Perspective

While driving downtown recently, my 3.5 year old told me that the tall (Wachovia) building in downtown Winston-Salem was “following us.”  I tried to explain to him that we were the ones moving, not the building, and as we turned to get on the interstate he would see that the building was staying in the same place but our car was going to go past it.  In true toddler form, he continued to tell me I was wrong and that the building was moving and it was chasing us.  He just couldn’t understand it because of his limited perspective and experience.

I was thinking about this the other day when I was knee-deep in paperwork in our office but slowly plugging along through invoices and forms and due dates for the IRS.  I thought back to the first time I had to fill out a form for taxes and the anxiety that brought to me as a new business owner.  I still get anxiety about all the forms, but my perspective has changed.  I have filled out those forms for years, made mistakes and lived to tell about it.  I am also much quicker with them because I have a broader view and more experience related to the business administration piece of my job.  Having a broader view has brought me to a place where I have more realistic expectations, a deeper understanding, and a mindset that realizes mistakes can lead to growth, not jail.

Hope and I are both working this summer to decompress, reflect, and stretch ourselves on a few strategic projects.  The combination of these things is helping to broaden our experiences and our perspective.  Understanding ourselves, where we have been, where we are going, and knowing in advance that mistakes will be made help us to become even better at what we do.   This is called “a growth mindset”.   Carol Dweck has written an entire book about what she calls “the growth mindset” and  reading this text has helped change my perspective not only as a professional, but in personal areas of my life.  Adding this book to my background knowledge has most definitely helped me grow my perspective.  To learn more about her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success you can go to the website http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html and check out videos related to it on YouTube

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTsF2TaEaJA]

As you wrap up the school year and see another one on the horizon, reflect on your perspective of things.  What is your mindset right now?  Are you fixed or in a growth mindset? How is your perspective coloring what you are seeing with students, teachers, and learning?  If we are not careful, we can think the building is “following us” instead of understanding that WE are the ones on the move.