The Right Mindset

**The Right Mindset

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but if Carol Dweck had old dogs I would bet they recently learned how to whip and nae-nae. If anyone could, Dweck could teach old dogs new tricks. Dweck is a professor of Psychology at Stanford University and studies how motivation can influence success and failure. In a popular TEDtalk on YouTube she explained a theory of hers called Growth Mindset. At the Iron Yard, we seem to have adopted this theory but adapted it for adult programmers under the name "Right Mindset." A student's learning efforts should focus on the Right Mindset because it allows individuals to learn in the most effective way without damaging their spirit.

Dweck believes that a simple mindset change can result in dramatic positive gains. Part of this mindset change has to do with taking on the monster in the back of everyone's minds that they are a failure. When we can't seem to figure out a math problem, or can't seem to write a good enough thesis, we tend to think to ourselves, "I'm a failure." However, Dweck says that learning is better when you understand that there is no such thing as "I'm a failure," but instead only "I haven't gotten there yet." This is a very important distinction that she makes because it opens up a lot of possibilies once you hit a stumbling block in the learning process. These stumbling blocks are not things to be embarassed about but to be embraced. Struggling with concepts means that you are wrestling with the material and close to understanding them. At the same time, she acknowledges that standards are still important. The Growth Mindset is not about calling everyone a success when they haven't done anything. It's about reshaping the way we look at failure and rethinking the way we look at education.

Learning about Dweck and her ideas has been tremendously beneficial to me already. Since the Iron Yard began I have been in waters that are way over my head. I was extremely frustrated after the second day's homework assignment because I could not figure anything out and I was starting to feel like it would be better to give up and embrace failure. After listening to what Dweck had to say and reading some of her articles though, I feel like I've uncovered secrets within my mind that will allow me to be successful in this class and beyond. The secret to me is this: earnest-self-motivated-effort. As long as I proceed in this class earnestly, meaning that I'm not looking for short-cuts and I'm not looking for false praise, I will be doing myself a service. As long as my effort is self-motivated I won't have to worry about doing this for anyone else and can generate the motivation not from my parents, my teachers, or my classmates, but from myself. These are things that I have done in the past in classes that I have taken and enjoyed without thinking about it but honestly I've never taken a class this hard. I can tell that already. That's why Dweck is so important and why the Right Mindset is so important. What we are doing is really tough. But that is a good thing. Because it's tough means that we will struggle, because we struggle means we can overcome, and because we overcome means we're ready to get PAID!