found that I enjoy learning a little bit about a wide variety of subjects. My biggest challenges as I set about learning new things is realizing that I will have to learn more than I want to know and explore deeper than what initially sparks my interest.

I immediately thought about how I see myself on the spectrum of growth-fixed mindset in my life outside of the classroom. During the summer, I am involved in Drum Corps International. I am in one of multiple groups who tour the country essentially performing a professional marching band show. The time period extends from the end of may until the beginning of August. We rehearse our ten minute anywhere from 10-14 hours a day and only take breaks (30 minutes to an hour) to eat. This experience turns the performers from fixed mindset individuals to growth mindset people. It is such an activity that you can't be in a fixed mindset. With so much rehearsal focused on making a ten minute show near perfect, you have to always realize there is room to grow and room to make something better. By doing this so intensely for such a long period of time, you go through changes in yourself as well. You come back from the summer a more growth minded person altogether. There's always room to grow and room to learn. Nothing is ever perfect. However, it's not about perfection, but the perfect approach.

My personal learning goals for this semester is to learn more about things outside of the classroom. I'm not in any classes that relate to what I would like to do when I graduate, so I want to dive into my passions and learn more about those so that I don't get overwhelmed with subjects I am less passionate about. I actually really enjoy this class because I am learning more about myself and different styles of learning and organization that are applicable to all of my classes and life in general.

 

Meme reflecting the Growth Mindset. Source: Growth Mindset Memes.

I included this image to go along with what I do in the summer. The more you practice, the better you get. Even if you don't always see the change. It can be subtle, but it always occurs. There is always room for growth and improvement through practice.