Carol Dweck researches the growth mindset — the idea that we can grow our brain’s capacity to learn and to solve problems.
In her Ted Talk of 2014, she mentions a high school in Chicago that gave students who didn’t pass courses a grade of “Not Yet.” It kept students from thinking the failure was permanent.
It gave them hope for growth and improvement.
Dweck has conducted many experiments around this concept of the growth mindset vs. the fixed mindset. She’s found that it’s more important to develop and celebrate the learning process than it is to push the pass/fail limitations of letter grades and performance reviews.
When you nurture a growth mindset you get people to engage deeply, process errors, and learn how to correct them.
Here’s how to get your kids, students, and colleagues to develop a growth mindset:
- Praise process, not talent and intelligence. Process praise creates hardy and resilient individuals.
- Reward effort, strategy and progress. You get more effort and perseverance over longer periods of time.
- Use “yet” and “not yet.” These simple words can build confidence and present a positive path to the future.
Difficulty, delays and setbacks should not make us feel dumb. Those are the opportunities for our neurons to make new connections, and for us to get smarter.
Never say never. Instead, say not yet.
Have a great week.
Sign up for The Sunday Snippet!
Good ideas to help you prosper delivered fresh each Sunday morning.