Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Growth Mindset: How to Change How You Think to Achieve Your Dreams

Episode Date: August 24, 2018

Did you ever really want to try something, but then not because you worried you’d look dumb? Most of us think like this! We’re plagued by what psychologist Carol Dweck calls a ‘fixed mindset.’ The great news is, we can change how we think, and, with a ‘growth mindset,’ get over our fears and finally start pursuing what we want in life. On this episode, I’m sharing Carol Dweck’s 2014 Ted Talk:  The Power of Believing that You Can Improve.    Carol’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, has transformed lives — including my own. Visit postcardacademy.co for the video of Carol Dweck’s Ted Talk and to test which mindset you have.    Also on this episode, I mention a travel packing check list I created for you.   I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Ready to travel? Sign up for my newsletter and get your free guide to cheap airfare.    Thank you so much for listening to this show. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insurance  Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy. I'm your host, Sarah Micatel, and thank you, thank you, to all of the subscribers out there. If you have not subscribed to this show yet, now is your chance to subscribe to weekly travel stories, insider travel secrets, and inspiration to live a better life. I'm a little bit hyped up right now because in a few hours I will be flying to Bali. And I should be packing, but I always find a way of putting this off. Haven't cooked a meal in weeks. This seems like the perfect time to whip up a lasagna or to do a podcast. So I am so sorry to my type A listeners out there, but if you are a procrastinator like me, I have created a travel checklist that you can download at postcardacademy.go. But anyway, before I fly off to Indonesia, I wanted to share a story

from this week. Right now, I'm in the States visiting my family, and the other day I went to the beach with my mom. She was flipping through Real Simple Magazine, which is our favorite beach read, and one of the articles post the question, what book has had the greatest impact on your life? I immediately knew that the book for me was Mindset by Carol Dweck. She is a psychologist, a Stanford professor, and she is one of the world's leading researchers on motivation. And I don't mean motivation on packing your bags on time.

I mean motivation to change your life, to change your mindset, and to really go after the things that you want to try. So mindset, the book, is all about the power of, believing that we can improve. And the crucial takeaway from this book is that we all have either a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. So people with a growth mindset love to learn. They're up for a challenge and they know they'll get better at something the more they work at it. They like to stretch themselves and experience new things and they're open to feedback. People with a fixed mindset think that they're born with certain abilities. They don't want to try new things because

they worry they won't be good at them. They're afraid to fail or that people will judge them. And most of us have a fixed mindset. I know I did before I read this book. But here is the thing. You can actually change your mindset and become more open to growth and to trying new things. This is such an important message that I wanted to share Carol Dweck's TED Talk from 2014. The Power of Yet.

I heard about a high school in Chicago where students had to pass a student. certain number of courses to graduate. And if they didn't pass a course, they got the grade, not yet. And I thought that was fantastic. Because if you get a failing grade, you think, I'm nothing, I'm nowhere. But if you get the grade not yet, you understand that you're on a learning curve. It gives you a path into the future. Not yet also gave me insight into a critical event.

early in my career, a real turning point. I wanted to see how children coped with challenge and difficulty. So I gave 10-year-olds problems that were slightly too hard for them. Some of them reacted in a shockingly positive way. They said things like, I love a challenge.

Or, you know, I was whole I was hoping this would be informative. They understood that their abilities could be developed. They had what I call a growth mindset. But other students felt it was tragic, catastrophic. From their more fixed mindset perspective, their intelligence had been up for judgment, and they failed.

Instead of luxuriating in the power of yet, they were gripped in the tyranny of now. So what do they do next? I'll tell you what they do next. In one study, they told us they would probably cheat the next time instead of studying more if they failed a test. In another study, after a failure, they looked for someone who did. worse than they did, so they could feel really good about themselves. And in study after study, they have run from difficulty. Scientists measured the electrical activity from the brain as students confronted an error.

