Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Growth Mindsets for Writers - As Easy as Riding a Bike



I love learning weird things.

I also love learning about how the brain works.

Sometimes, those two things go hand-in-hand.


Did you learn how to ride a bike when you were a child? Did you realize that mastering that skill is actually the result of a complicated mental process?


If you've got a few minutes, please take the time to watch this video. It boggles the mind. 




Are you intrigued yet?

Are you wondering what that has to do with writing?

In my mind, the connection is simple. Many people think writing is intuitive. If you love to read, you can write. Two sides of the same coin.

And then you sit down to do it and .... oops. Not so simple.

I do believe if you're an avid reader, you start out as a writer with a leg up, because there is a certain amount that you absorb. But writing is work.

Repeat after me

Writing is work.

Darn hard work.

So what is all this about Growth Mindsets?

Growth Mindsets is a theory that was developed by Dr. Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.  It's a big buzz phrase in education, but I think it also translates well to writing.

Essentially, Dweck's theory relates to how we deal with failure (or fear of failure).

If you have a fixed mindset, when you encounter failure, you assume you're just not good (talented, smart, etc.) enough and give up.

But if you have a growth mindset, you see failure as a challenge. It makes you want to try harder, to strive for success.

Think of it the way I saw it in my classroom when I was teaching 4th grade math. If a student had a really difficult problem to complete, did they give it a try, and then give up if they couldn't solve it right away (or got it wrong)? Or did they really dig in and struggle with it until they figured it out?

That 4th grade math problem can be equated with the struggle an author faces when a writing challenge comes along. Maybe it's a rejection, or a request to revise and resubmit (R&R). Maybe it's a revision letter from your editor on a contracted book. Or maybe it's a yawning plot hole in the current WIP. How do you handle it? Do you give up and mutter, I guess I'm not mean to be a writer? Or do you dig deep and work through it?

It's hardly rocket science to figure out which author is going to succeed.

But what about talent? You might ask.

In a video I will link below, Carol Dweck talks about the difference between talent and success. Often people assume if you are a success at something, you're just lucky enough to have been born with a superior talent.

Dweck says (paraphrasing here) that sure some people are born with talents or passions. But those talents are just the raw materials. It's what you do with them that matters. And she wants you to be
FEROCIOUS! Believe that you can. Then work at it. Struggle with it. Practice.


I was listening to a panel of best-selling authors on a Zoom chat a few weeks ago. The point they all made was that no matter how talented, how successful you are, writing is hard work. Success is just proof that you did the hard work, that you kept trying, even when it was daunting.



When I work on Growth Mindsets with my students, we start with a video series from Class Dojo  about Mojo and his friends. It might seem a bit simplistic for adults, but the kids love it. This clip is from Episode 3 - The Power of Yet.




The power of YET is what is so intriguing, and what I think applies most for writers. When the rejections roll in, don't give up, just remind yourself that you're not there - YET.

Yet doesn't mean never.

Yet means you need to rise to the challenge, keep your nose to the grindstone, keep on trying.

Think about that rejection or revision request that arrives -

If you have a growth mindset, you will do the work to fix it and send it out again.
If you have a fixed mindset, you will give up.

Which person do you think ends up with the contract?

Which brings us back to the bicycle.
A child wanting to learn to ride, keeps at it - starting with the training wheels, learning the necessary skills, practicing and practicing until they can ride. And they succeed because they never doubted they would.

We need to be like that child - believing that we can do this, not being afraid of the struggle, persevering when we're not there yet. Expecting the triumph and working towards it.


So let's talk. Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed one? According to Dweck, most of us are a mix. We can learn to develop a growth mindset, just like the man in the video learned to ride the new kind of bicycle.


If you're at all intrigued by the power of growth mindsets, you might be interested in listening to this Google Talk with Carole Dweck.




42 comments:

  1. Cate, I love MoJo! What a great example that sweet video is! And I know that I don't have a fixed mindset when it comes to work and being challenged and self-image...

    Truth to tell, rejection just means "try harder" or "look elsewhere" and these days, with indie publishing so readily available and affordable, anyone who's ready can be published but we all know the key isn't getting a book out there... it's getting book after book out there.

    Unless you hit the NYT out of the gate, no one's handing out 6 or 7 figure advances and you won't be quitting your day job (I kept mine for years, and my night job until my third book was published)so that persistence paid off.

    My advice to writers is to keep writing, don't quit, and stay the course because it is hard work and this pandemic is a perfect example: It filled folks' heads with cobwebs of worry and a writer can't just stop working when worry walks in the door. We allow a short span of time for the good... and the bad... and then we get back to work.

    Great post, Cate!

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    1. Mojo was always a big hit with my class. Even the Jr. High kids remember him fondly.

