The drive to be the best isn’t the productivity booster that you’d think.
Jenn Wu grew up as a high-achieving perfectionist who needed to be top of her class in school and judged herself based on her grades. This drive for greatness followed her into her career, haunting her throughout her time in the corporate world.
Her focus on perfection didn’t allow her any room to experiment, learn from her mistakes, or develop the ability to cope with setbacks healthily.
“Through my entrepreneurial journey, I was holding myself back … I was saying ‘well, if it’s not going to be perfect, if I’m not going to be the best at it, I’m just not going to do it’,” Jenn reveals. “And changing my mindset around that — learning that I can make mistakes, and I can learn and grow — it doesn’t make me a failure. Taking that ‘failure’ word out of my vocabulary opened me up to doing this.”
Now, Jenn realizes that striving for perfection the way that she did wasn’t a fast track to success.
But she’s cracked the code to help others escape the same trap!
Jenn created Heart of A Hero, a journal that helps kids between the ages of 5 and 10 develop a growth mindset from an early age, setting them up for success. The term was coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, and refers to the belief that you can develop and improve skills and characteristics, as well as recognize mistakes or failures as opportunities for new wisdom.
On the other hand, a fixed mindset is the belief that you’re stuck with the abilities and traits that you’re born with, and nothing you do can change them.
If that isn’t a limiting belief, I don’t know what is!
In this episode of the Quiet Powerhouse podcast, you’ll discover:
“Resilience now is so important, and I’m hearing from so many parents that this is a challenging time for adults and for children … but it’s also an opportunity for us to get away from that busyness of everyday life, tune into ourselves, and help kids in a less hurried environment develop these skills that are going to help them.” — Jenn Wu
About Jenn Wu
Jenn Wu is the founder of Spark Journals and the creator of Heart of A Hero, a journal that introduces a growth mindset to children ages 5-10 and helps them build lifelong tools to handle stress and anxiety.
Highlights:
01:02 Introducing Jenn Wu
02:00 Jenn’s journey to journals for juveniles
04:45 Growth mindset v fixed mindset
05:38 Overcoming challenges: the growth mindset in action
07:28 There is always room to improve
08:14 Case study: Michael Jordan
10:04 Become a ‘recovering perfectionist’ through small changes
12:07 How kids use the Heart of A Hero journal to cultivate a growth mindset
15:12 Develop a mindfulness and gratitude practice!
17:24 Quickfire question round!
20:03 Jenn’s final thoughts
Links:
Spark Journals
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9780345472328/carol-dweck/mindset
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