MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

This second module shifts the focus from learning ideas to application and the Cultivating Potential process for personal transformation.

A growth foundation begins with helping participants to adopt a growth mindset. Too often, we fall prey to the false belief that we as individuals have fixed strengths, talents, and abilities. Recent neuroscience and positive psychology have shown that skills and abilities are not a fixed variable but can continue to develop throughout a person’s life. Adopting a growth mindset (the focus for this module) provides the context for tapping into innate abilities that have yet to be revealed and processing for honing skills, gaining knowledge, and developing habits that reinforce personal growth.

Once a growth mindset is adopted, the possibilities for increased performance and heightened achievement become near limitless. This change starts with learning to accept full responsibilities for our individual actions and the outcomes we experience in life. Shifting the locus of control over our outcomes to the thoughts, visions, and actions we can control is a personally liberating and incredibly empowering skill to develop. Participants will leverage new tools to analyze how they can best respond to events and circumstances to get the outcomes they seek, regardless of external factors that influence the situation.

By the end of this module, participants will be ready to give up old habits of complaining, blaming, and excuse-making to focus their attention on their personal ownership of the situation and the responses that will lead to constructive outcomes. Through process-oriented performance evaluations, leaders at every level will learn to promote a growth mindset in their team members and co-workers.

With sights set on what is possible with a proper growth foundation, any participant’s inclination to shy away from one’s most ambitious goals will be addressed through processing limiting beliefs. Too often, it is not one’s innate ability that limits their level of achievement as much as it is false beliefs about what is possible for that individual, team, or organization to achieve. These false beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies as we as individuals or groups limit our expectations for future outcomes; our performance is governed to meet the falsely perceived limitation we hold.

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Objectives

01. Growth Mindset: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Intention Sets the Course: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Three-Part Brain: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Basic Human Needs: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Self-Esteem & Self-Efficacy: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. PERMA Model of Human Flourishing: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Illness/Wellness Continuum: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Positivity-Focused: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Strengths-Based: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Cognitive Biases: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Limiting Beliefs: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Leadership: Process Feedback: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Growth Mindset: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Intention Sets the Course: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Three-Part Brain: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Basic Human Needs: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Self-Esteem & Self-Efficacy: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. PERMA Model of Human Flourishing: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Illness/Wellness Continuum: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Positivity-Focused: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Strengths-Based: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Cognitive Biases: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Limiting Beliefs: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Leadership: Process Feedback: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

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Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Growth Mindset.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Intention Sets the Course.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Three-Part Brain.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Basic Human Needs.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Self-Esteem & Self-Efficacy.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze PERMA Model of Human Flourishing.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Illness/Wellness Continuum.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Positivity-Focused.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Strengths-Based.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Cognitive Biases.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Limiting Beliefs.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Leadership: Process Feedback.

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Introduction

This second module shifts the focus from learning ideas to application and the Cultivating Potential process for personal transformation.

A growth foundation begins with helping participants to adopt a growth mindset. Too often, we fall prey to the false belief that we as individuals have fixed strengths, talents, and abilities. Recent neuroscience and positive psychology have shown that skills and abilities are not a fixed variable but can continue to develop throughout a person’s life. Adopting a growth mindset (the focus for this module) provides the context for tapping into innate abilities that have yet to be revealed and processing for honing skills, gaining knowledge, and developing habits that reinforce personal growth.

Once a growth mindset is adopted, the possibilities for increased performance and heightened achievement become near limitless. This change starts with learning to accept full responsibilities for our individual actions and the outcomes we experience in life. Shifting the locus of control over our outcomes to the thoughts, visions, and actions we can control is a personally liberating and incredibly empowering skill to develop. Participants will leverage new tools to analyze how they can best respond to events and circumstances to get the outcomes they seek, regardless of external factors that influence the situation.

By the end of this module, participants will be ready to give up old habits of complaining, blaming, and excuse-making to focus their attention on their personal ownership of the situation and the responses that will lead to constructive outcomes. Through process-oriented performance evaluations, leaders at every level will learn to promote a growth mindset in their team members and co-workers.

