It’s been 6 months and we are still in the world of Covid and it looks like we’ll be here for some time to come.
With fall and eventually winter around the corner, how shall we prepare ourselves for the colder months to come?
Many find the prospect of extended social distancing and more limited socializing disheartening, but, maybe now is a good time to think about how to manage our Covid futures and how to cope with our new normal.
Carol Dweck, a psychologist at Stanford University has written extensively on people’s mindsets and how they affect resilience and the ability to move forward.
In her findings she identifies people as having either fixed mindsets or a growth mindsets. If you have a fixed mindset you might believe you can’t change or evolve and that you have always been and will always be the same person you are now. If you have a growth mindset you may believe that your personality and capabilities are changeable and that you evolve and change over time with circumstances.
We are all probably a mixture of both at different times in our lives, but, if you believe that you will always be the same person you are now, probably you are a fixed mindset person. If you believe you are constantly changing than you are probably more of a growth mindset individual.
Dweck applies her findings to education, primarily, encouraging parents and teachers to help kids foster a growth mindset so they are open to change and are more resilient when things don’t go their way. Although her main focus is education, perhaps some of her theories might help us reset our minds to be more resilient and open to changing circumstances. Here are some suggestions to help us adopt a growth mindset:
It’s not easy to stay positive, it takes a bit of work and effort to change our mindsets, but in the long run if we focus on growth we will feel more positive and productive and weather the coming months in a more positive frame of mind.