I really love that this class focuses more on learning than trying to avoid mistakes! The idea of encouraging mistakes so that we learn from them is such a nice departure from my other classes, where making mistakes can lead to negative consequences that are not desirable.
As I discussed in my post on Growth Mindset, I was an "extreme perfectionist" - and as a result, I often was overly critical of myself when I did not meet my high standards. It definitely caused me a lot more stress in high school! I think that, after coming to college, I have realized that, while the stakes are higher, classes are a lot more enjoyable, because there is an emphasis on really learning something in each class that will be beneficial when you go out to understand things about the world. I am learning to enjoy learning and having fun as I go, rather than concentrating on the grades.
Despite striving to enjoy the learning process, I still can be pretty critical of myself when I make mistakes. I hope to overcome this negative mindset and learn to treat mistakes as learning opportunities.
I really like this article written by Joel Almeida called "How to Tame Your Inner Critic: A Simple Habit to Rewire Your Brain." Almeida talks about how we should react when we make a mistake: rather than dwelling on the mistake and criticizing yourself for failing, why not just treat it as a temporary "blip" on your path to meeting your end goals? Instead of criticizing yourself, you can congratulate yourself for moving past this hurdle and getting one step further toward your goals. I think this is a great mindset to have; I don't have to mull over mistakes I have made in the past. Instead, I should celebrate how I overcame my mistakes and have become more knowledgeable about the world because of them.
I also like this article by John Spencer called "Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work." Spencer explains how self-doubt often affects many people, including himself, and makes it difficult to feel confident in your abilities. In order to be more confident in oneself, Spencer proposes seven really promising tips to combat self-doubt. One that I think really stood out to me was "don't compare yourself to others." It's so easy to look at the success of others and then tell yourself you aren't good enough or that you aren't cut out for something because you aren't as amazing. Oftentimes, however, this is what prevents you from taking the necessary risks to push forward and strive for your goals, so you can be just as awesome in your own way! Instead of comparing ourselves with others and treating them as competition, we should instead recognize our own strengths, and this will allow us to take the necessary risks to improve upon ourselves and find support within a community that will help lift us up as well.
In general, I think feedback is crucial to helping someone realize where they can improve upon themselves and become a better person as a result. Oftentimes, when you have self-doubt or are overly critical of yourself, feedback can be hard to take. We may think that we aren't cut out for something more, or that we are not good enough, and then we will miss out on the opportunity to grow, opting instead to avoid pursuing that opportunity any further to avoid feedback. However, it is precisely this feedback that allows us to reflect on ourselves and learn to become better at something, improving our confidence along the way. All it takes is the appreciation of mistakes and treating them as an opportunity to keep growing and improving. Learning to treat feedback this way, especially now that I am in college, has been a major reason for my renewed interest in learning and appreciating how much more there still is to know about the world.
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