Practicing a Political Growth Mindset
External validation won't work for long-term organizing
I grew up excelling in school. Thanks to my class background, I was set up for success. I went to preschool, and by the time I started kindergarten, I was ready to read. I spoke the language of school, and as a white, middle-class, neurotypical kid, school was essentially designed for me. Thus, at an early age, I got accustomed to success and external validation of my competence.
Of course, as somewhat recent research has made clear, external validation can have drawbacks. In high school, I struggled with subjects like trigonometry and chemistry that didn’t come easily to me. I brought a fixed mindset to these subjects. I believed that I just wasn’t a math or science person, and unfortunately, I didn’t have teachers at the time who were willing or able to support me to build new habits and mindsets.
I’ve been very grateful for the research of Carol Dweck and the consensus around the value of a growth mindset. It transformed my teaching by helping me to develop more resilience in my students and practice more resilience as an educator. Even after 10-plus years, I was often struggling. A growth mindset helped me to embrace those struggles as learning experiences.
Practicing a growth mindset has been vital in my personal life and my activism as well. With support from therapy, I have tried to remind myself that mistakes are inevitable and invaluable. Still, it’s an ongoing process to unlearn the fixed mindset, which resulted in part from lots of early praise.
I’ve been thinking lately about how the reliance on external validation can also stifle political organizing as well. When organizing for social justice, there are rarely clear wins and certainly no one passing out A’s or gold stars. Meanwhile, there are lots of failures and losses. That means I have to focus on different metrics of success. Am I learning? Am I building new relationships and strengthening old ones? Have we made collective progress toward our goal? This last question can be particularly hard to answer at times. Sometimes, you may be building power as a community while losing battle after battle.
I’ve also been thinking about a growth mindset in my spiritual life. Monday marked Yom Kippur. Each year, we annul all of the vows we made in the last year. We repeat the same communal confession. We beg for forgiveness, mercy, and to be inscribed in the Book of Life. What does it mean to return to this same process year after year? How does one measure success or progress when each year we find ourselves atoning for the same sins?
One interpretation that interests me is that the rituals of Yom Kippur are a reminder that perfection is impossible. And failures and mistakes are not only human, but they are a part of the process of learning.
As I push myself to make a long-term commitment to social justice organizing, I am working to leave behind the inner child who is addicted to straight A’s and external praise. Instead, I am hoping to cultivate a mindset focused on learning and making progress. It’s sometimes difficult to do, but it’s much more realistic and aligned to the work of organizing that needs to be done.
I’m curious: what habits, mindsets, or frameworks do you find useful when thinking about social justice organizing? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Shanah tovah!
Other Recent Writing
“The Camilla Massacre,” History Daily
“‘Silent Spring’ Sparks the Modern Environmental Movement,” History Daily
Recommendations for Reading/Listening/Watching
“Can Unions Still Transform the Workplace?” by Sonali Kolhatkar, Yes! Magazine