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  2. Cate this is so cool and I can tell you if somebody had taught me Growth Mindset as a kid I'd have done better as an adult, and so would many of my classmates. "Girls can't do math" and all that other crapola from the Fifties, yawn.
    And it's better than the mantra I've been using for myself lately, "There is no 'I' in 'can't.'" I really need to get out of the house.
    I think we need to build on our successes in our minds, and refer back to those building blocks --"Yes, I did A so I can probably do B," "I got a toehold in this genre and did well, wouldn't hurt me to try suspense," and most of all, "Somebody wanted to publish my stuff." Hard work is ahead, especially if you switch or modify your genre. My first two books with Pelican are historical romances and my third is an epic. Same background, same historical period, but a little different in scope. It's a toe in the water of regular historical fiction. It scared me, but I had the earlier books to build on. We will always be facing some kind of challenge, whether it's ratcheting it up in our own genre, learning a new one or as Ruthy said, staying the course.
    If we remain in Christ, we'll know when to quit, too. I was so impressed with the writers a couple of years ago who decided, for whatever reason, that it was Time. I'm an older writer myself and I don't know how long God will allow me to do this, but in His time.
    Good post Cate. Don't give up, people.
    Kaybee
    Making it work in New Hampshire

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    1. Kathy, I love your mantra, too!

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    2. Missy, you "get" me, don't know what that says about you.

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    3. I'm so intrigued by you writing a saga, Kathy. I haven't read one in years, but I used to totally love them. I'm often intrigued by the idea of writing historical fiction since it was my first love. But I'm not there - yet.

      More power to you.

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    4. I'm not there yet either. I just wasn't smart enough to run. And it hasn't been accepted yet, so therre's that.

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  3. I love this! I find that it often depends on a lot of other things whether I have a growth mindset or not: my own attitude on a given day, coupled with whether I actually think I can learn whatever skill it is. Those make a big difference on whether or not I put in the effort. To be honest, I've never loved one of my manuscripts enough to put the hard work into editing. That is my goal for this year, so we'll see whether the end of the year comes with an edited manuscript or not. Some days I feel like it will, then some days not so much. With this encouragement, today I feel like "yes, I can do it!!"

    And the little Class Dojo video was adorable! Thanks.

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    1. Glynis, write something you love and believe in it. The editing goes down a lot easier if you do.

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    2. Glynis, my suggestion would be to only edit that manuscript if you love it and are still passionate about it. (Or if you've had a request from an agent or editor for the edits.) I had at least two manuscripts that I just learned on. I never did go back and work with them again. When I read back over them, I found I couldn't get excited about them anymore. So I just set them aside. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

      If you read the manuscript again and find you do still love it, then by all means, go for revising it! Sometimes it's just tough to take the first step and get back into the swing. Once you start, you'll find more motivation. (I've been at that step lately myself.)

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    3. Glynis, I think you summed it up perfectly with this - coupled with whether I actually think I can learn whatever skill it is.

      The key to a growth mindset is believing you can - with enough effort. But I think we need to be realistic too.

      I find my mindset can also vary - enough sleep, caffeine, sugar, etc.

      Writing is hard - so unless there is a very good reason, I don't believe in spending time with a mss you don't love.

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  4. Cate, great post! So encouraging! Yet. Such a tiny, but powerful, word. Yet-means you're still moving toward your goal, even if it's one chapter, one paragraph, one word, it's still progress, toward your goal. That you can't see yet, but you will!

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    1. Yes, Sally, YET is an inspiring word!

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    2. Thanks, Sally. It really can change how people attack something. DO they give up or struggle through. We need to focus on the progress.

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  5. Cate, what a great (and timely) post for me! When I started out, I tended to shut down after critiques and contest feedback. But as I grew a rhino hide over the decade before my first sale, I moved more toward a growth mindset--a very stubborn, "I refuse to give up" mindset. So I do think we can change our mindset.

    I've also seen my mindset over the last few years drift back to become more fixed. I'm so glad you posted about this! It's something I need to be aware of and to work on again.

    Now I'm off to watch your videos... :)

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    1. I think hurt feelings are a really important factor, Missy. When we do growth mindsets in school, we're careful to focus on any suggestions as help along the way. Critique so often equates with criticism in our minds. But if we just think of it as a journey, we can consider we just haven't arrived yet.

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  6. Missy, I hear you, negative feedback used to send me right over the brink. Love the "rhino hide" image. Mine is a Sherman tank rolling through the Liberation of Paris.

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    1. I'm still way to susceptible to criticism. I'll need to borrow some of that rhino hide.

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  7. I remember how hard it was learning to ride a bike and my dad’s encouragement. Thank you for sharing. I found it very interesting.

