Feedback Thoughts

 

Reading some of the articles on the importance of feedback and overall creating a growth mindset, there are some things that I think is worth mentioning in terms of what I took from them. In "A fixed mindset could be holding you back -- here's how to change it," the author explicitly tells the importance of children not being exposed to failure as part of the "everyone wins" curriculum that seems to be apparent in most places, even at home. Due to this, children, as they grow up, have a fixed mindset and whenever they reach the blunder of failure, it attacks their "sense of identity." This is incredibly important as due to the fact that they were never quite been fully exposed to failure, they do not have the necessary coping mechanism to deal with it. If they were always touted as "brilliant" or "genius" when they were younger, they never quite understood the concept of being able to get back up and try again. In fact, most will avoid the learning process and try to cut corners in order to be praised.

In "Why rejection hurts so much -- and what to do about it," Guy Winch talks about WHY the concept of rejection, with any aspect of life, hurts so much. One of the important notions that I remember was that the damage is usually self-inflicted. When being rejected, for most reasonings, they are often never personal, but we deal with it as such. Doing so, we become so critical of ourselves that we could never see what we have to offer, thinking about only our shortcomings. This leads to an unhealthy emotional slippery slope that is often so detrimental to our own self-confidence and mental well-being. In connection to the article stated above, children with fixed mindset are often never faced with rejection, and they will cut corners and do whatever it takes in order to never allow themselves to be in such a situation. Looking back, I think one of my most productive feedbacks as a student was when I was faced with failure as a freshman having my first F on an exam, having not studied well for it. That was daunting to me. Of course, I was saddened for a while, but I ended up writing that percentage on a sticky note and placed it on my desk, warning me to try and never let it happen again.

(Depiction of Rejection. Source: Ted)