Towards the end of my summer I faced myself in a tough decision. A decision which marked a mindset of growth in myself. It was a turning point for the way I faced challenges. While having been in Chile I took the chance to learn how to snowboard. Having had no experience on a snowboard whatsoever, I was told that if you could skateboard that it would make snowboarding a walk in the park. I was wrong to believe this. I was wrong because I kept believing in these fixed thoughts. For example: if I could already skateboard, snowboard is going to take less effort. This might be true in some cases but this fixed mentality made me less open to embrace challenges on the snowboard. Not only that but it also had me thinking in an ignorant manner. Therefore on the first day, as soon as I got onto the snowboard I lost complete control and fell face first into the snow. I spent the entire class doing the same thing. At that moment I realized wow this isn’t as easy as I thought. Quickly I was haunted by numerous fixed thoughts. I was beginning to give up. Asking myself questions like why am i going to keep doing this if I could just ski where I felt better at? I went home that day feeling like failure had just replaced my name. As I mentally reflected on the entire day, I realized that the book Mindset was speaking to me. I began to continue reading from where I left off at. “When people— couples, coaches, coaches and athletes, managers and workers, parents and children, teachers and students— change to a growth mindset, they change from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework. … Everyday presents you with ways to grow and to help the people you care about grow. " ~ Carol S. Dweck This quote struck because it made me think deeper into what I learned that day. I began to realize that I actually learned a lot even though I failed. I learned by helping family friends to learn. They asked me how I dealt with the snowboarding class that day, if I learned any tips that I could share with them. At first, the fixed mindset spoke and began to say no today was a complete mess I didn’t learn anything. Then it happened, I remembered reading the book and this quote and I spoke: "Our teacher taught us today that for a snowboarder the only way to stop or slow down was to turn, position your body, slightly put pressure on you heels or toes , and shave the snow with the metallic side of the board to reduce your speed. " However, now with the correct mindset I wasn't going to let this failure torment me instead it would be the gasoline to my car. It would fuel me up and keep me up and running for the next day to come. The rest of the next day was spent with a powerful effort to test myself in snowboarding down the easy mountain in the shape of an S, trying to master the movement that I could quickly stop forward with my toes and backwards with my heels. The cost to this effort was an entire morning spent falling, tumbling, and crashing into sides of the mountain or trees and sometimes even other people. By the end of that day I was snowboarding at the top of the mountain doing medium level runs. Nonetheless, I was still practicing the correct movement but this time with more of a challenging run. Here is a short clip of me already comfortable on the snowboard.
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"With the right mindset and the right teaching people are capable of a lot more than we think." What does your mindset have to with art? Its either you have artistic talent or you don't right? Believe it or not but despite the debate between art being a birth given ability or not Carol Dweck explains that yes some people are born with exceptional natural artistic talent, others can form astonishing artistic talents too, but with the correct mindset. Carol Dweck mentions how in the book Drawing on the right side of the Brain by Betty Edwards it gives the perfect instruction of how the brain deals with art. Moreover, how to interpret components of art using the right side of the brain. Neuroscience + Art "Actually she informs us, they are not drawing skills at all, but seeing skills. They are the ability to perceive edges, spaces, relationships, lights and shadows, and the whole. Drawing requires us to learn each component skill and then combine them into one process." As an artist this part of the book especially spoke out to me because even in art it takes a lot of effort to create what you perceive in your mind. In order to create that though you definitely need be persistent and have that sense of a growth mindset because from first hand experience you can get frustrated with your artwork. Now let's take a look at what Betty Edwards can teach us about art... As a wise man once told me, "There is nothing more embarrassing than to show your failures on the internet. Therefore, be determined to fix and change them because everyone can see." This summer I realized something and it is something I really wanted to change throughout. While reading the fascinating book Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, I learned the many different occurrences of a fixed mindset and of a growth mindset might face in their daily lives. I learned how those two mindsets can change your beliefs in things such as sports, business and leadership, anger, relationships, etc. What I realized was that I do face a fixed mindset at numerous occasions but there are others where I can face a growth mindset. However it is always hardest to admit your failures and to take action upon them. Here is how I failed over the summer and decided to start the new year with action. Dear Corey Topf, I am going to be brutally honest with you and with myself, no excuses. I have been a fixed mindset. For you have been my teacher this past year you are well aware of my weaknesses, we both are. As my habit this summer was to try and focus and complete my work, I have failed. By completing only one blog entry, two articles, and only read two books. Moreover, I am ready to face my consequences as a challenge. To change my meaning of effort and to continue learning to the best of my abilities. Therefore, I am not going to let my failures be my label anymore! I am sick and tired of being looked upon as unfocused. So I am here today, starting it off, with a changed mindset and a promise that I want to uphold. To become a more persistently focused and motivated learner in the classroom and in my work. However, as my teacher, mentor, and role-model I ask for your help on this promise. I have brainstormed on a couple of solutions that I think might just work.
