What did you learn today? What mistakes did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today? These are three questions that Carol Dweck, the American psychologist and author of the groundbreaking book Mindset, poses when explaining how an individual can foster a growth mindset. This was the focus of my address at assembly on Wednesday, which I connected to a recent assembly talk about Matthew McConaughey’s greenlights concept and his idea of biology versus giddyup; innate ability on one hand, and on the other, something you are willing to ‘work your butt off for.’
I thought about Carol Dweck’s work after hearing Benji Marshall’s (Wests Tigers) comments in a post-match press conference about what was behind the team’s evident improvement. Benji was asked what he liked about the win, and answered that he liked ‘our intent and the way we started with our mindset in the game.’ This was a reference to an intentional mental shift for the players, based on standards, culture, resilience, and being there for each other. In a recent interview, Beniji made this comment about the power of reflection and redirection, ‘If you stay the same and you don’t change the things you need to change, you’re gonna get the same result.’
This took me back to Dweck’s work, which has resonance for our young people as they respond to and act on the theme of 100% every day. As I explained to them in assembly, 100% every day might look different depending on what we have going on in the background and what is in front of us each day, but it’s a positive attitude and intent that can bring about real change. It is underpinned by feelings of belonging, connection, and relationships. While a growth mindset most obviously connects to our value of Excellence, based on effort and the pursuit of potential, it also connects to our value of Respect. By adopting a growth mindset, we are honouring ourselves with integrity by being the best version of ourselves and being open to the joy of the stretch and challenge.
The basic premise of Dweck’s work is focused on how mindsets frame how we handle challenges, failure, and learning. People with a fixed mindset believe that their ability, talents, and intellect are fixed and cannot be changed. Dweck argues this limits growth and creates a fear of failure. In contrast, someone with a growth mindset believes that their abilities, intellect, and talents can be developed or cultivated through effort and persistence. They are resilient and can work towards realising their potential. A growth mindset is not just adopted by effort, but also by learning the right strategies and asking for help. Vulnerability is a superpower, as I shared in the assembly. We need to seek help from those around us and be open to the feedback we receive, even when that feedback might be hard to hear.
Dweck also suggests we change our language. Rather than saying you can’t do something, say I can’t do something….yet. ‘Failures show my limitations’ becomes ‘failure is an opportunity to learn’, and ‘I don’t like challenges’ is reframed to ‘challenges help me to grow.’ This shifts the mindset, and makes anything possible. These are transformative messages for our young people to think about and apply as they set about their academic work, core business at John McGlashan College, and the myriad other spaces they enjoy and thrive in, whether it be sport, arts or cultural activities.
Dweck provocatively asks this question:
‘What are the consequences of thinking that your intelligence or personality is something you can develop, as opposed to something that is a fixed, deep-seated trait?’
I talked to the boys about the feeling of not quite realising my potential after completing my Bachelor of Arts at Canterbury University. This was the reason I decided to take on the challenge of a Master’s when I was living in London in the early 2000s. A friend told me about Birkbeck College, University of London, which was an evening university established by George Birkbeck in 1823 for the express purpose of professionals being able to further their education and continue to work. Birbeck is an incredibly diverse and inspiring community and has been defined by a growth mindset for over two hundred years.
I dove in and completed an MA part-time across two years while I taught at a school in central London. I worked incredibly hard and looked for the stretch and challenge. My results for the taught modules improved from module to module, and it was at the end of the degree that my advisor, and one of my heroes, Professor Vanessa Harding, suggested I take on a PhD. That had never entered my mind. PhDs are for incredibly smart people, I thought. I returned to New Zealand after a decade in the UK, but Vanessa’s comments stayed with me.
Six years later, I visited London to see friends and had coffee with Vanessa. We talked and agreed I would move back to London to start a PhD. I loved every moment of it. As I explained to the boys, I have a PhD, but I’m not smarter than anyone else. I just worked hard, was curious, leaned into challenges, said yes to everything, took risks, and sought advice and feedback from everyone I could. That nagging feeling post-BA was erased by going all in on the PhD and believing I could do the mahi and embraced the challenge.
The benefits of our young people having a growth mindset at school is obvious. How do they develop a growth mindset? They look at failures as an opportunity to learn and embrace challenges. There needs to be an unwavering emphasis on improvement, which is supported by constantly seeking feedback and being open to that feedback. They should be inspired by others in and outside of our community, and key to all of this is valuing effort. As Dweck explains, ‘no matter what your current ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment…effort means you care about something, that something is important to you, and you are willing to work for it.’
My favourite times of the day are when I’m greeting our students on their arrival to school in the morning and farewelling them in the afternoon. I often ask them what the highlight of their day was, or to rate the day. As I said at the assembly, I’m going to reframe that. Instead, I’m going to ask, ‘“What did you learn today? What mistakes did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today?” Ask those same questions at home when you are debriefing on the day with your young person, and frame it with this quote:
“We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary".
- Carol Dweck, Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential
Dr Aaron Columbus
Principal | Tumuaki
Open Event Registration - Interested in enrolling?
Employment opportunities - click if you're interested in working at McGlashan.