Where’s the growth mindset metaphor in Star Wars? Find the answer in this article!
At Learn Assembly, one of our missions is to help you be lifelong learners. This is why we launched Learning Boost, a program aiming to develop your learning agility. One of the topics we cover is the personal development dynamic. It’s represented in this article by the growth mindset.
Do you also have tremendous capabilities and is your manager small, green and switches the order of his/her sentences?
In this scene of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke believes he’s unable to use the Force in order to lift the ship and gives up after his first failure. But Master Yoda shows him that the impossible only lies in his mind. Without saying the words, he just disclosed one of the biggest secrets of individual performance: the “growth mindset”.
So, are you in Luke’s or Yoda’s team? Do you believe that our skills are fixed or that we can develop them?
More than 30 years ago, a young american researcher took an interest in students’ attitudes towards failure and analyzed the school system in the United-States. She observed in a Chicago highschool that some students had a very positive reaction when they were doing an exercise that was a little too difficult for them (they said things like “I love challenges”). On the other hand, others had a very hard time dealing with the situation. They saw it as tragic, if not disastrous.
This researcher is Carol Dweck. She’s a pioneer in the field of motivation, why people succeed (or don’t) and how to foster success. She originated the concept of Growth Mindset, as opposed to what she calls the Fixed Mindset. You might wonder why these notions can help you in your daily life. They can actually have an impact in your personal and professional development. Here’s how:
When you find yourself in a complex situation that you don’t know how to solve, don’t forget that you are in the middle of your learning process. Don’t be too hard on yourself, don’t doubt your abilities. Know that the solution you’ll find might not be ideal but next time you’re confronted with similar circumstances, you’ll find a better one. Then, try to think about your “failure” to learn from it and develop techniques to improve your response. You’ll have the opportunity at the same time to work on your reflexivity.
Adopting a growth mindset increases your motivation in your daily life and helps you develop your abilities by transforming your perception of failure. Here’s a challenge to cultivate this mindset:
If you took this challenge up, you adopted a growth mindset. You’ll quickly see that there are many occasions to practice it everyday. Don’t forget that effort is a learning process, even if you don’t see the results yet. And don’t underestimate your ability to evolve.
We recommend that you first watch Carol Dweck’s TED Talk. This professor of psychology at Stanford will tell you everything about the growth mindset concept.
You can also read The Little Book Of Talent by Daniel Coyle. You will learn how important it is to make mistakes and how you can learn to enjoy challenges.
To know more about Learning Boost and discover more contents like this one, you can fill out our survey to measure your learning agility and create your individual learner’s profile. It will indicate your strengths and areas of improvement.
Learn Assembly is a learning company which mission is to help organizations develop their employees’ employability, in a sound and sustainable manner. As an architect and a builder of learning experiences, we help you gain height and get your hands dirty at the same time to make your projects successful.
