Throughout my life I have always coasted through everything that I have ever done. When it came to school you could describe me as an average student when compared to my friends, I always did the bare minimum that I needed to pass, when it came to outside of school it was the same thing when ever my mom or dad told me to do something I always to put in the least amount of effort to accomplish it and waited to the last minute to start doing it. When I read Carol Dweck’s Mindset I learned about fixed mindset and growth mindset, Dweck explained fixed mindset is when a person sets himself up for failure mentally, they always think they wont amount to anything so they just stop trying; while growth mindset is the exact opposite of a fixed mindset, they try to learn as much as they can, they never waver in front of anything and always believe they can accomplish anything (57). After reading the book I was to able to instantly recognize that I was an individual with a fixed mindset throughout my primary education and life like how Dweck described (57). Looking back at the first three years of elementary school I performed above some of my classmates, I could have even had a growth mindset during that time as I had just moved to the United States from Mexico three years prior.
I still didn’t understand the language, so I wanted to learn the most I could. I would always raise my hand to ask questions about something I didn ‘t know and I didn ‘t care what people thought about me, I was there to learn and better myself. Every time I got home the first thing I ever did was to go to my room and finish my homework, but it wasn’t until I was in fourth grade that my growth mindset transitioned into a fixed mindset.My fixed mindset started b. . education so you guys can get a high paying job so that you don ‘t have to work like this for the rest of your lives.
As soon as I got home I enrolled into Lone Star North Harris to continue my education. I now study to learn and better myself instead of just acing the test (Dweck 61). I now know that my way of thinking like this was because of my fixed mindset, the problem in front of me wasn’t my friends or my siblings it was my idiotic way of thinking and the way I put myself down. If I had a growth mindset during those times I probably would have studied until I could understand everything and had better grades. I would have actually enjoyed middle school instead of stressing about pointless thing that I really shouldn’t have cared about. I shouldn ‘t have cared what people thought about me instead I should have just tried to better myself to the best I could.
