Reflection of the book I read; the New Psychology of Success
This write up is a combination of a reflection/research paper. The book that I read is The New Psychology of Success. Well, this book talks about a number of aspects such as, how it is important to put oneself in a growth mindset, adoption of a growth mindset and focusing on learning rather than achievement, the importance of changing your mindset, how a growth mindset can act as a tool towards loving what you are dong among others. Based on my major, I am going to focus my discussion on how a growth mindset can make me love what I am doing and focusing on learning rather than achievement.
There is one area that is deeply related to my career and my current major in the book that I read. It is actually one topic but I am going to exhaust it fully. This will, however, be preceded by a reflection on the book that I read; The New Psychology of Success.
Reflection of the book I read; the New Psychology of Success.
The book, Mindset: The New Psychology of success was written by a Stanford University psychologist called Carol S. Dwerk. The book has changed millions of lives over time and it talks about a number of things regarding the mindset on an individual and its implication in regard to the direction of his/her life (Dweck, 2016).
Carol Dwerk mentions a number of things in her book, some of the things that she has highlighted in her book are outlined below;
One, she talks about changing your mindset. Caron Dwerk says that if you have a fixed mindset then it is not bad news, the good news is that the situation is not permanent; a fixed mind can actually be changed. She mentions that mindset dictates a huge percentage of our personality but we can change them. It is not so hectic to change ones mindset, it just involves thinking and reacting in a totally different way from the way we are already thinking and reacting to things. It revolves around learning from the failure and being in a position to take the challenges that life throws at us often (Hochanadel & Finamore, 2015).
The book also mentions the issue of putting oneself in agrowth mindset. The author mentions that even though at times we do find ourselves in situations where we have fixed mindsets, it does not always remain that way all through. At times we also do find ourselves having the growth mindset. She mentions that this is some kind of ability that can be mastered so that we can be in a position to be up for the task. She says just like a skill, this ability can be learnt with time and the willingness to have this growth mindset (Allen, 2012).
The growth mindset makes life worth it regardless of the outcomes that present themselves. It is very clear that when we do have a fixed mindset then, if we do not happen to win we are losers and these sticks into our minds for decades and it can end up ruining our lives. Witha growth mindset however, she says that it is the process that matters. At times things do not go as we had planned or anticipated but we are up for the task. We actually care less about winning and start focusing on the aspects that we learn along the way. The outcome is not of great importance anymore and we start valuing the things that we do each and every day. Personally, this issue has made me have a totally different outlook about life. I was always the person that cared less about the process; my focus was just on the final outcome. Reading this book has made me have a different look and perspective about life. It has made me be the person that is ready to follow and learn from the process no matter how challenging it might be(O’Rourke, Haimovitz, Ballweber, Dweck, Popovi?, 2014).
Focusing on the process rather than the results
Statistics have it that about 60% of the world’s population is in serious relationships. We all do have the people we love and care about and we would do anything to make sure that they are safe. The issue of growth mindset also applies in relationships. Carol Dwerk mentions that relationships have a high chance of growing if we decide to picture it in an ideal standpoint. A relationship does not just involve a perfect compatibility where there are no disagreements and compromises. In each and every relationship, it is bound that issue must arise. How well we handle those issues is exactly what determines how far we get. Applying a growth mindset in such a situation is very key towards the sustainability of our relationships. We should be in a position to allow our loved ones raise their differences; we should not be so quick to judge. We should listen to them carefully and in a caring manner. This makes them feel loved and it strengthens the bond that we have with them even further (Dweck, 2010).
The author also mentions the issue of the artistic ability of being able to develop ourselves far much greater than we are born. We all can do better, not everyone that does things perfectly was born with such abilities, and some of them developed those abilities through training and constant practice. We all can be in a position to develop ourselves and become even much greater than we were born. It is up to us to take the challenge and focus towards self-development. This is only achieved when we are determined to change our mindset regarding some negative thoughts that usually fill our minds. The growth mind set is a key towards developing ourselves far much greater than we were born.
Discussion on a topic that relates to the book I read my career path and my current major
The topic of interest in this discussion that relates to both the book I read and my career path is about focusing on the process rather than the final outcome. I have looked at this topic in regard to the book, my current major and also my future career. Finally there are some recommendations that I have come up with that will help one develop a mindset that will focus on the process rather than the results (Yeager, Romero, Paunesku, Hulleman, Schneider, Hinojosa, Trott, 2016).
Focusing on the process rather than the results
Many at times we find ourselves so focused on the outcome that we fail to enjoy and acknowledge the process. We even at times end up quitting some of the important things in our lives because there are no results. Well, this should not be the case. We should never give up our goals because we are not seeing the results at that moment. At times we see that the results are not coming fast enough, we should never grow impatient. The current generation has been made in a way that a lot of people want instant results. The times of hard work, patience and consistency are far gone. These were the times that made life worth a living. We should by all means necessary consider restoring this moment because they are the moments that we did enjoy life as a people (O’Rourke et al, 2014).
Discussion on a topic that relates to the book I read my career path and my current major
The current generation is made up of people who put all sorts of deadlines in the staff they do and when things do not turn out as they expect, they end up giving up and throwing it all away. The process should be far much important than the outcome. We should be in a position to positively face all the challenges that come our way and set up our minds to learn from the challenges and all the lessons that life throws at us. Challenges should make us stronger not weaker (Claro, Paunesku, Dweck, 2016).
