Your Mindset

A few years ago, an author named Carol Dweck wrote a book called Mindset. The book looked at how people learn, especially young people when they are students. The question hanging over her research was related to whether some kids are naturally smart, whether they work harder, or what type of combination is needed for success.

In one test she had two groups of fifth grade students and gave them all a series of tests with some of the questions being at their grade level while others were much harder. One of the groups was more successful and worked at the harder problems longer. Both groups were given feedback, but the type of feedback was different.  One of the most amazing things is that the group that was told, "You are smart! You must be really good at this!" in order to boost their self-esteem actually did worse.

It turns out that when kids are told, "You are smart." or "You are strong." or "You are talented." they believe it until it doesn't feel true anymore. At that point, it is easy for them to give up. They doubt that they are really smart, talented, strong, or any other quality; they would rather not disappoint the people around them by failing in front of them causing their praise to be untrue.

So what was the other group of fifth graders told? Their feedback was, "You must have tried really hard on those questions." When they felt like others noticed the effort more than the results, those kids were encouraged and continued to try while the others had stopped.

Sometimes there is a voice inside of us telling us that we are not smart enough or good enough. The tempter would have us look at our own inadequacies and become discouraged and give up, but God encourages us to look past ourselves for strength. Our trust should be in Him.

Proverbs 3:5-8New International Version (NIV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
    and nourishment to your bones.

Sometimes you may feel weak or insufficient for the challenges ahead; that is okay because it might be true that you are weak and insufficient. However, when you are able to look past yourself and trust in the One who empowers you, He will provide a way and the ability to accomplish what He has planned out for you. It might be helpful to try harder, but you won't be successful unless you Trust Him!