Starting the New Year with the Right Mindset
It is the new year and academics are in the middle of the school session. Mid-year assessments are important to make sure we remind ourselves of what we wanted to accomplish, and if we are still headed in the right direction. Doing this assessment requires being aware of how we think and respond to things that were planned or unplanned. Your mind set truly dictates how you perceive the world. Events happen and are only meaningful when we give them meaning. As you plan out what you want to accomplish (and avoid) the rest of this year, understand that your mindset will play a role in your plans and their outcomes.
You can call it “growth mindset” or “limiting beliefs”, it doesn’t matter. At the core, your frame of mind determines the meaning of things. Academics know the rhythms of our work. We plan our lives around teaching, student support, conferences, and writing or research activities. Some of us lead robust lives outside of academia that include activism and entrepreneurial ventures. Yes, academics are overachiever. Our mindset will determine the type of goals we want to achieve this year, and in what manner we will approach the achievement of those goals. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, flexibility is the hallmark of the “survival of the fittest”. Even if that means shifting gears or direction in order to continue on the path toward your goal, your mindset will determine how you feel and the decisions you make along the way.
For me, finding time to write is always a challenge, but a goal I set for myself each year. It is a task that is part of the life of an academic. How we perceive that task depends on our mindset. We can see it as a chore, and therefore becomes the last thing you get to. We can see it as a creative outlet and use it to destress after a long day. We can see it as a necessary task to our professional growth and development, therefore we structure it in to our daily, weekly or monthly schedule. Even though the task is the same (writing), how we perceive that task is dependent on our mind set. I see writing as a necessary professional development task. This is my mindset towards writing: it is like exercise. Sometimes I don’t enjoy it but love the feeling of accomplishment when I look back on what my hard work helped me create.
Success as an academic requires that we know what our are our priorities, skills, and expertise. Knowing these things is important, and informs our mindset. Your mindset will determine how successful you are – if you see a mountain or a molehill – and how you recover or pivot. My plans for this year include interviewing, conference presentations, and teaching. All these things require independent and interdependent plans to be successful. I need to be aware of my mindset towards these activities because it will help me create a plan for success.
A positive mindset determines how you create, how your recover, and how you keep going. For academics, this mindset helps them withstand the rigors and demands of their work. This helps them realize their best selves which then impacts their own research, their teaching and the way they impact their students. Likewise, this is an important lesson for anyone, not just academics. How is it helping you succeed, or maybe holding you back? How is it providing clarity or maybe creating blind spots for you? I’d love to hear from our readers…sharing is caring! Happy New Year!