Carol Dwerk mentions in her book that developing a growth mindset is the only tool to take us through the process. With a fixed mindset we are bound to assume things, we will always focus on the results but with a growth mindset, then we are going to have a totally different look on things. We are going to be in a position to take the challenges that life presents us in the process and turn them into opportunities (Dweck, 2015).
Well, for my career the results are way much important. In almost all careers the employees are expected to deliver. This does not mean however, that the process is left out when it comes to careers. As matter of fact, the process is very crucial here towards shaping us into the persons we wish to become in our lives. A career that is focused only on the results limits us from growing. We should be in a position to develop ourselves and this will be made possible by the mistakes we make in our daily lives and being in a position to get up and learn from those mistakes (Yeager et al, 2016).
In relation to my current major, a focus on the process rather than the outcome has the ability to eliminated nose from other external forces. Judging performance by outcome will only promote the use of wrong techniques towards achieving those results that people are so eager to see the process on the other hand helps in the mastery of the skill that is fundamental towards our survival and growth. Results will eventually come but we should not hunger for them (Claro et al, 2016).Carol Dwerk mentions in her book that the adoption of a growth mindset will help one enjoy the process even more. She says that life is supposed to be lived in the present, not the past and not the future. She even ahead into recognizing happiness as a process and not a place, this was aimed at explaining that focusing on the real process will actually help one engage on the process even more deeply, this helps one learn faster and experience the true meaning of life even more deeply.
From my own experience on reading the book new psychology of success, I have come to realize that trying to focus on the process and not so much on the outcome puts one in charge and in control. I don’t mean that setting of goals is a bad thing, No. But the goals we do set tend to put us in a position where we do have a partial control over whether or not we will reach that goal that we have set. Focusing on the actual process meanwhile, makes us have a complete control on the goals that we have set, it is us to decide when and how we are going to meet those goals by still enjoying the whole process of achieving those goals (Webb, 2014).
Conclusion
From the book by Carol Dwerk, my current major and a look at my career, there are a number of things that are evident. The art of wanting to enjoy the process and not being interested in the outcome is so fulfilling. It brings out the best in a person. There are a number of ways we can learn from focusing on the process and not the outcome, below are some of the recommendation that can be put in place to facilitate this transition into focusing on the results to focusing on the process;
Refraining from pursuing the reward directly. One should always trust and believe that the rewardwill finally present itself (Ziviani, 2015).The focus should be on the process, this focused should be done diligently and the outcome will take care of itself.
One should stop worrying what other people would say about them and just focus on the process.
One should choose for themselves how to rate their performance. The point of interest should be on the effort taken and not the outcome. One should not try to win today; they should focus on becoming a winner in the long run. Always being happy on the effort that one makes along the process (Ziviani, 2015).
Finally, one should be in a position to bring awareness to their performance. This should be done either after the performance or during the performance. Through this one learns to live for the process and master it (Bahník & Vranka, 2017).
References
Allen, J. I. (2012). The road ahead. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 10(7), 692-696.
Bahník, Š., & Vranka, M. A. (2017). Growth mindset is not associated with scholastic aptitude in a large sample of university applicants. Personality and Individual Differences, 117, 139-143.
Bhalla, R., Schechter, C. B., Strelnick, A. H., Deb, N., Meissner, P., & Currie, B. P. (2013). Pay for performance improves quality across demographic groups. Quality Management in Healthcare, 22(3), 199-209.
Chan, E., Sengupta, J., & Mukhopadhyay, A. (2013). The antecedents of anticipatory purchase: Reconciling the two routes to optimism. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(1), 90-105.
Claro, S., Paunesku, D., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Growth mindset tempers the effects of poverty on academic achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(31), 8664-8668.
Dweck, C. (2015). Carol Dweck revisits the growth mindset. Education Week, 35(5), 20-24.
Dweck, C. (2016). What having a “growth mindset” actually means. Harvard Business Review, 13.
Dweck, C. S. (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational Leadership, 68(1), 16-20.
Hochanadel, A., & Finamore, D. (2015). Fixed and growth mindset In education and how grit helps students persist in the face of adversity. Journal of International Education Research, 11(1), 47-50.
Jacobsen, P. B., & Lee, M. (2015). Integrating psychosocial care into routine cancer care. Cancer Control, 22(4), 442-449.
Kang, C. W., Ullah, M., Sarkar, B., Hussain, I., & Akhtar, R. (2017). Impact of random defective rate on lot size focusing work-in-process inventory in manufacturing system. International Journal of Production Research, 55(6), 1748-1766.
O’Rourke, E., Haimovitz, K., Ballweber, C., Dweck, C., & Popovi?, Z. (2014, April). Brain points: a growth mindset incentive structure boosts persistence in an educational game. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 3339-3348). ACM.
Ricci, M. C. (2013). Mindsets in the Classroom. Prufrock Press.
Webb, D. (2014). Urban Common Property: Notes Towards a Political Theory of the City. Radical Philosophy Review, 17(2), 371-394.
Yeager, D. S., Romero, C., Paunesku, D., Hulleman, C. S., Schneider, B., Hinojosa, C., … & Trott, J. (2016). Using design thinking to improve psychological interventions: The case of the growth mindset during the transition to high school. Journal of educational psychology, 108(3), 374.
Ziviani, J. (2015). Occupational performance: a case for self?determination. Australian occupational therapy journal, 62(6), 393-400.
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