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    1. Lucy, I can remember being so mad at my dad when he quit running along with me and let go of the bike! :) Especially when I crashed the first time. haha But the second time, I was able to stay up. So he knew what he was doing.

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    2. I am so glad you found it interesting, Lucy.

      I don't actually remember learning to ride a bike, but i sure remember how frustrating it was trying to teach my daughter. She was too interested in looking around at everything.

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    3. I was never good at riding a bike. I got my first bike for my 6th birthday. My parents took a home movie of me learning to ride and I fall a lot. I fell a lot on the 10-speed I got when I was 15 and shared with my brother. It is a family joke that I am a terrible bike rider. It doesn't hurt my feelings because it is true.

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  8. Interesting, Cate! I must have the growth mindset - I've always attempted things that should have been too big for me and often succeeded. But the times I didn't - like high school chemistry - I only quit after a lot of thought and perseverance.

    By the way, I finally learned how to balance equations when I taught chemistry to my homeschoolers. Four times through the same textbook and I finally got it! Never give up, never surrender, right?

    But I'm also learning to have patience with those in my life who have that fixed mindset. God will nudge them when the time is right.

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    1. Jan, I understand what you went through with chemistry equations. I didn't understand calculus until after I had it taught in a couple of different classes, and the second professor did outside class tutoring. It was finally a lightbulb moment. I need to remember that with writing problems! :)

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    2. Moles in chemistry totally stumped me. Maybe I should try to go back and master it now!

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  9. Hi Cate:

    "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."

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  10. Great post, Cate! I've got a growth mindset with most things, however I might be fixed when it comes to technology! Just kidding, but technology slows me down a bit, and I never want to jump into something new when it comes to the cyber world. :) I call myself a Low Tech Mama in a High Tech World! :)

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    1. I guess recognizing it is half the battle, right, Debby? But you keep on trying, so there you go.

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  11. Cate, you're speaking to my heart here. I was in education for thirteen years, and growth mindset is certainly a big trend right now, for good reason. It's an effective tool to use to help children (and their parents) understand that it's okay to take on challenges. I taught several students in my third grade class whose parents would push back against my expectations for the child to improve. Honestly, it was almost always about legible handwriting. :-) Using growth mindset language really helped me get through to a couple of my precious ones and their well-meaning parents.

    After I taught third grade, I got a job teaching gifted children, and in working with them, I came across something that was equally fascinating as it was helpful. It's called the "Innovator's Mindset." It's incredible, and builds on the tenets of growth mindset. For example, instead of embracing challenges, the innovator seeks them out. Here is a link to a handy visual if you'd like to take a look: https://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/tag/growth-mindset

    Everything I've learned about growth mindset over the years has made me a better writer and helped with my perfectionism, which is debilitating at times, so this is a post I will definitely be referring back to. Also, thank you for mentioning that most of us have a mix of both growth and fixed mindsets. That is so true. We don't all fit in either one category or the other, but we can all improve. All the love, Cate!

    Rachel

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    1. Rachel, thanks for sharing! That's so interesting.

      I'm with you on the perfectionism. I think that's what creeps in and makes the growth mindset difficult for me.

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    2. Thank you for sharing your insight and that link, Rachel. My school had been scheduled to partner with a group to really embrace the growth mindset practices in every class - then the virus hit, so we're not there YET. :) I've introduced it in my class every year. That one word - yet - is such an easy reminder.

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  12. There's a quote that says "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work as hard."
    I think Im a bit of a mix. I do get sad & occasionally think of giving up but overall I have a lot of drive and crave solid guidance.
    Crits can hurt but if they come with good advice & direction it really lights a fire for me. Yet, I still question my writing skills everyday.
    There's also a quote "the worst thing you write is better than what you do not write." If I'm feeling down, I make my goal to write badly!

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    1. I think it's normal to get sad and sometimes want to give up. But the fact that you keep on struggling through it is wonderful! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Tonya.

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  13. The idea of "yet" is one that keeps me going. I'm not ready -yet. It's not polished - yet. The answer isn't no, just not yet. Thanks for sharing Cate!

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    1. I just have to not say I'm not writing - yet!
      Thanks for stopping by, Lee-Ann.

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  14. I didn't make it here yesterday, but this is a great post, Cate. I was not familiar with the growth mindset concept until a couple years ago when the bookstore where I work did a display on growth mindset books. These were mostly picture books and I read them all and got great idea of the concept. I think I need to remember this in my writing.

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  15. The bicycle thing is so interesting to watch. I would never stick with it as long as he did, but then I did stick with writing for ten years before I got a book published. so your examples make total sense to me. :)
    Great post!

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