27 A Reading Reflection No 3

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S Dweck talks about 2 mindsets that allow us to persevere in the face of challenges and shortcomings. Her main argument is that while our genes do influence our intelligence and capabilities, they aren't fixed at birth , instead they change and develop over time through new experiences. But the minute we start thinking the latter, then we have a fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset we have this need of trying to prove ourselves to everyone. Dweck gives the example of her own school experience and  mentions how teachers and parents exert a big influence on what mindset we adopt. In schools for instance we are taught to look smart, and when we adopt that identity we spend way too much time in protecting that title. In doing so we ignore the fact, we steer clear of challenges that might jeopardize that title and hence aren't actively learning in the process. Another thing she mentions is that when a person with a fixed mindset experiences failure at life, instead of trying to overcome it, they blame it on the world  and start victimizing themselves. They arent able to learn the trait of coping in case of challenges. A perfect example she gives where this mindset is somewhat reflective is the CEO disease and mentions the CEO of Chrysler Motors. Lee Lacocca was initially successful in his business venture, but then he kept designing and manufacturing the same models with a few minor changes and in the end noone wanted his product. Instead of owning up to his mistake, he  disassociated himself from all his critics.
The most important mindset that she mentions in Growth mindset, which is achieved through experiences, hard work, training and persistence. According to Dweck, "they believe a person's true potential is unknown and its impossible to forsee what can be be accomplished with years of passion, toil and training." To prove her point she gives examples of renowned figures like Ben Hogan. We are told to hide our weakness and only go for the true and tested ways. what we arent told is to overcome our shortcomings and experience things for ourselves so we can truly figure out what works for us.

2) How did the book in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
The most important thing i learnt from this class is taking initiatives and embracing failure. This class is structured in such a way that it allows students to embrace the growth mindset and now the fixed mindset. Professor Pryor encourages us to come up and pitch new ideas no matter how dumb they might sound because that means we are constantly aware of our surrounding and the problems that other people are facing. The assignments that he assigns allows us to think about our strengths and weaknesses.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise be?
Based on the book, I would come up with a set of questions or statements that would help students distinguish which mindset category they fall under. While they could be a mixture of both talents, its important for them to navigate towards one so that they can truly understand their mindset.

4) What was the biggest surprise or aha moment?

There personally want any aha or surprise moment for me in this book, because I had written a research paper on this for my Psychology class so they were pretty much aligned with what i expected from the book.  But i like the examples and personal experiences Dweck mentions in the boom and her explanation is brilliant.