Assignment 27A: Reading Reflection

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

I am all about growth mindset and seeing how I can become the best self I can be. That is why I chose the book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck. It is all about how you can learn to fulfill your potential. It shows how by simply changing your mindset it can change your life. Something that really stuck with me was the quote: "If you only go through life doing stuff that's easy, shame on you". This book shows how you always have a choice on how you perceive every experience you go through. You can either sit there and do nothing and feel bad or do something about it. The main statement that the book was trying to express is that a fixed mindset might be limiting you from your fullest potential, from opportunities, and from achievement.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

Building a business from the bottom up can be challenging. You will inevitably face obstacles and, essentially, what determines your success after these will be your mindset. Having a growth mindset allows you to constantly learn and improve. This connects to our learning in ENT 3003 because a new product/business will require changes to be made along the way. This book also shows how to foster a workplace that is a community full of growth mindsets. People in these collective growth mindset companies are more open to expressing their opinion and communicate more efficiently. 

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

I would just have the class answer a few questions to have them reflect on their mindset and experiences.

• In what areas of your life do you believe you have a fixed mindset on?
• How can you move this more towards a growth mindset? What do you want to remind yourself of?
• Think of a time that someone outdid you and you just assumed they were smarter or more talented
• Maybe they just used better strategies, planned more, practiced harder
• How will you challenge yourself today?

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

Something from the book that really shocked me and something I have not really thought about before was the reasoning behind the gender gap in math and science. In society, it is  portrayed that men are better at more math and science things than women. What contributes to the gender gap is the fixed mindset, stereotyping and women's trust in other people's assessments of them. Females trust in other peoples opinions stems from when they were little. Little girls were often never scolded but rather praised as cute and well behaved. Since they believe those things, then they must believe even the criticizing is true as well. The vulnerability of females in believing these assessments can only be easily changed by switching a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.