Cultivating a Growth Mindset
Cultivating a Growth Mindset
Transcript
There is a perception amongst some in the civilian world that service members don't think critically. That soldiers are told what to do, and they just blindly follow orders without thinking for themselves. We know this isn't true. We all have the ability to think critically. And we do throughout our service.
When thinking critically about your transition, it's important to understand that you have a ton of opportunities available to you if you believe that you have the ability to learn something new. Many service members believe that because they did a particular job in the military that they're limited to certain opportunities in the civilian world. This is not true.
How many of you would consider yourself a math person? Well, there's no such thing as a math person. But our belief about whether we are or are not a math person changes how we learn math. The idea of a math person is an example of what is called mindset. In general, a mindset is a set of ideas or attitudes that we have about something, especially when those ideas are seen as being difficult to alter. It's a personal ideology, a set of assumptions that we used to filter the world around us.
When it comes to learning, there's two broad categories of mindset. The first is what's called a fixed mindset, which is the idea that intelligence is something that we have a certain amount of that can't change. That either we are or are not a math person. And that's it. So some of you may say, I'm just a dumb grunt. I can't get into college. That right there is an example of a fixed mindset.
The second category is what's called a growth mindset or the recognition that intelligence can grow and develop in response to effort and good strategies. Growth mindset is a recognition that anyone can learn math. And that the more we put in, the more work we put in, the better we'll get. The reason mindset matters is that what we believe directly influences our behavior. And by influencing our behavior, we influence our learning outcomes.
When you join the military, you are open to learning a new culture in a new profession. And you did. This is an example of a growth mindset. So say you believe that you're a math person and that math is a challenge that you will be able to rise to. You are already working from the assumption that math is going to make sense and that you're going to be able to learn or solve the problem.
When it gets difficult or when something doesn't really make sense, your response will be to keep trying and to figure it out, because you have the confidence to get it done. On the other hand, if you think you're not a math person, then every time working with numbers gets challenging, your first thought is probably something like, what's the point? I'm not going to be able to figure this out anyway.
A fixed mindset assumes that there will be a limit on your abilities, a ceiling on what you can learn. And so when you approach learning with a fixed mindset, you interpret negative feedback as proof that you found and hit your ceiling and you give yourself permission to stop trying and accept failure. So when throughout your military experience was it OK for you to accept failure?
So now, let me give you an example. The valedictorian of the class of 2017 for Columbia University's School of General Studies was a former Marine Corps Sergeant. He was an average student in high school, and he wanted to be a car mechanic after graduating. So he enrolled in technical school and then decided to take a slight pause in his job training to serve four years in the Marine Corps.
And after serving his time as an infantryman, he came back home with the discipline and the confidence to do well in school. He enrolled in his local community college, got straight A's, was able to transfer to Columbia University, decided to major in applied mathematics, graduated as a valedictorian, and he's now working on Wall Street.
So that right there is the power of having a growth mindset. Now, I want to be clear. Mindset is not magical thinking. It is not believe and therefore succeed. What it is is working from the assumption that you'll be able to be successful so that, if something isn't working and if you're not finding success, instead of saying, is this my ceiling, you focus on more useful questions like, why isn't this working and what could I be doing differently in order to be successful. Because there's always something that you could be doing differently.
So maybe the problem is that you don't have enough prior knowledge, and you need to obtain the expertise that you need in order to make the best decision. Whatever the challenge might be, a growth mindset looks to identify and then meet the challenge asking for help and taking advantage of resources all along the way. Our brains learn and change and adapt in response to our effort.
And importantly, that process of learning and changing and adapting our brains, what's known as neuroplasticity, takes work. It doesn't always feel easy. And more often than not, it's not meant to. Feeling like it's a challenge to learn something new isn't a sign that we're not going to be able to learn it. In fact, to a certain extent, it's a sign that we are learning, that we are putting in the effort that we need to change our brains.
I know you're not afraid of hard work and you're not afraid of a challenge. Talking about growth mindset, recognizing that struggle is a part of success, and that anything worth doing is worth working for is really just reminding ourselves that what we already know to be true in life also applies when making a transition from military service to a new career.
What we know is that there's value in hard work, that there is always more than one way to accomplish your goals, that success can mean different things at different times, and that, when we're presented with a challenge, the important question is not, can I do this, but is it worth the time and energy that it's going to take for me to be successful.
