Cultivate a Growth Mindset - EPISODE‌ ‌25

Uncategorized Nov 12, 2020

“Someone is always going to be better at something. Someone is always going to be worse at something. The only thing you can control is you, and improving, and learning, so that you’re better tomorrow than you were yesterday.” — Jenn Wu

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:‌

Small changes you can make every day to shift yourself into a growth mindset
The trick to transform a gratitude practice from lip service to lifelong benefit
Why we should take advantage of our “unprecedented times” to tune into ourselves and make vital and lasting changes

“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.

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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!