Matt Chung's Site

Tag: growth mindset

  • Organizational skills – incremental improvement

    I’ve been told throughout my life that I have a tendency to rush. I struggle with boredom, which according to Brené Brown can be defined as “uncomfortable state of wanting to engage in a satisfying activity, but being unable to do it.”

    People throughout my life would often (with good intention) kindly suggest that I “slow down” … when speaking … when learning a new skill … slow down they said. But for much of my life, I’ve felt similar Charlie Sheen, having only one speed: “Go.”

    And this urge to want to move through life quickly — in a rush — I think partially stems from this belief (argument made by Oliver Burkeman) that it’s a mechanism for avoid the following: we’re all going to die someday and that our time on this earth is limited.

    According to Oliver Burkeman, the average human life spans 4,000 weeks. I find that completely wild, don’t you? Death feels distance and the thought of it is unsettling. But after sitting with this negative emotion for a few deep breathes, a certain calmness follows. By radically accepting that my life is finite, my attention shifts towards ruthlessly prioritizing my life and ironically, the desire to rush dissipates.

    It’s ironic and somewhat paradoxical.

    By increasing awareness of life’s finitude, time begins to slow down. And in contrast, when there’s a lack of this awareness, when traveling through life as if there’s an infinite amount of time, I tend to rush.

    By accepting that my time will soon come to end, I temporarily free myself from what Burkeman calls the “brace position”.I drop the desire to get everything done immediately. Instead, I transition to a state of mindfulness, revisiting projects that I want to tackle, breaking them down into tiny, manageable bite sized chunks and slowly, but surely, chip away at them.

    Adopting the mindset of incremental improvement

    So again, instead of my default tendency to try and make one-off titanic shifts in my life, I am practicing the art of incremental improvement. I’m applying this mindset towards sharpening my organizational skills. Looking back at all my previous attempts on becoming an organized person — the desire for identifying as an “organized person” may stem from a fixed mindset, which can be counter productive for development — I had approached learning organization skills with sort of a “get it done and over with” mindset.

    This attitude of wanting to rapidly get through things reminds of one piece of advice that Kit Laughlin passed on another forum member on Stretch Therapy, who was trying to rush the process of becoming flexible:

    “Just wanting to get it over and done with” is exactly why it’s not working for you. The attitude you bring creates the resistance you feel in your body. I guarantee zero progress with this approach. If you really don’t want to do it (for whatever reason) then don’t. Life is much simpler if you approach it directly like this.

    The above comment reminded me of another topic on the forum, a topic on failure and persistence; developing organizational skills for me has been (and continues to be) challenging. But despite the frustrations and setbacks, I persevere:

    No. That is what your mind tells you, no doubt, but when you try, and fail, and try again, you are developing persistence and determination; and you are signalling to the organism that you are serious about change. What you describe (the idea quoted above) is literally the reason so many people who desire change cannot bring it about. What you argue is a thought—that is all—and it is not true.

    Tiny little victory of pulling quotes

    And I want to hit pause for a second and share that I’m experiencing a proud moment: I was able to find the two above quotes within seconds, pulling them out from my digital organizational systems by:

    1. Launching my DevonThink app on my laptop
    2. Expanding the “quotes” directory
    3. Navigating to “L” (first letter of Laughlin)
    4. Linearly searching for the quote

    I consider my current approach fairly effective. And one way to evaluate effectiveness is by measuring the approach through the lens of the POET compass:

    • P – Presents well (on time and clear)
    • O – out of the way (invisible)
    • E – easy to use/get to (instant)
    • T – trusted (off mind)

    Based on the criteria above, I think that my quote management system works (for me, right now):

    1. Presents well – was able to relatively quickly (in the order of seconds) retrieve the quotes.
    2. Out of the way – Yes, up until the moment I wanted to fetch them, they were out of sight.
    3. Easy to use/get to – In terms of easiness, little effort (a few clicks) and a short linear search, which for me is acceptable since I’m not storing a huge volume of quotes.
    4. Trusted – I have not visited my DevonThink application for (probably) months and the application was certainly off my mind and yet, I could trust that I could return and retrieve the necessary quotes.

    Summary

    Here’s a reminder to self that I can slow down and walk the path of slow and steady.

  • Carol Dweck’s Mindset – Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 Recap

    Is this book even for me?

    I was pursuing a bookstore — Waterstones, the Wimbledon location — and ended up purchasing Carol Dweck’s book titled “Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfill your potential”, despite some initial hesitation. Before walking over to the checkout counter with book in hand, I picked the book off the shelf and skimmed the first couple pages and quickly learned that Carol Dweck posits there are two development mind sets: fixed and growth.

    “Isn’t it obvious that a growth mindset is better generally speaking and I definitely possess a growth mindset, right?”, I thought to myself.

    Turns out, like most things in life, it’s not so simple, not so black and white. In reality, as the book points out, there’s a general tendency for most people (me included) to possess a fixed mindset in some areas of our lives while at the same time, holding a growth mindset in other aspects.

    In any case, so far, even after reading only the first three chapters, I’ve already not only started questioning some of my beliefs, but also recognized that some parts of my life where I’ve unknowingly and unconsciously held myself back from even making an effort — even trying — certain activities.

    Two mindsets: fixed vs growth

    So, what is a growth mindset anyway? It is the belief that through through consistent effort, strategies and help from others, you can develop certain qualities (e.g. smartness). This mindset differs to that of the fixed mindset, that certain qualities are set in stone, unmovable, and a consequence of this belief we may end up experiencing “urgency to prove yourself over and over again”.

    With a fixed mindset, an individual’s underlying intention or motivation is driven to prove something about themselves. For example, say I consider myself “smart”. As a result of labeling myself as such, I may pursue certain activities that prove  — over and over again — to both myself and others that I am actually smart. Or I may end up avoiding certain behaviors all together out of fear of disapproving myself.

    In contrast, with a growth mindset, the main objective is to learn and growth. To this end, individuals with a growth mindset approach activities through the lens of learning, through applying effort.

    Captured Quotes

    “If you are somebody when you’re successful, what are you when you are unsuccessful?” (pg. 32)

    “Becoming is better than being” (pg. 25)

    The top is where t”he fixed-mindset people hunger to be, but it’s where many growth minded people arrive as a by-product of their enthusiasm for what they do.” (pg. 48)

    “The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome” (pg. 48)

    “What I mean is that even when you think you’re not good at something, you can still plunge into it wholeheartedly and stick to it.” (pg. 53).

    Self Realizations

    Avoidant behavior due to impact on (self-imposed) beliefs

    As mentioned above, I for sure thought that I held a growth mindset across all domains in my life (personal and professional) but reading this book puts me in deep reflection. Already, I’ve self-discovered that I tend to avoid crossword puzzles, drawing art with a pencil, Rubik’s cube, building physical objects with my hands, all because I don’t posses the natural gift or talent. As a result of lacking these possessions, I avoid pursuing these activities all together since distort an image — of “smartness” — I hold about myself.

    But now, it seems blatantly obvious that all those skills above — crossword puzzles, Rubik’s cube, building physical objects with my two hands — can be cultivated.

    So, what can I put into practice, now?

    Crossword puzzles? Rubik’s cube?

    We shall see.