I can definitely see both a lack of this and a later application of it in my personal life. As a kid, I was one of those annoying "gifted and talented" students who sped through the work like it was nothing, was spent to special supplemental classes during free periods, and read books at recess instead of socializing. Everything was easy, and as Carol pointed out, it was very likely things I had already known so I was not actually learning. Later on, in high school chemistry, I started struggling with school for the first time. I didn't know how to deal with the difficulties and failures that I faced, because at no point had my previous educational experiences primed me for anything but excellence. I declared then, and still hold today, that I simply suck at chemistry, and fortunately I have never had to face it again.
In college, I joined the ROTC program and was plunged into the world of physical fitness. Previously I had been on the dance team, but pirouettes and stretching my way into a perfect split did not at all prepare me for running, push ups, or any core strength whatsoever. Unsurprisingly, I failed my first physical fitness test. But instead of declaring that I must suck at running and giving up, I kept working to build the fitness I needed. I failed many more fitness tests that semester, but each time I focused on the five more sit ups I was able to do, or how my run went thirty seconds faster, and soon I was able to pass and keep improving myself.
It really is all about focusing on the positives and the progress instead of letting yourself get down about the failures, and I will apply this to my final semester of college - at this point any small failures are just a drop in the ocean of what I have achieved throughout college.
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| It's up to you! (From the Growth Mindset Memes blog) |
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