With sights set on what is possible with a proper growth foundation, any participant’s inclination to shy away from one’s most ambitious goals will be addressed through processing limiting beliefs. Too often, it is not one’s innate ability that limits their level of achievement as much as it is false beliefs about what is possible for that individual, team, or organization to achieve. These false beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies as we as individuals or groups limit our expectations for future outcomes; our performance is governed to meet the falsely perceived limitation we hold.

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Growth Foundation: reaching your full potential

Many athletes have been predicted to be the next big thing over the years, but they have failed to live up to their full potential. Freddy Adu, for example, became the youngest athlete in America to sign a professional contract when he signed with D.C United of Major League Soccer at the age of 14 in 2004. (MLS). He was dubbed “the next Pele” since he was the youngest player to appear and score in the MLS. Many people thought he was going to be one of the best soccer players ever.

Let’s jump ahead 13 years. Is Freddy Adu considered one of the best soccer players in the world? Regrettably, no. Adu has played for ten different professional clubs in the ten years since his big money move to Benfica in 2007, and at the age of just 28, he is currently a ‘free agent’ and does not play for any club.

So, why didn’t Freddy Adu achieve the heights that everyone expected him to, and why do so many other athletes share his fate? One possibility is that some athletes lack the attitude required to reach their full potential and compete at the highest level. If that’s the case, what kind of mindset does a good athlete require?

People have two types of mindsets, according to psychologist Carol Dweck: fixed and growth mindsets. Everyone will have both mindsets, but they will frequently favor one over the other.

Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that some characteristics, such as intelligence, talent, and athleticism, are unchangeable no matter what they do or try (Dweck, 2006, 2009). As a result, these people place a lower value on work and are more concerned with looking their best. People with a fixed mindset frequently fail to reach their full potential because they do not put in the necessary effort to achieve. Due to the fear of failure and looking stupid, research has consistently shown that people with a fixed mindset are more likely to give up easily when confronted with setbacks (Dweck, 2006, 2009). If you can’t succeed at something, they believe there’s no use in persevering since you simply lack the brains to succeed. This is frequently the reason why many young athletes with great potential fail to make the move to the next level.

People with a growth mindset believe that success and achievement are the result of a protracted process that requires hard work, dedication, and perseverance. They believe that talents and intelligence can be developed and improved through time, and that if they work hard enough, they can reach their full potential. According to research, cultivating a growth mindset can lead to good outcomes such as increased resilience in the face of adversity (Yeager & Dweck, 2012; Hinton & Hendrick, 2015), persistence for longer periods of time (Mueller & Dweck, 1998), and greater results (Dweck, 2008).

When examining the processes of the two mindset types, it’s easy to understand how Freddy Adu’s professional inability to achieve the heights anticipated of him might be related to a fixed mindset. His early professional success was sometimes attributed to his inherent ability and similarities to Pele, the Brazilian soccer legend. Hard work, commitment, and tenacity, on the other hand, were rarely mentioned as growth mindset behaviors. Freddy Adu may have developed a fixed mindset, believing his success was primarily due to his innate skill, as a result of the repeated praise on his ability. This research builds on Mueller and Dweck’s (1998) findings, which found that when students were commended for their intelligence/ability rather than their hard effort, their motivation and performance suffered.

According to research, having a growth mindset is a predictor of long-term success. The main question is: how can individuals learn to create growth mindset processes and boost their chances of reaching their maximum potential? The first step is to recognize that long-term success does not come solely from aptitude and ability. For example, was it easy to become a successful athlete, if you asked any elite athlete? They would argue no, claiming that high levels of work, perseverance, and a constant desire to learn are necessary factors for success. The following quotations from Michael Phelps (the most decorated Olympian) and Cristiano Ronaldo (the four-time world footballer of the year) illustrate the importance of trying to learn and progress at all times.

Michael Phelps: ‘There will be obstacles, there will be doubters, there will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits’.

Cristiano Ronaldo: ‘I feel an endless need to learn, to improve, to evolve, not only to please the coach and the fans, but also feel satisfied with myself’.

The second phase is to have no limitations. Restricting what you can achieve will limit what you can accomplish. Always keep in mind that there is always something new to learn, and that every experience you have will help you grow.

The ability to embrace setbacks/failure and learn from them, as well as what you need to do to better, is a critical component in developing a growth mindset. Above all, utilize that failure to drive your desire to succeed and reach your greatest potential. Because they have learned from their previous mistakes and failures, the most successful business people can perform successfully in any circumstances, both typical and tough.

