The Strength of Having a Strong Growth Mindset

Although I've never heard of Carol Dweck, I have heard other stories about keeping the right growth mindset, mainly just a good mindset, before listening to her TED talk. I grew up playing sports, and a common phrase I always heard was something along the lines of "You never fail until you quit" and all the other motivational variations of that same phrase. But the mentality behind was something I did and still do believe in when it comes to all aspects of my life, not just competing. Going to school, playing video games, making friends, chasing girls, anything in my life that could involve some sort of physical or emotional hurdle was something this mentality was relevant towards. I'm generally a lazy person without the right motivation, so having this growth-oriented mindset allowed me to get through most challenges life threw at me so that I could be happy with who I was. The most recent example where I really had to reassess my situation and fall back on this growth-oriented mindset was when my grades started dropping my first semester at OU. My normal study habits weren't working, my time management was completely whack, and so at one point I came to the realization that I had to take things into my own hands for them to change for the better, and I changed my entire routine to be more efficient and effective at fitting into the skills I already had and needed to develop. I essentially found my stride and put my life back on track thanks to the belief I held that while life would be hard, that didn't mean my goals would be unachievable.

Difficult is not impossible