21 Reading Reflection 2

The book that I chose to read for this assignment was Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck.

1.      The general theme of the book was changing your perspective and adopting a growth mindset. Choosing to embrace the challenges and difficulties in a way that helps you enhance your skillset and grow rather than depend on straight out luck or whatever “natural” talent you may have.

2.      This definitely connects with the theme of ENT 3003 in terms of how important possessing the quality of tenacity is. She talks about how the journey is the real reward, and how things not working out the way you planned doesn’t necessarily mean that you lost out.

3.      If I had to design an exercise for this class, I would probably formulate a hypothetical situational question for students and ask them first how they would react before reading the book, and how they would react after reading the book, while implementing the changed perspective that they read about forming. I would ask them to describe the results of both sets of actions and how the growth mindset changed the outcome of the situation. Another possible assignment would be to ask students to reflect on how a professor, parent, judge, or coach helped shape a perspective that spoke of the growth mindset that Dweck focused on, and how the student’s current perspective has been formed by interactions with this chosen individual.

4.      Nothing really surprised me about the philosophy that Carol Dweck promoted but I did appreciate the way she applied her concept of a growth mindset to relationships. It’s always a good reminder when you realize you and others shouldn’t be expected to get along perfectly without any problems, issues, or hiccups whatsoever. She says that “Problems can be a vehicle for developing greater understand and intimacy”. I’ve come to see and experience this with my own relationships over the years, and this is advice that I would give other people as well.