tedreflect

[tedreflect]

The Power of “Yet”

The Power of Believing that You Can Improve by Carol Dweck

Transcript:

Ted

Main points:

The power of yet is that it encourages growth.

Having a growth mindset means that a person can cope well with challenges and difficulties.

Instead of running away from error, a person would engage with it - learn from it and correct it.

One thing we can do to encourage growth is to praise the process a person engages in - i.e. their effort, strategies, focus, perseverance, improvement.

Having a growth mindset helped kids who chronically under perform do very well within a short amount of time. This is because the meaning of effort and difficulty were transformed. Before, effort and difficulty made them feel dumb and made them feel like giving up. But now, they understand that it’s what makes them smarter.

Quotes:

“Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now.”

Notes:

Dweck raises an interesting point, children with fixed mindset are obsessed with “NOW”. They don’t think about the fact that their abilities could be developed, they just see their failure now. And so, kids are obsessed with getting As. They don’t dream big dreams - their biggest goal is getting that next A. And they need constant validation for their efforts. They need to know that they are not failing.

My Challenge:

Continue to develop a growth mindset.

What to do next:

Remind self to enjoy the process.

Reward self for going through the process - for persevering and putting the effort. But don’t reward self for empty actions.