27A – Reading Reflection No. 3

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

People are more likely to be successful with the growth mindset instead of the fixed mindset. The growth mindset is the perspective that people can always get better and no ability is “fixed”. The fixed mindset is the perspective that you are born with a certain set of skills and abilities that can not change or improve.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

In ENT 3003 there is an emphasis to look at failure as a chance to improve your skills and learn how to act better in a similar situation. In this class, you are taught to not think that a failure is a sign to never take risks but as a chance to learn. This is the key element of the growth mindset. When we learn from our mistakes we can grow and become better at the things we want to accomplish.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

For this book, I would create an exercise that would force the students to take a look at situations they have failed in and make them find ways they can improve. They would have to list three situations they had failed in and what they learned from it.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

My “aha” moment was that you have to embrace a challenge, giving all the effort you can give, and work with the obstacles. These are all subtle pieces of the growth mindset. It is important for the growth mindset to know that you must learn from your mistakes and failure will happen. However, the book did surprise me with stressing the importance of being fully committed as you fail for you to learn anything.