Week 2: Everyday Mindset Examples

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Growth mindset is a concept you can apply in your academics and on the job. It’s also a way to approach day-to-day life. Here are some examples of everyday situations in which you can consciously choose to respond with a growth mindset. 

Example 1: Your morning is full of the unexpected. You hit the snooze button too many times, resulting in waking up late for work. As you rush to get out the door to your job, you  accidentally spill your coffee and have to take time to clean up the mess. Since you left your home later than usual, traffic is moving at a snail’s pace. A fixed mindset response would be grumbling about your crummy morning.  A growth mindset response would be committing to waking up earlier and devising a more effective morning routine. 

Example 2: Most people like to be winners, and kids on sports teams are no exception. So when your daughter, who spent tireless hours in the backyard practicing her jump shot, makes 10 out of 15 shots—leading her basketball team in scoring on game day—you can praise her by giving a fixed mindset response or a growth mindset response. A fixed mindset response would be “Great game! You’re a spectacular athlete!” A growth mindset response, by contrast, would be “Great game! Your dedication, practice, and hard work were reflected in your performance tonight.” 

In the Discussion forum, share some examples of how you can apply growth mindset in your daily interactions, either in a professional setting or in your academics. Here are some prompts to address if you need some ideas:

• How do you handle a new project or task at work, home, or school? 
• How do you embrace working in groups when you prefer to work independently? 
• How would you react to your instructor’s suggestion to incorporate a data component into an assignment for your non-math-related course? 
• What do you do when you don’t understand something that everyone around you seems to have caught onto? 

To maintain the pace of your course progress, post your response to the discussion questions during Week 2. Also, to make this discussion interactive, please respond to postings from at least two classmates. Give your classmates positive feedback on their growth mindset response, or offer an example of a time you were in a similar situation and responded similarly or differently, explaining how your response helped you (or not).