Finally, identify your sources of inspiration that pushes you to develop and succeed. Your source of inspiration could be the ambition to become the best in your field.

Embracing a growth mindset, could be the answer to you reaching your full potential.

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Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset: How what you think affects what you achieve

Can the way we think about ourselves and our skills impact our lives, whether we have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset? Absolutely. The way we think about our intellect and talents has an impact on not just how we feel, but also on what we achieve, whether we cling to new habits, and whether we continue to learn new skills.

If you have a growth mindset, you feel that your intelligence and abilities can be improved through time. If you have a fixed mindset, you believe that intelligence is fixed, therefore if you’re not excellent at something, you may believe that you’ll never be good at it.

Let’s look at growth vs. fixed mindsets together, explore the science, and see how people can change their mindsets over time.

Growth vs. fixed mindsets for life

The human brain was once thought to end developing in childhood, but we now know that it is always altering and changing. Many regions of the brain respond to events, and we can update our ‘software’ by learning.

Despite the scientific evidence, some individuals believe you are stuck with the abilities and ‘smarts’ you were born with. Carol Dweck, a Stanford University psychologist, was the first to investigate the concept of fixed and development mindsets.

Dr. Dweck characterized the two primary ways individuals think about intelligence or ability in her foundational work as being either:

• A fixed mindset: in this mindset, people believe that their intelligence is fixed and static.

• A growth mindset: in this mindset, people believe that intelligence and talents can be improved through effort and learning.

People who have a fixed mindset feel that their intelligence and abilities are predetermined. Fixed mindset people believe that “they have a specific amount (of knowledge) and that’s it,” according to Dr. Dweck, and that their goal is to “appear clever all the time and never look dumb.”

People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, recognize that not knowing or being good at anything is a transient state, so they don’t have to feel embarrassed or strive to prove they’re smarter than they are.

Dweck states that in a growth mindset, “students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching, and persistence.”

What is a growth mindset?

Intelligence and talent are seen as attributes that can be developed over time under a growth mentality.

This isn’t to say that people with a growth mindset believe they can become the next Einstein; there are still limits to what we can accomplish. People with a growth mindset believe that by putting up effort and taking action, they may increase their intelligence and talents.

A growth mindset also acknowledges that setbacks are an unavoidable part of the learning process, allowing people to ‘bounce back’ by boosting motivating effort.

A growth mindset views ‘failures’ as temporary and adaptable, making it essential for learning, resilience, motivation, and performance.

People that have a growth mindset are more likely to undertake the following:

• Be open to lifelong learning.

• Belief that intelligence may be enhanced

• Make a greater effort to learn

• Believe that hard work leads to mastery

• Believe that setbacks are just temporary.

• Consider criticism as a source of information.

• Takes on challenges with enthusiasm

• Take inspiration from others’ achievements.

• Look at feedback as an opportunity to improve.

What is a fixed mindset?

People with a fixed mindset believe that traits like talent and intelligence are fixed—that is, they believe they are born with the amount of intelligence and natural talents they will achieve as adults.

A fixed-minded individual avoids life’s obstacles, gives up easily, and is intimidated or threatened by other people’s success. This is due to the fact that a fixed mindset views intelligence and talent as something you “are,” rather than something you “grow.”

Negative thinking can be exacerbated by fixed mindsets. A person with a fixed mindset, for example, may fail at a task and assume it is because they aren’t smart enough to do it. A person with a growth mindset, on the other hand, can fail at the same task and assume it’s because they need to practice more.

Individual traits cannot change, no matter how hard you try, and people with a fixed mindset are more likely to:

• Believe intelligence and talent are static
• Avoid challenges to avoid failure
• Ignore feedback from others
• Feel threatened by the success of others
• Hide flaws so as not to be judged by others
• Believe putting in effort is worthless
• View feedback as personal criticism
• Give up easily

Who identified the growth mindset?

The growth mindset was originally presented by Stanford University psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck. Dweck’s ground-breaking research looked at why some people fail while others flourish.

High school pupils were given puzzles that ranged from easy to challenging in one research. Some students accepted failure and viewed it as a learning experience, much to the surprise of researchers, and this positive attitude was eventually termed by Dweck as the ‘growth mindset.’

