Why They Had Failed?

Have you ever asked yourselves that question whether they are related to your own failures in life, careers or perhaps about your children’s ? If you haven’t, well, lucky you!

But for some of us, this question perhaps has been echoing in our brains or perhaps repeated many times throughout our lives. What exactly is the cause of failure? Some people blame for the lack of intelligence, some blame on the efforts. Let’s see what Carol Dweck, Ph.D has to say …

"Focus on effort --not on intelligence or ability -- is key to success in school and in life." --Carol S. Dweck

Through her research, she has discovered that people tend to thrive more even when they have hit rock bottom if they believe the very reason they are failing is due to lack of efforts and the way their mind-sets are. For those who have failed and believed due to their intelligence have developed lack of confidence thinking they have tried hard enough and they could only do so much since they have hit their intelligence limit. These people tend to stop trying and view intelligence as fixed trait. They also believe that working hard means they are not smart enough. With that mind-set, people tend to shy away from more challenging works simply worrying how others may perceive them as not smart.

On the other hands, for those who believe intelligence is malleable and can be developed through learning and hard work, tend to thrive more –they believe that they can expand their intellectual skills. Dweck believes that people with a growth mind-set feel that learning is more important than getting good grades or simply hit the goals alone.

Exactly how are we going to grow our mind-sets and our next generations? She claimed definitely not praising on how smart our children are but instead emphasizing on their efforts. She also mentioned that telling stories about achievements that result from hard work definitely help. Speaking of which, My Tiny Spider and Knowledge Tree are definitely a few examples of what Dr. Dweck has in her mind.

“Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Her research has focused on why people succeed and how to foster success. She has held professorships at Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured all over the world, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her scholarly book Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development was named Book of the Year by the World Education Federation. Her work has been featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and she has appeared on Today and 20/20.” -- http://mindsetonline.com/abouttheauthor/index.html

Until next stop,

Journey of Life