To find out wether you have a fixed mindset, growth mindset or mixed, take the the quiz at: Mindset QUIZ http://www.teachingprofessor.com/wp-content/uploads/Mindset-quiz.pdf Going into the summer I had one big question for myself. Even though it is summer how can I keep myself focused?
Asking google, I began to research different methods and articles to provide myself with background information. Most of the information I found provided me with the same response, to check with a doctor for concentration issues. Although that may be a solution, it wasn’t the one I was looking for. Spending time procrastinating happens to me a lot and to most teens. An american study proves that 70% of students exhibit this behavior of procrastination. Procrastination being a problem, I wanted to find out a solution that could best fit me and help me through my daily life as a student and a teen. All this reflection and research lead me to finding my solution. However, I stumbled upon an important quote. According to Dr. Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation, “Aside From the cliché that students are more impulsive, in your early 20s you’re still developing your pre-frontal cortex, home of the will power.” After I read this, I began to think. One thought came to me, does this mean I am doomed to staying up late with the thought of just five more minutes on Facebook and then I could finish my homework, if not I got tomorrow morning there is no need to worry. The quote basically signifies that it is easier for us teenagers to fall under the temptation of taking a short break while working because we our still developing. We don’t come into the realization that this short break can be costing us the focus that we want to achieve and commit to, but simply cannot because our mind wanders elsewhere. Truthfully, for those who know me well, I tend to mind wander constantly. However, the majority of people tend to confuse mind wandering and zoning out. Believe it or not, a study done by a psychologist at UC Santa Barbara has discovered and research different ways to increase and decrease mind wandering. Nonetheless he states that when our minds wander, we tend to lose touch with the outside world. Although we don’t actually blank out, the tricky part though is that with our mind wandering elsewhere it reduces to chances to encode memories in our brain therefor causing a miss connection or a form of short term forgetfulness. While zoning out basically makes us prone to these errors of missing connections. A test was done to back up the effect of zoning out at the University of British Columbia. A group was tested to read a Sherlock Holmes mystery with a villain who used a pseudonym (a fictitious name). Only 30% of the people who zoned out at the important moments while discussing this could give the pseudonym of the villain. However 61 % percent of those who didn’t zone out at the important moments could provide the pseudonym of the villain. The solution I gained, was first formed by building the background portrait of my canvas, researching the problem of procrastination and focus. Then by keeping myself organized. For those who tend to travel a lot I bet organization can be a bit of an issue, well this summer I have tried to keep all my things organized as much as possible. However the main solution that has been helping me keep my focus intact is reading. While traveling a lot in Brazil for the world cup the past weeks I would find a time to read whenever I could, I found that while moving from one city to another I would always be reading. Either by plane or by car I would have my book with me. When I was younger I was obsessed with the Percy Jackson series, the only series I ever enjoyed to read. However after reading all the books I remembered that the last one hadn't come out yet so I decided to finish the book. Now that I am finally in San Francisco I am in the process of reading our summer book, Mindset. However, I still want to find another book that I would chose to read myself. My goal is to at least read 3 or more books this summer. I really feel like this is the solution to my focus because reading is one of the many ways to focus into something without getting distracted and missing those important concepts. As you have probably heard or experienced, when it comes to finals everyone is stressed, teachers, students, and even the parents because of their kids. It is one big chaotic stress pool, but is it really necessary for everyone to be so stressed? In realty, it is understandable because the teacher is doing there job in grading, the student is pushing him or herself to their limit in order to get into the college they want, and the parent wants there student to have a bright future. Although this may be true, we never realize how much stress weakness our mental and physical health, it literally eats us piece-by-piece like a termite devouring up wooden planks of a house. These are definitely a couple effects of stress that you might have never heard of: (Full Article:The Effects of Stress...)
Since finals are next week, the stress has been seemingly unsurmountable; therefore, in order to somehow take away the stress I had to find a relieving method. Sports for me tends to get the job done, but the only problem was that my basketball season had just ended. I was in a pickle. In that case, I thought to myself and began to think, why don't I go for a swim. "Stress relief with swimming is a really wonderful way of relieving stress. It can be very relaxing when done at a slow pace, gliding through the water. Or it can be a real physical work-out when going full speed practicing the front crawl. The focus you put into swimming helps you to unwind during a long day or after a day’s work. You release the stress & strains and gain great relief from plunging into the pool. " Every day since then, I have been swimming right after school to relive the stress. I am currently on day 3: a reliever in progress! "A Culture for Innovation" |
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My name is Stefan Stangl and I am originally from San Francisco, California. Currently, I am senior at Colegio Franklin Delano Roosvelt in Lima, Peru. My passions are sports and art.
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