Dweck’s research also discovered that, contrary to popular belief, it is more effective to praise the process rather than skill or innate qualities. Effort, strategies, perseverance, and resilience, in particular, should be praised. These procedures are crucial for providing constructive feedback and establishing a positive student-teacher connection.

While effort is an important aspect of a growth mindset, it shouldn’t be the primary focus of praise, according to Dweck in a 2015 paper. Effort should be viewed as a tool for learning and improvement. Continue telling yourself “excellent effort” after completing a task to promote a growth attitude, but also seek for ways to improve next time—so you feel good in the short and long term.

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The benefits of a growth mindset

According to Dweck and others’ research, a growth mindset improves motivation and academic success.

One study looked at undergraduate students’ academic satisfaction after learning about the brain’s neuroplasticity.

Three one-hour seminars on brain functioning were used to encourage pupils to adopt a growth mindset. The participants in the control group were educated that there are several types of intelligence. After learning about the growth mindset, students demonstrated much stronger motivation and pleasure of science than students in the control group.

Teaching a growth mindset to junior high school pupils resulted in enhanced motivation and academic achievement, according to another study. A growth mindset was found to be especially useful for students studying science and mathematics, according to the researchers.

Students who advocated a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset received superior grades in mathematics, languages, and grade point averages (GPA), according to studies.

A growth mentality also has the following advantages:

• Reduced burnout
• Fewer psychological problems, such as depression and anxiety
• Fewer behavioral problems

The neuroscience of a growth mindset

To better understand the neurological correlates of a growth mindset, scientists have examined electrical activity in the brain.

Researchers have discovered a correlation between a growth mindset and activation in two important areas of the brain using neuroimaging:

• The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC): involved in learning and control
• The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC): involved in error-monitoring and behavioral adaptation

Higher motivation and error correction appear to be linked to a growth mindset. It’s also linked to less activation in the face of negative input.

Furthermore, studies have discovered that when a person is told how they might develop — for example, recommendations on what to do better next time – the brain is most active in growth-minded people. Meanwhile, when a person with a fixed mindset is given information regarding their performance – such as the results of a test – the brain is engaged. This implies that persons with a growth mindset are more concerned with the process than with the outcome.

Only a few studies, however, have looked at the brain mechanisms that underpin diverse mindsets. More research is needed to determine the exact brain activity of those with development mindsets.

Can a person’s mindset change?

People can change their brain processes and thinking patterns in the same way that they can grow and expand their intellect.

Even as adults, the brain continues to develop and alter, according to neuroscience. The brain is comparable to plastic in that new neural pathways can be formed over time, allowing it to be remolded. As a result, scientists have coined the term “neuroplasticity” to describe the brain’s ability to change through growth and rearrangement.

According to research, the brain may form new connections, strengthen existing ones, and increase the speed with which pulses are transmitted. These findings imply that someone with a fixed mindset might gradually shift to a growth mindset.

You may shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, according to Dr. Carol Dweck. Neuroscience studies demonstrating the malleability of self-attributes such as intelligence back this up.

There are a few techniques to cultivate a growth mindset.

Researchers discovered that teaching students about neuroscience research demonstrating that the brain is changeable and improves with effort can help them develop a growth mindset.

There are a variety of approaches to cultivating a development mindset, the most of which will be covered in the first course manual. Here are a few examples to get you started:

1. Recognize that you can improve scientifically.

Understanding that our brains are built to grow and learn is one of the most direct ways to foster a growth mindset. By exposing yourself to new experiences, you can build or strengthen neural connections in your brain, allowing you to’rewire’ your brain and become smarter.

2. Remove the inner voice that has a “fixed mindset.”

A negative inner voice exists in many people, and it works against a growth mindset. To cultivate a growth mindset, try flipping thoughts like “I can’t do this” to “I can do this if I keep practicing.”

3. The process should be rewarded.

Although society frequently honors people who achieve exceptional results, this might be counterproductive to a growth attitude. Rather, commend the process and the effort put forward. Dr. Carol Dweck’s research found that rewarding effort over outcomes boosted performance in a math game.

4. Gather feedback

Make an effort to get feedback on your work. Individuals are motivated to keep going when they are given progressive feedback on what they did well and where they can improve. Feedback is also linked to a happy dopamine response and aids in the development of a growth mindset.

