Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I chose was “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” from the second reading list. The general theme of this book was to demonstrate different mindsets people have while attempting success. The author, Carole Dweck, analyzes two different mindsets someone can have when trying to succeed in something. It may not have to be business but can strongly connect to it. The general theme overall seemed to be training your mind. In my opinion, this was the major theme, too. You can train your mind to think a certain way. Just like in cultures or society we train our minds to think a specific way and adopt a lifestyle. The mindsets Dweck set to compare in this book were the “fixed mindset” and the “growth mindset.” The titles kind of give away the meaning behind each. But this book broke down each in their own ways and build success and how to train your mind properly to continuously gain success in life.

This book connects to this course because as we develop our business concepts, we have to grow and keep an open mind. Moreover, the mindset we present will reflect in the assignments we submit. If I did not feel passionately about my product then my elevator pitched will be weak unenthusiastic, and heartless. I could choose to submit nothing at all if I have the wrong mindset. Connecting a better mindset, like the growth mindset, then I will present better material and assignments and gain more knowledge for future business endeavors beyond this course.

I thought about this as I read the book, I would create an exercise that involved interviews. I would have students’ select three people to interview. These interviews would have the theme of mindsets but the interviewee would not know the mindsets being tested. The student would have to come up with three situational questions to present and the interviewee would have to honestly answer each of these situations. It would be similar to “What Would You Do?” and through the responses the student must analyze which mindset the person falls into overall (fixed or growth). After the interview, the student must ask one of those situation questions again and have the person respond with what they believe the student would do in that situation. At the end, the student would write a reflection of their findings and see if they agree with the category the interviewee placed them in.

My aha moment in this book was when Dweck said those who find that anything can be improved are more likely to enjoy life and succeed while doing it. This connects to the growth mindset and it hit me that I am a mixture of the two. I do want to improve but there are some aspects in my life that I do not think I can improve on which place me in the fixed mindset. Other areas I see myself improving and ready to take risks which exemplify growth mindset. It was when Dweck mentioned this particular sentence it just hit me! This differed to me because I just expected straight comparisons and analogies. A good portion was such that and it was a surprise to read a direct thought without connections or pulling from another source.