“The moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability, we will be brittle in the face of adversity.” – Josh Waitzkin

 (Josh is an International Chess Master, World Champion in Tai Chi Chuan, and subject of the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer”)

Josh is also a great example of someone who believes that he knows how to learn and to develop new skills.

He has what is called a growth mindset.

Carol Dweck and others have conducted research in children and adults to see the impact of a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset.  Students with a growth mindset are more likely to take on challenging courses, to see failures as an opportunity to change their approach or level of effort, and to translate criticism from peers or instructors into self-development. Growth mindset is also linked to the ability to persist when things don’t go as planned.

The greatest thing about mindset is that even if you’ve spent your life with a fixed mindset about certain areas of your life –

“I’m just not good at math.”

“All of my family are slow readers.”

“I’ve always struggled with tests.”

“I’m just not an A student.”

You can change, and grow, and learn new things, and develop new skills.

It won’t always be easy, in fact it will often be hard and take a lot of effort.  To get started changing how you think about yourself and your ability to learn new things or have higher levels of academic success can be as simple as listening to your voice (internal and external) and consciously adjusting your message.

“I’m just not good at math.” I haven’t learned Algebra, yet.

“All of my family are slow readers.” I haven’t learned how to read textbooks effectively, yet.

“I’ve always struggled with tests.” I’m not very confident at test-taking, yet.

“I’m just not an A student.” I’m not an A student, yet.

You didn’t develop a fixed mindset overnight, and you won’t shift to a growth mindset immediately either.  Be patient and kind as you learn not only academic content, but also how to shift your mindset toward one that will bring you the potential for higher success.

Learn more about fixed and growth mindset:

OSU Learning Corner has a page with tips about mindset

#YouCanLearnAnything from the Khan Academy

Growth vs Fixed Mindset (in just one minute!)

The Power of Belief – Mindset and Success: Eduardo Briceno at TEDxManhattanBeach

Mindset website, with lots of information from Mindset author Carol Dweck, including “test your mindset” and “change your mindset” sections.