5. Get out of your comfort zone

Having the courage to step outside of your comfort zone can aid in the development of a growth mentality. When faced with a challenge, select the more difficult alternative to allow you to progress.

Accept failure as part of the process

Failure, setbacks, and early perplexity are all part of the learning curve! Consider occasional ‘failures’ as valuable learning opportunities while trying something new, and try to enjoy the process of discovery along the way.

Final Thoughts

The growth mindset holds that intelligence and ability may be developed through hard work and learning. Setbacks are a crucial part of the learning process for growth-minded people, and they bounce back from ‘failure’ by putting in more effort. This mindset helps you to be more motivated while also helping you to reach your full potential. According to the limited data from neuroscience, those with a growth mindset have more active brains than those with a fixed mindset, especially in areas related to error correction and learning.

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Executive Summary

Chapter 1: Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is a way of thinking about life and learning that prepares you to realize your full potential. Nothing about the human experience is fixed, according to research and wisdom ranging from Buddhist wisdom to cutting-edge neuroscience. This covers things like your personality, intelligence, and how you react to circumstances.

Formal schooling is at the heart of much of the study on the growth mindset. But it has a broad application, touching on the very core of life’s university, the everyday possibilities for learning and progress that are always present for those with the willingness and bravery to notice them.

This course manual will show you how to lay the groundwork, nourish the soil, and sow the seeds that will allow you to reach your maximum potential. A growth mindset is vital whether you want to become more self-aware, increase your productivity, ignite your success, love more, build your business, or enhance your abilities.

Carol Dweck: the growth mindset guru

Without mentioning Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, it’s impossible to describe the growth mindset. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, her groundbreaking book, gave a comprehensive explanation of it, based on a large body of scientific research and insights gained over two decades of effort.

Carol Dweck’s research is straightforward yet profound: one’s thinking determines a large part of one’s performance. Regardless of talent or skill, how you perceive your abilities has a significant impact on outcomes. You’re more likely to struggle if you believe you’re stupid and useless. However, if you begin to believe in your own potential and capability, the outcomes will follow.

According to Dweck’s research, your fundamental outlook on life may be altered. Because attitude affects so many parts of how you interact with the world, it has a significant impact on all facets of your life. The good news is that a growth mindset can be developed with a little work and a desire to improve.

Neuroplasticity: the neuroscience of the growth mindset

The physical structure of the brain reflects the concept of a growth mindset. Years ago, it was thought that the brain was permanently fixed. However, thanks to the development of neuroscience, this viewpoint has changed. The term “neuroplasticity” was coined in 1948 to describe how the brain constantly grows, alters, and adapts in response to new information.

“Neurons that fire together, wire together,” as the expression goes. Synapses are structures that allow neurons to communicate using electrochemical impulses. During the learning or repetition of a task, certain brain “pathways” are stimulated. These circuits in the brain strengthen with time, changing its structure.

From the moment you are born to the moment you die, your brain is always developing and evolving. Nothing about you is fixed, which serves as a great metaphor for the concept of growth. The potential of the brain to “alter in response to experience, repeated stimuli, environmental signals, and learning” is explained by experience-dependent neuroplasticity, for example.

Surprisingly, one study identified a neuroscientific link between the brain regions associated with growth mindset and intrinsic motivated behaviors. Author Betsy Ng explains, “Growth mindset is related to brain processes, and brain processes are related to motivated behaviors.” “By instilling a growth mindset, people will see the inherent worth of a task and self-regulate their behavior to complete it.”

The significance of a growth mindset in being the person you want to be

“Your personality isn’t permanent. The most successful people in the world base their identity and internal narrative on their future, not their past.” – Benjamin Hardy

A growth mindset, according to Carol Dweck, “can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value.” That’s a major deal, and it’s backed up by a lot of studies. It is a crucial foundation for all forms of self-development in my opinion.

Although Dweck’s work examines growth mindsets through the lens of success, she is quick to point out that there is no such thing as failure when you approach life as an opportunity to learn. This mindset sees every event as an opportunity to learn something new. This is one of the most liberating perspectives on life.

A word of caution: growth mindsets do not imply instantaneous change. Keep an eye out for small improvements over time, and be nice to yourself in the process. Human progress is cyclical, so don’t get discouraged if things don’t seem to be going your way.