On the left, you see the fixed mindset students. There's hardly any activity. They run from the error. They don't engage with it. But on the right, you have the students with the growth mindset, the idea that abilities can be developed. They engage deeply. Their brain is on fire with yet.

They engage deeply. They process the error. They learn from it and they correct it. How are we raising our children? Are we raising them? for now instead of yet? Are we raising kids who are obsessed with getting A's? Are we raising kids who don't know how to dream big dreams?

Their biggest goal is getting the next A or the next test score? And are they carrying this need for constant validation with them into their future lives? Maybe because employers are coming to me and saying, we have already raised a generation of young workers who can't get through the day without an award. So what can we do? How can we build that bridge to yet? Here are some things we can do. First of all, we can praise wisely. Not praising intelligence or, talent, that has failed. Don't do that anymore, but praising the process that kids engage in. Their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement. This process praise creates kids who are hearty and resilient. There are other ways to reward yet.

We recently teamed up with game scientists from the University of University of of Washington to create a new online math game that rewarded yet. In this game, students were rewarded for effort, strategy, and progress. The usual math game rewards you for getting answers right now, but this game rewarded process. And we got more effort, more strategies, more engagement over longer periods of time and more perseverance when they hit really, really hard problems. Just the words yet or not yet, we're finding, give kids greater confidence,

give them a path into the future that creates greater persistence. And we can actually change students' mindsets. In one study, we taught them that every time they push out of their comfort zone to learn something new and difficult, the neurons in their brain can form new, stronger connections, and over time, they can get smarter. Look what happened. In this study, students who were not taught this growth mindset continue to show declining grades over this difficult. school transition. But those who were taught this lesson showed a sharp rebound in their grades. We have shown this now, this kind of improvement with thousands and thousands of kids, especially struggling students. So let's talk about equality. In our country,

there are groups of students who chronically underperform. For example, children in inner cities or children on Native American reservations, and they've done so poorly for so long that many people think it's inevitable. But when educators create growth mindset classrooms steeped in yet, equality happens.

And here are just a few examples. In one year, a kindergarten class in Harlem, New York, scored in the 95th percentile on the national achievement test. Many of those kids could not hold a pencil when they arrived at school. In one year, fourth grade students in the South Bronx, way behind, became the number one fourth grade class in the state of New York on the state math test. In a year to a year and a half, Native American students in a school on a reservation went from the body. of their district to the top. And that district included affluent sections of Seattle.

So the native kids out did the Microsoft kids. This happened because the meaning of effort and difficulty were transformed. before effort and difficulty made them feel dumb, made them feel like giving up. But now, effort and difficulty, that's when their neurons are making new connections, stronger connections. That's when they're getting smarter. I received a letter recently from a 13-year-old boy. He said, dear Professor Dweck, I appreciate that your writing is based on solid scientific research,

and that's why I decided to put it into practice. I put more effort into my schoolwork, into my relationship with my family, and into my relationship with kids at school. and I experienced great improvement in all of those areas. I now realize I've wasted most of my life. Let's not waste any more lives. Because once we know that abilities are capable of such growth, it becomes a basic human right for children, all children, to live in places that create that growth,

to live in places filled with yet. Thank you. Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset? You can go to postcardacademy.com to test your personality. Thanks to Carol Dwegg's book, I now have a growth mindset. mindset, which has opened my world to so many new experiences. I'm now much less afraid to make an ass out of myself. I love trying new things, and I welcome feedback as a way to grow. If you're interested in checking out this book, it's available in all formats, including audio, and you can get it on Audible, which is a sponsor of this podcast, by going to audibletrial.com slash

postcard, and that's a free download if you're signing up for a trial for the first time. Okay, as I mentioned, I will soon be flying to Indonesia, which has suffered some really devastating earthquakes lately. Hopefully everything will be okay, but if I die, know that you are an amazing person, and I love you. That's all for now. Thanks for listening, and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahygotel.com slash blank no more.