So as you think critically about your transition-- your future career, your family, and your life-- understanding that your brain is a muscle able to grow and change with hard work and effort will help you open doors to new opportunities and achieve things in your life and your career that you never thought possible.
When thinking critically about your transition, it's important to understand that you have a ton of opportunities available to you if you believe that you have the ability to learn something new. Many service members believe that because they did a particular job in the military that they're limited to certain opportunities in the civilian world. This is not true.
How many of you would consider yourself a math person? Well, there's no such thing as a math person. But our belief about whether we are or are not a math person changes how we learn math. The idea of a math person is an example of what is called mindset. In general, a mindset is a set of ideas or attitudes that we have about something, especially when those ideas are seen as being difficult to alter. It's a personal ideology, a set of assumptions that we used to filter the world around us.
When it comes to learning, there's two broad categories of mindset. The first is what's called a fixed mindset, which is the idea that intelligence is something that we have a certain amount of that can't change. That either we are or are not a math person. And that's it. So some of you may say, I'm just a dumb grunt. I can't get into college. That right there is an example of a fixed mindset.
The second category is what's called a growth mindset or the recognition that intelligence can grow and develop in response to effort and good strategies. Growth mindset is a recognition that anyone can learn math. And that the more we put in, the more work we put in, the better we'll get. The reason mindset matters is that what we believe directly influences our behavior. And by influencing our behavior, we influence our learning outcomes.
When you join the military, you are open to learning a new culture in a new profession. And you did. This is an example of a growth mindset. So say you believe that you're a math person and that math is a challenge that you will be able to rise to. You are already working from the assumption that math is going to make sense and that you're going to be able to learn or solve the problem.
When it gets difficult or when something doesn't really make sense, your response will be to keep trying and to figure it out, because you have the confidence to get it done. On the other hand, if you think you're not a math person, then every time working with numbers gets challenging, your first thought is probably something like, what's the point? I'm not going to be able to figure this out anyway.
A fixed mindset assumes that there will be a limit on your abilities, a ceiling on what you can learn. And so when you approach learning with a fixed mindset, you interpret negative feedback as proof that you found and hit your ceiling and you give yourself permission to stop trying and accept failure. So when throughout your military experience was it OK for you to accept failure?
So now, let me give you an example. The valedictorian of the class of 2017 for Columbia University's School of General Studies was a former Marine Corps Sergeant. He was an average student in high school, and he wanted to be a car mechanic after graduating. So he enrolled in technical school and then decided to take a slight pause in his job training to serve four years in the Marine Corps.
And after serving his time as an infantryman, he came back home with the discipline and the confidence to do well in school. He enrolled in his local community college, got straight A's, was able to transfer to Columbia University, decided to major in applied mathematics, graduated as a valedictorian, and he's now working on Wall Street.
So that right there is the power of having a growth mindset. Now, I want to be clear. Mindset is not magical thinking. It is not believe and therefore succeed. What it is is working from the assumption that you'll be able to be successful so that, if something isn't working and if you're not finding success, instead of saying, is this my ceiling, you focus on more useful questions like, why isn't this working and what could I be doing differently in order to be successful. Because there's always something that you could be doing differently.
So maybe the problem is that you don't have enough prior knowledge, and you need to obtain the expertise that you need in order to make the best decision. Whatever the challenge might be, a growth mindset looks to identify and then meet the challenge asking for help and taking advantage of resources all along the way. Our brains learn and change and adapt in response to our effort.
And importantly, that process of learning and changing and adapting our brains, what's known as neuroplasticity, takes work. It doesn't always feel easy. And more often than not, it's not meant to. Feeling like it's a challenge to learn something new isn't a sign that we're not going to be able to learn it. In fact, to a certain extent, it's a sign that we are learning, that we are putting in the effort that we need to change our brains.
I know you're not afraid of hard work and you're not afraid of a challenge. Talking about growth mindset, recognizing that struggle is a part of success, and that anything worth doing is worth working for is really just reminding ourselves that what we already know to be true in life also applies when making a transition from military service to a new career.
What we know is that there's value in hard work, that there is always more than one way to accomplish your goals, that success can mean different things at different times, and that, when we're presented with a challenge, the important question is not, can I do this, but is it worth the time and energy that it's going to take for me to be successful.
So as you think critically about your transition-- your future career, your family, and your life-- understanding that your brain is a muscle able to grow and change with hard work and effort will help you open doors to new opportunities and achieve things in your life and your career that you never thought possible.