There is a paradox of growth in that, in order to reach your full potential, you must accept where you are now and build from there. Trying to go away from who you are, or striving to improve in order to be more lovable, really stifles growth. Perfectionism is reduced, not enhanced, by cultivating the correct mindset.

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Chapter 2: Intention Sets the Course

“Everyone has busy, stress-filled, hectic lives; you barely have time to grab a cup of coffee in the morning, so you think there’s no way you have time to set a daily intention each morning, and that’s precisely why you need to,” says Melissa Maxx, a certified mindfulness coach. “If you don’t set an intention, you let the day determine your mood, rather than taking control and determining how you want the day to be.”

Simply said, an intention is a goal or purpose that you intend to accomplish – and paying more attention to your intentions can help you achieve incredible things in your life.

“Intention setting is empowering,” says Maxx. “Instead of feeling like a victim of circumstance, you become the conscious creators of your days and your life.”

Setting intentions has numerous advantages, but it’s not as simple as wishing on a star or concentrating on what you want. Here’s how to set your intentions the right way:

The Benefits of Setting Intentions

According to Jason Frishman, Psy.D., “intention setting” may sound woo-woo or like something you’d only do at the start of a yoga session, but it’s fundamental to anyone with objectives — aka most any human being. “As you learn and commit to your goals, intention becomes the very first step in achieving them.”

“Setting an intention is the initiation, the first step into your preferred story,” he says. “Particularly if your intention is solidly aligned with your values, then you have a powerful tool for moving forward and achieving your desires.” Regular statements of intention also allow you to change courses or adjust the path if needed, he says.

Intentions might be big (think: everlasting) or tiny (think: short-term; for the next day or even the next hour). In either case, they must be explicit and actionable, according to Frishman. (It’s similar to setting objectives using the “SMART” method.)

They may also be emotional, adds Sara Weand, L.P.C., licensed dialectical behavior therapy therapist and counselor. “Intentions involve the emotions you hope and intend to feel about a particular thing or situation in the future,” she says. “When you set an intention, it provides accountability and allows you to take control of your personal choices and life. It’s about being proactive in your own life, by purposely choosing how you want to live it.”

She claims that creating intentions allows you to actively live your life with meaning. You do this by becoming more present in both your personal life and your interpersonal relationships.

“When setting an intention, it’s like laying the foundation for what you’d like to have, feel, and experience versus just being a passive participant going through the motions,” she explains. “Intentions provide you with the opportunity to actively participate in your life the way you want to live it.”

So how, exactly, do you set intentions for the greatest chance at success? We will cover this in Course Manual 2.

What Is the Difference Between Intent and Impact, and Why Does It Matter?

Misunderstandings are unavoidable in everyday life. Whether it’s their approach to grocery shopping or how they handle dispute with a coworker, everyone has a unique perspective, lived experience, and set of biases that drive their actions.

People frequently try to justify their behavior by citing their motives, while others may have a quite different view of the overall consequence of their activities.

At best, this can result in a little misunderstanding. However, in rare circumstances, the gap between someone’s goal and the actual impact of their actions might result in considerable conflict.

While the distinction between intent and impact is frequently discussed in conflict resolution and trauma-informed care, it also comes up in everyday interactions and disputes.

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Chapter 3: Three-part brain

Did you realize you have three brains? That’s right, you read that correctly. You have three brains: one in your head, one in your heart, and one in your gut. The three brains are similar to an orchestra, with billions of neurons working together to create a harmonious symphony — harnessing an ever-changing network of neurons that function in unison.

Various actions within and across the huge communication networks are synchronized by oscillations induced by impulses from the three brains. The oscillations work together to guarantee that all components are able to perform their functions at the appropriate times, similar to how a conductor generates order among a vast number of instruments in an orchestra. Our three brains, on the other hand, stop working correctly when synchronization fails.

The Role of the Three Brains

Although the brains of the head, heart, and gut work together, they have distinct physical functions and perform distinct mental and emotional functions.

• Information is analyzed and logic is applied by the head brain.

• Emotions and feelings are how the heart brain senses the world.

• The gut brain is responsible for determining our identity and place in the world. The gut brain also teaches us self-preservation by educating us to trust our instincts — that “gut feeling” that we all have from time to time.

