Hey everyone, it's Sam. Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Tuesday.
Recently I've been thinking about how my ability to handle critical feedback,
whether it's from myself or others, has changed over the last 10 years.
In my early 20s,
my insecurity would be triggered when my deeply held beliefs about myself were challenged.
And this was something that I worked on a lot in therapy.
All of this reminded me of what's referred to as a growth mindset.
This is a term coined by Carol Dweck,
and it pertains to how we evaluate our own talent and abilities.
When you approach life with a growth mindset,
you believe that your abilities can improve with practice.
You see failure as a chance to learn and pivot.
You receive critical feedback openly and see it as a chance to improve
as you embrace challenging tasks.
On the other end, those with fixed mindsets believe their abilities are innate and unchangeable.
And this leads to a feeling of defeat when you're presented with challenging tasks and an unwillingness to try challenging new things.
I ran into a situation where I observed a fixed mindset in action.
I was at one of my favorite coffee shops and I saw that they had a new spice that they were adding to drinks.
I asked if they could add some to my coffee as I wanted to experiment with a new flavor.
The barista refused, saying that it was for a different drink.