“Honor student nung high school. Pagdating ng college, anyare?”
Lagi kong nakikita at naririnig ‘yan (lalo na sa engineering courses 🤣). Relate? 🙋♀️
When I was in elementary and high school, I would get high grades without trying too hard. People around me would think na subsob ako sa pag-aaral. Akala nila sobrang okay ng study habits ko, when in fact, WALA nga akong study habits. Basta pag may requirements at deadlines, gagawin ko lang. Hindi naman ako nag-aaral kapag walang quiz or exam. Looking back, parang nagrely lang ako mostly sa “natural na talino.”
Nung college, akala ko kaya ko lang ulit mag-rely dun sa “God-given ability” na yun. First few years, wala pa rin akong study habits. Nakasanayan e. Mag-aaral lang pag may exam, gagawa ng requirements pag kailangan. I also lost my passion for learning at some point, dahil nadiscourage na rin ako with how I was doing academically. Back in high school it wasn’t as hard for me, so when I wasn’t getting the same results in college with the same amount of effort, akala ko ganun na lang talaga.
Many times, I told myself that I would aim for latin honors. Pero midway through every semester, mahihirapan ako tapos iisipin ko:
“Di ko talaga kaya, di ako magaling dito.”
“Ayoko na, ang hirap naman nito.”
“Mag-shift na lang ako, bakit ba ko nag-engineering. Not for me.”
“Di kasi ako galing sa science high school.”
Inisip ko na hanggang dun na lang talaga ‘yung kaya ko naturally, and I made up excuses. I didn’t want to make any additional effort kasi nga, feeling ko, it would be pointless dahil “di ako matalino enough for this.”
Although it’s true that there are people who were born extremely smarter than us, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we can’t achieve what they can achieve.
The thing is, most of us tend to believe that we are born with only a given level of natural abilities, so when we fail, we think that we’ve reached our limit. Akala natin, yun na yun. Yes, it’s true that we are born with a certain degree of innate skills. Pero hindi ibig sabihin nun na wala nang chance mag-improve pa yun. At lalong hindi rin ibig sabihin nun na di tayo pwedeng maka-acquire ng new sets of skills na “wala sa DNA natin.”
It was in 4th year college when I learned the concepts of “FIXED MINDSET” vs. “GROWTH MINDSET” as taught by my prof. According to Carol Dweck:
“In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb.”
“In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don’t necessarily think everyone’s the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it.”
I decided to adopt the GROWTH MINDSET from that point on.
Before this turning point, halos puro ako pasang awa sa first 3 years ko of college. May bagsak pa nga. 🙈 Legit struggle. Then gradually nag-reverse yung trend ng grades ko starting 4th year 1st sem after adopting the growth mindset. By 1st sem of 5th year, with full load of units of majors + GEs + thesis, I got awarded as President’s Lister (a.k.a. “University Scholar”) – may ceremony pala pag ganun, first time 🤣. (DISCLAIMER: I don’t believe that grades are an accurate measure of one’s abilities, though. Pero sa ibang post na lang ‘to 😅).
I went on to achieve other things both academically and non-academically by consciously shifting my thinking to the “growth mindset.” I’ve also regained my passion for learning – ang sarap matuto!
If you’re struggling now and you want to change your results, start with changing your mindset.
👩🏫 The FIRST STEP is AWARENESS. Anong mindset mo ngayon? Observe your thoughts. Be honest with yourself. Then, if you’re not happy with it, do something about it. Look for resources that can help you develop your growth mindset and your abilities. Here’s one that I found useful.
🙆♂️ Once you adopt a growth mindset, YOUR ONLY LIMIT IS YOUR ABILITY TO IMAGINE WHAT YOU CAN BECOME. 😉💕
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➡ Here are some more resources which you can use to read more about Fixed vs Growth mindset:
– https://jamesclear.com/fixed-mindset-vs-growth-mindset
– https://fs.blog/2015/03/carol-dweck-mindset/
Engr. Raketera 