Source: www.naturalfactors.com

The Three Brains: Mind to Destiny

You were undoubtedly informed as a child that you only had one brain that controlled everything. You may have heard that the brain has two sides, one on the left and one on the right, as you grew older. Perhaps you learned about the Limbic System in early high school science class when discussing smells and memories. The ‘core’ three brains that make up the fundamental physiological processes of your mind will be discussed, as well as how they are connected to interpret events, guard you from threats, stressors, and generally catalog what experiences are good and bad for your overall survival.

Much of the information presented here originates from well-reviewed sources, particularly in the field of neuroscience. The majority of everything you’ll read below will be centered on the deliberate rebuilding of your brain in order to positively influence your life.

To frame your mentality, I recommend heading into this course manual with a question: How can you move from being a victim of circumstance and pre-conditioned behavior to being the creator of your own joy and success?

The Three Brains

The core infrastructure underpinning everything you think, feel, and believe is made up of three brains. Some of the functions in these three brains are within your immediate control, while others happen without your knowledge, sensation, or consent. The psychological order for what we’ll talk about more technically when we go deeper is:

Thinking – Doing – Being

This is a sequence of your being that has been at work in your life without you ever realizing it, and it has been constantly reinforced by the events that have either been placed in front of you or that you’ve sought out.

The technical names for each of these brains are:

• The Neocortex
• The Limbic or Mammalian Brain
• The Cerebellum is Reptilian Brain

In this course manual, we will discuss these regions of the brain and how each of the three sections affects how we establish a growth mindset.

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Chapter 4: Basic Human Needs

Why do we behave the way we do? Why do we prize attention and status as indicators of success and value, but frown on complacency? What power is responsible for all of our feelings, activities, quality of life, and, eventually, our fates?

Did you know that understanding about human needs may explain all of the answers to these questions?

The inability to consistently address these essential demands is the root of all dysfunctional behaviors. People’s needs, on the other hand, aren’t just behind bad judgments – they’re also behind all of humanity’s great achievements. Understanding your own needs and psychology can help you not only avoid harmful behaviors and routines, but also achieve your objectives.

How do we develop our core needs?

Each of us is unique, shaped by our personal life experiences and emotions. Many of our fundamental desires emerge throughout childhood, when our minds are absorbing as much information as possible. This knowledge, whether good or bad, shapes our views and values, which in turn shape our entire universe. Stress has also been shown to have long-term consequences on brain chemistry and development in children.

Each of us prioritizes our needs differently, and our choices are influenced by the needs we prioritize first. While human wants are deep-seated, keep in mind that until you live there, your past is not your future. You can choose to meet your needs in a healthy way while also bringing balance to your life by honing your capacity to meet them all equally.

One of the most well-known theories of motivation is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow’s hypothesis, our activities are driven by physiological requirements. It’s commonly depicted as a need pyramid, with the most fundamental demands at the bottom and more complex needs at the top.

What Is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

Abraham Maslow first introduced the concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper titled “A Theory of Human Motivation,” and again in his subsequent book, Motivation and Personality. People are motivated to meet basic needs before moving on to more complex needs, according to this hierarchy.

While several existing schools of thought at the time, such as psychoanalysis and behaviorism, focused on undesirable behaviors, Maslow was more interested in discovering what makes individuals happy and what they do to reach that goal.

Maslow, a humanist, thought that people had an inborn need to be self-actualized, or to be the best version of themselves. However, in order to attain this ultimate goal, a number of more basic requirements must be met. Food, safety, love, and self-esteem are all necessities.

These needs, according to Maslow, are akin to instincts and play a significant role in motivating behavior.

There are five different levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which we will discuss in this course manual.

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Chapter 5: Self-Esteem & Self-Efficacy

Everyone has a sense of self. Our experiences in life, as well as our judgments and assessments of ourselves, determine whether we have a positive or negative sense of self. There wouldn’t be anything to talk about if our self-evaluation was always correct. The issue is that our image of ourselves is frequently flawed.

This perspective can be skewed by previous experiences. For example, a person who grew up in a perfectionistic home may see herself as constantly falling short of the family’s standards. As a result, she sees herself as a failure, no matter how successful she is.

