Growth Mindset W7: Sharing GM Thoughts With My Niece

This week my 13 year old niece is visiting us from Texas. I decided that this would be a good opportunity to talk to her and see how she feels about learning and growing, and then sharing with her my ideas on growth mindset.

I started by asking her about school and what she enjoys learning about. She is a good student, but she struggles a little bit in math. She told me that her dad makes her sit down and do her homework every day, and that math usually takes her the most time. I then started to talk to her about this idea of growth mindset.

I told her that I know math is hard for her, but when she is working all those hours on homework and studying, just remember that she may not understand it now, but that is a good thing because it means that if she continues to put in hard work, she will eventually get better and better until she does understand it. I explained to her how I was the opposite, always good at math and absolutely hated writing, so what did I do? I focused all of my effort on doing the thing I was good at and would get me praise from my teachers and peers, which was math. I put very little time into writing, which made it very difficult once I got to AP English in high school and was expected to write at a high level. I told her how I wished I would have spent more time earlier on the hard work of getting better at reading and writing and less time on taking the easy path with math.

She told me that she doesn't mind doing things that are difficult for her, and that she actually likes a challenge, which made me relieved that she was nothing like her uncle at her age. I know that she is going to be alright as long as she continues having this growth mindset and doesn't fall into the trap, that a lot of people fall into, of only seeking out what comes easy to them.