2. Responding to Challenges and Mistakes
2. Responding to Challenges and Mistakes
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Explain the role of growth mindset in dealing with challenges and mistakes
Explain the role of growth mindset in dealing with challenges and mistakes
Do you remember what a growth mindset is? Growth mindset is a belief that you can get better at anything and grow your brain with effort and the right learning strategies. Our brains can develop and keep growing if we have a growth mindset1. Here’s a quick recap:
Vid 2.1: A recap of growth mindset2
Did you know that if we have a growth mindset it helps us deal better with challenges and mistakes that life throws at us! Let’s find out how!
Think of a time when you were struggling with something and finally made progress! How did it feel? It must have felt very satisfying to finally feel success in something you were struggling with, right? Along with feeling good, you also fired up the neurons in your brain! The brain loves a good challenge - a task or situation that demands significant mental or physical exertion to achieve success3.
Facing challenges can be highly beneficial. When we are faced with a challenge, different parts of our brain get activated and move into problem solving mode. Often to overcome a challenge, we need to learn a new skill or change our thinking in some way - this leads to neural pathways getting formed. All of this will not only feel rewarding but will help your brain form a memory. So the next time you are in a similar situation, your brain will remember exactly what to do4.
Having a growth mindset can help with dealing with challenges. When you have a growth mindset you believe that challenges are exciting and not just overwhelming5. This does not mean that you won’t feel sad or worried by a challenge, but you are willing to face it head on.
In order to overcome a challenge with a growth mindset, it is important to do the following5:
1. Put in effort:
just believing that you can face a challenge is not enough. You have to do the work it takes to overcome it.
2. Have a plan to overcome the challenge:
sometimes we need to do things differently to achieve our goal instead of doing the same thing repeatedly. Planning for how we will overcome a challenge, helps us reach the finish line faster.
3. Ask for help when needed:
When something is a bit hard, it means you're trying something new and growing. However it is also okay to ask for help or learn new ways to do it when you are not able to figure a solution on your own.
Once upon a time, there was a man named VG Siddhartha who started a popular coffee brand in India called Cafe Coffee Day (CCD). People loved his coffee, and the brand became very famous. But sadly, VG Siddhartha passed away suddenly, leaving behind a big problem for the company.
When VG Siddhartha died, his wife Malavika Hegde (who did not work with him in the business earlier) took over the company. She was faced with a massive challenge - CCD was in a lot of debt, which means they owed a lot of money and might have to close down. Additionally there was also a global pandemic which means things were moving slowly and people were not going to cafes.
She came up with a plan to deal with the challenge - Instead of raising the prices of their coffee, which is what most companies do when they are in debt, Malavika decided to make the business smaller and more efficient. She closed down some cafes that were not making money. She focused on making money through the cafes that were doing well. She also asked for help and worked with a company called Blackstone and Shriram Credit Company that helped her find ways to reduce expenses and increase earnings.
Through her efforts and willingness to learn, Malavika managed to reduce the company's debt. In 2023, the debt was much smaller and easier to handle - CCD was successful again.
Malavika's story teaches us the power of embracing challenges with a growth mindset. When we believe we can overcome an obstacle and do everything in our power to manage it - we can emerge successful.
Mistakes are actions that usually have an undesired result. It can seem “wrong” and may cause you to feel uncomfortable and upset too. We often worry about mistakes but it is an important part of learning7.
Just like challenges, dealing with mistakes can have a positive effect on our brains too! Let’s watch this video to understand the different kinds of mistakes and their importance:
Vid 2.2: Making Mistakes8
Play this quiz to see if you understood the different types of mistakes
Mistakes are important because9:
They help your brain to learn and grow
They teach you what does not work
They make you more resilient (ability to bounce back and do the right thing)
If we have a growth mindset, mistakes are not a “bad thing” but an opportunity to learn so that we don’t repeat them. If you believe you can learn from your mistakes, here are a few things you can do10:
Summary:
Challenges are tasks or situations that demand significant mental or physical exertion to achieve success.
Having a growth mindset helps you deal with a challenge positively by focusing on effort, making a plan, and asking for help when needed.
Mistakes are actions that usually have an undesired result and may seem wrong.
People with a growth mindset look at mistakes as learning opportunities. They focus on understanding their mistake, learning from it, and ensuring not to repeat it.
References:
References:
1 Connect: The growth mindset. Khan Academy (n.d.) from(link)
2 What Having a "Growth Mindset" Actually Means. Harvard Business Review (2022) from(link)
3 Challenge. Cambridge Dictionary (2023) from(link)
4 Enhancing memory with stress: Progress, challenges, and opportunities. National Library of Medicine (2018) from(link)
5 Seven Common Growth Mindset Scenarios and Responses. MindsetKit (n.d.) from(link)
6 MALAVIKA HEGDE, THE LADY WHO RESCUED CAFE COFFEE DAY FROM A MASSIVE 7000 CRORE DEBT. YourStory (2023) from(link)
7 Mistake. Cambridge Dictionary (2023) from(link)
8 Grow your brain: make mistakes visible. MathsPathway (2020) from(link)
9 The Growth Potential of Mistakes: (link)
10 How to Learn From Your Mistakes. MindTools (2023) from(link)
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