Do you know the story, “The Little Engine That Could”? In the story, a little steam engine has to perform what seems like an impossible job….and through positive thinking he succeeds.
Did you know that to a certain extent, this is actually real?
OK, right off the top I’m going to admit that you can’t become a superhero just by thinking you are a superhero. You can’t walk upside-down on the ceiling just by trying really hard. You can’t skip all of math and suddenly be able to get an A in Linear Algebra.
However, your mindset actually can affect how well you do on pretty much anything that’s actually doable!
What is mindset? It’s just the point of view that you enter a situation with. Read my piece of reframing bad events to see one example of how mindset works. Mindset also works in a positive way.
Here are some examples:
Lots of kids say, “I’m bad at math” and then go take tests and prove that they’re bad at math. Kids who say, “I’m going to work hard on this math test” actually do better on tests—even if they aren’t better at math in general.
Athletes who focus on how hard a task will be don’t do as well as athletes who focus on doing their best.
People who don’t know that a task is supposed to be “hard” tend to do better at it than people who do.
How should mindset affect how you do things?
First of all, try not to dread things. I know, some of you might actually like to dread things that you have to do, but this will lead you to do not as well on them!
Second, focus on doing your best. Instead of thinking “I’m not good at math,” remind yourself, “I can get better at math.” [Read my piece about learning like a baby]
Finally, reframe failure as partial success. Instead of thinking, “I didn’t get an A on that test,” think, “I know I can do better next time” and take positive steps to do better. [Read my piece on reframing here]
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