Reading Reflection No. 3

1) The book I chose for the third reading reflection is Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. The general theme of the book was about defining and establishing a growth mindset so that you can channel any failures or setbacks into vessels for growth. In contrast to a growth mindset, a fixed mindset inhibits your brain from evolving---this mindset sees certain traits, such as intellect and skills, as being inherently fixed. In determining which mindset you adopt, perspective plays a vital role. The way in which you perceive your mind and brain ultimately dictates whether you seek new opportunities in life or are content with simply being stagnant. 

2) The book, in my opinion, connected with and enhanced what I am learning in ENT3003 because this course has emphasized the importance of adopting a growth mindset. Through different assignments, like the Bug List and Identifying Local Opportunities, we have been taught to constantly seek challenges or problems that can ultimately be turned into opportunities for success. Rather than being discouraged or resentful of the challenges in our life, we have approached these problems with the perspective that we can capitalize and solve them. Further, through multiple iterations of the same assignment, we have learned to seek points of weaknesses and ways to enhance our current understandings (as it pertains to our business concept). Thus, I feel as if the assignments we have completed throughout this course have embodied and exemplified the exact lessons that were conveyed in the book.

3) The book emphasizes the notion that a fixed mindset can be modified to become a growth mindset. It all depends on awareness and perspective. So, if I had to design an exercise for this class based on the book, it would be to have students make a list of experiences in which he or she exhibited a fixed mindset. Based on those experiences, I would then ask the students to explain what they would have done if they used a growth mindset instead. By asking students to reflect on their past decisions, and then to envision a different course of action, we would be conditioning students to identify what a growth mindset looks like and instances in which a growth mindset can be utilized going forward. Thus, this assignment would teach ways to be proactive, rather than reactive, in the future.

4) The biggest surprise or 'aha' moment that I had when reading the book was when Dweck mentioned that a growth mindset allows a journey to be worthwhile, regardless of whether you win or lose. In essence, even if you fail, a growth mindset will see that failure as being meaningful and worth it. Rather than this statement being a difference from a prior expectation, this was an 'aha' moment because I realized that this statement perfectly conveyed a sentiment that I had always felt towards failure. I have always perceived failure as an opportunity for growth, but I never realized that this understanding was attributed to something known as a "growth mindset."