The Growth Mindset Playbook Chapter 5 Reflection

    This chapter of The Growth Mindset Playbook discusses how failure leads to success. In order for one to succeed at something, they must go through multiple struggle periods and failures before they can reach the endpoint. This chapter describes how even the greatest inventors such as Albert Einstein have gone through many failed attempts before he got his invention spot on. As Chapter 5 of The Growth Mindset Playbook describes, "It is often through acts of struggle, failure, and resilience that they arrive at their greatest discoveries." In relation to having a Growth Mindset, one must be prepared that with perseverance for a task will come flaws. Things take hard, meaningful work to accomplish. This book talks about having good "If/Then" Plans set in stone before a failure comes about in order to better be prepared. That way, when failure approaches, you have a plan-of-action. One with a Growth Mindset must expect that failure will come, but with hard work and dedication, it can be overcome. Failure is all part of the learning process. In addition, this chapter describes how "The key to success is arduous, disciplined, old-fashioned work ethic. It is the people who show up, plod along, and put the work in day after day who produce, achieve, and succeed" (The Growth Mindset Playbook Chapter 5). Relating, one must push forward even after failed attempts in order to even have a chance of coming closer to the end result. As a teacher, one must be willing to showcase to their class how failure is a key component in the learning process. Teachers need to help pick kids up when they fall down. Some kids, when failure approaches in a subject in school such as math, they may have the immediate reaction of "I am just not good at math!" As a teacher, one needs to counteract the student's words by saying things such as "You just aren't there yet" or "Other kids in the class have questions on this too, let's go over some problems together." By combatting these negative thoughts, teachers can encourage students to keep moving forwards even when things don't go as planned. "Create a culture in which handing back a paper or two or three times isn't out of the ordinary. The process of revisiting work, analyzing feedback, conferencing with peers, and trying again should be a common loop in your classroom" (The Growth Mindset Playbook Chapter 5).

    I like the idea that this chapter provides for having "If/Then" Plans of action for when failure does arise. I think it is a good idea to think ahead and know that failure is a part of the learning process and in order to get further, one must overcome it. Having set-in-stone plans allows for one to believe that the failure is not a roadblock, but in fact just a detour (Paraphrased from Chapter 5 of The Growth Mindset Playbook). In relation to teachers helping students to combat their Fixed Mindset tones, I think that the advice of counteracting one's own thoughts about failure can be helpful as well, as in a form of self-talk. When a Fixed Mindset phrase such as "Since I failed, I cannot do it" comes into play, one can say a Growth Mindset phrase such as "Practice makes permanent" to help to persevere onward. This chapter also mentions that "...if we wait until we are in the mood to work, we will rarely work at all. This ability to keep coming back to your work even when you don't feel like it, even when it's easier not to, even when you're convinced you have nothing left to give, is what we're talking about when we talk about perseverance." Essentially, this is talking about the Fixed Mindset approach of procrastination, as what I take this to be. As a person who does occasionally procrastinate on things that she does not want to do, I think it is important for me and for others like me to know that when you procrastinate, absolutely nothing gets done, so you mind as well work on something. Some people probably procrastinate for fear of failure, but connecting to this chapter, that is all part of the learning process.

   I also like the connection that this chapter makes at the end to the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where they mend broken pieces of ceramics with golden "glue." I think that the link they make between this and bouncing back after failure is a good way to demonstrate. Just as the golden glue is used to mend the broken ceramics, one can "mend" themself after failure, and like the book also describes, "come back more beautiful and valuable than before" (The Growth Mindset Playbook Chapter 5). I think that this is a great metaphor to failure and how it leads to success.