Study Skills
Going from “Stuck” to “Superstar”
The Clayborne Blog
Going from “Stuck” to “Superstar”
How courage, curiosity, and creativity (plus a little community) help students and the rest of us move past “I can’t.”
I am what is known in the technology world as a “late adopter.” Whether it’s the iPhone or social media or the iPad or Alexa or, more recently, artificial intelligence, I usually have to be repeatedly encouraged and prodded before really diving into a new technology. This is partly because I don’t like change. For example, I’ve eaten the same lunch on most days for nearly a decade now. (In case you’re curious, it’s arugula, diced chicken warmed up, pistachios, olive oil, and vinegar. Yummy and tasty. Highly recommend!)
Change is scary for most people. We often see this fear in our students when we call on them to think about a question in a new way. If someone told me I had to change my lunch routine to something with entirely new ingredients, I’d feel both annoyed and daunted. Our students come to us with all sorts of ingrained habits that they are loath to change. As a result, when we gently challenge them to change for the sake of improvement, they sometimes feel, understandably, both annoyed and daunted. They are, in essence, stuck in certain habits and patterns of thinking. We want to move them from “stuck” to “superstar,” and for that journey to take place, a new mindset is typically necessary.
This new mindset is what educators refer to as a “growth mindset.” The rest of this article will unpack what a growth mindset is, but let’s quickly mention what it is not. Its opposite is typically referred to as a “fixed mindset” (hence my use of the word “stuck”). “Fixed mindset” might seem abstract, but I’m willing to bet you’ve heard it expressed by your peers, your children, or, perhaps most poignantly, yourself.
Some expressions of a fixed mindset:
●“I’m bad at math.”
●“I’ll never be proficient at this part of my job.”
●“I don’t know how to do this.”
●“I always run out of time.”
●“I can’t believe I did this again, for what feels like the thousandth time.”
Sound familiar?
From Stuck in Neutral to Roaring Down the Highway: The Three C’s of Growth
One of the things I love about my work is that the counsel I give to students often applies more broadly to life. Growth mindset principles are no exception. So while the examples below are geared toward the test taker, I hope a reader of any age and stage will find them applicable to life’s challenges. I recommend three C’s as guideposts for responding to a self-limiting fixed mindset.
01Courage
Take the first step.
An oft-quoted maxim from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu comes to mind:
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”Lao Tzu
It seems so simple: how could anyone possibly hope to finish a journey without starting it? But anyone who has tried to develop a new habit knows what a mental hurdle it can be to take that first step. For students facing a difficult math problem or reading question, the hopeless cries begin: “This is so hard.” “I don’t know where to begin.” Or, probably the cry of despair every teacher hates most: “I’m so confused.” (This is difficult for any teacher or parent to hear, because it’s profoundly hopeless and maddeningly vague at the same time!)
In response to expressions of hopelessness, courage says, “What clues do I notice?” “I can start with this step.” “Let’s dive in even if it’s not clear where we’ll end up.” Courage gets things moving: the pencil gets engaged, but more importantly, so does the mind.
I love the idea that courage is the first step to growth. Students will need this virtue in various ways throughout their lives; why not start by facing their fears of testing and daring to take the first step?
02Curiosity
Meet frustration with “Interesting!”
A good and wise friend, who also happens to be our CEO, once told me:
“When I face an obstacle, I face frustration with curiosity. I say, ‘Interesting! I wonder why this happened?’”Lee Elberson, CEO, Clayborne Education
I found this pearl of wisdom a revelation because it beautifully replaces a fixed mindset with a determination to grow. I can understand why a student wants to throw up his hands in resignation when the going gets tough, but what if he followed Lee’s advice? “OK, so that solution approach didn’t work. Was it a mistake in process along the way, or do I need a different approach?”
In reading about fixed mindsets and growth mindsets, I came across an idea that resonated with me deeply: that a fixed mindset treats a wrong answer as a verdict. Imagine working on a test question and submitting your answer; the response of “correct” or “incorrect” can feel like a verdict, as if a judge is solemnly determining your future. Given the innate human sense that we don’t live up to the ideals we profess, the idea of incorrectness as a verdict should resonate well beyond the world of test-taking.
Fixed mindset: A wrong answer is a verdict.
Growth mindset: A wrong answer is an opportunity.
A growth mindset sees a wrong answer not as a verdict but as an opportunity. It gives the student the opportunity to improve her process or to discover an entirely new way to think about the question. With an expert guide at her elbow, curiosity combines with courage to send her back into the fray. This leads us to creativity, which picks up from there!
03Creativity
There must be another way.
Let’s continue with the journey metaphor. Courage is crucial and must be renewed and re-expressed at various stages in the process. Curiosity looks around with a sense of wonder instead of closing its eyes in frustration and despair. But when facing a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, even courage and curiosity might just beat themselves continuously against the wall without creativity.
Creativity begins with the confident avowal that there must be another way. In this sense, it is courageous, since the path may be obscured. It is also curious, because without a mind open to possibility, creativity is impossible. When it comes to testing, a good tutor will remind the student that there is always another way, so it doesn’t require audacity to believe the path is there. Creativity brings a free-wheeling willingness to “throw things at the wall and see what sticks.”
On a math question, how might logic provide an initial educated guess when the process isn’t clear? Might it make sense to plug in your own numbers or work backward from the answer? On a reading question, what hints in the passage might not yet be uncovered? What does the language of each answer choice suggest to you about its likelihood of being correct? Creativity finds a new door instead of relentlessly and fruitlessly banging on the same door.
The Takeaway
My bent toward a fixed mindset when it comes to technology and mechanical things has often worked against me. The moment the printer won’t print, the cabinet door comes loose, or the lawnmower inexplicably cuts off, the sinking feeling threatens to overwhelm me. I need courage to take one or two steps of exploration, curiosity to learn more about the inanimate object that currently looms as such a challenge, and creativity to conceive of a new way of seeing the problem in front of me.
But it’s still hard to do all this by myself. A knowledgeable and handy friend or neighbor can make all the difference. Absent that, the DIY video on YouTube or consultation with AI can boost my confidence by providing a solution, as long as the pathway is clear and the DIY steps are within my capacity.
04Community
The fourth C: we aren’t meant to do this alone.
This makes me think that this reflection needs a fourth C: community. We are not meant to face the world’s challenges alone; an encouraging friend, parent, or coach can make all the difference in developing a growth mindset and experiencing its many benefits. An expert guide (say, a tutor!) can help a student add a redemptive “but” to those self-defeating sentiments:
“This is hard … but let’s take the first step and see where it goes.”
“I have always run out of time in the past … but with help, I can change that in the future.”
“I don’t know all the steps I need to take … but there has to be a way.”
“I’ve always felt I’m bad at math … but I don’t think so anymore!”
With courage, curiosity, and creativity, and the community of people on their side, all of us, student or not, can do our best work and be satisfied with the result. Just think of the ways, with the right ingredients, you might concoct something you never dreamed possible!
Ready to trade “stuck” for “superstar”?
Start with a free diagnostic test. We’ll walk through the results with you in a free consultation and build a personalized plan from there.
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