“How foolish!” or “What a dork!” could be spoken to a boy who is often picked on by his elder brothers. He might start to trust the labels he’s been given. People who believe in specific labels, unfortunately, typically live up to, or down to, those titles. The labels have the potential to produce a self-fulfilling expectation. He assumes he is foolish and never tries to prove differently.

What is self-concept?

The self-concept is a precise account of how you see yourself. This description may not be an exact representation of you if your perception is flawed, but it IS an accurate statement of what you believe about yourself.

Self-esteem and self-efficacy are the foundations of self-concept. A person’s self-concept may be tilted in the direction of a negative description if they have poor self-esteem. Some components of one’s self-concept may be entirely factual, such as “I have a college education” or “I don’t dance,” with no assessment of whether or not they are good or bad.

In fact, persons who have high self-esteem and self-efficacy are more likely to accept their limitations without feeling judged. “I don’t have a good sense of direction,” for example, might be simply stated without implying any positive or negative feelings.

What is self-esteem?

The admiration or respect a person has for himself or herself is known as self-esteem. Self-esteem is a term used to describe a person’s positive thoughts about themselves. However, self-esteem can refer to very specific areas as well as a general feeling about the self. For instance, a person may have low self-esteem regarding physical attractiveness and high self-esteem about ability to do a job well.

What is self-efficacy?

A person’s self-efficacy is their belief in their capacity to achieve a certain goal or task. It usually corresponds to an individual’s sense of competence. Competence varies depending on the situation. For example, a person may be extremely capable at competing in a specific sport but not of speaking in front of a group. As a result, total self-efficacy, which assesses an individual’s general sense of competence across a number of situations or tasks, may not be completely accurate.

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Chapter 6: PERMA model of human flourishing

Humans have been striving for happiness since the beginning of time.

However, the term “happy” is notoriously difficult to define.

Happiness conjures up images of living the good life, flourishing, self-actualization, joy, and meaning. Is it possible to have any of these feelings in the midst of a chaotic world and bad circumstances? Can we learn to improve or develop talents that will help us achieve this “happy life”?

This course manual will outline the PERMA+ model and the theory of wellbeing, and provide practical ways to apply its components in your career or personal life.

What Is Seligman’s PERMA+ Model?

With his criteria of a self-actualized individual, Abraham Maslow (1962) was one of the first in the area of psychology to characterize “wellbeing.” The PERMA model, which specifies the attributes of a flourishing individual, and Wellbeing Theory (WBT) are both foreshadowed by the concept of self-actualization.

In his inaugural address as the incoming president of the American Psychological Association in 1998, Dr. Martin Seligman shifted the focus away from mental illness and pathology and toward exploring what is good and beneficial in life. Positive psychology therapies that help make life worth living, as well as how to define, quantify, and generate wellbeing, have been the focus of theories and research since this period (Rusk & Waters, 2015).

In developing a theory to address this, Seligman (2012) selected five components that people pursue because they are intrinsically motivating and they contribute to wellbeing. These elements are pursued for their own sake and are defined and measured independently of each other (Seligman, 2012).

WBT differs from other theories of wellbeing in that the five components include both eudaimonic and hedonic components.

These five elements or components (PERMA; Seligman, 2012) are:

• Positive emotion
• Engagement
• Relationships
• Meaning
• Accomplishments

The PERMA model makes up WBT, where each dimension works in concert to give rise to a higher order construct that predicts the flourishing of groups, communities, organizations, and nations (Forgeard, Jayawickreme, Kern, & Seligman, 2011).

Each of the PERMA components has been proven to have strong positive connections with physical health, energy, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and organizational commitment in studies (Kern, Waters, Alder, & White, 2014).

In addition, PERMA is a better predictor of psychological distress than earlier distress ratings (Forgeard et al., 2011). This suggests that proactively addressing the PERMA components improves aspects of wellbeing while also reducing psychological suffering.

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Chapter 7: Illness/Wellness Continuum

Understanding the illness wellness continuum

Wellness is more than just the absence of illness. It’s critical to understand how to achieve optimum wellbeing in order to live your best life.

The National Wellness Institute’s Illness-Wellness Continuum posits that wellbeing is more than just whether or not you have symptoms of an illness. It refers to one’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

We frequently associate health with visible conditions such as disease, injuries, or disability. But what about anxiety and despair, as well as other hidden aspects of our lives that affect our general health and well-being?

This continuum is a sliding scale on which we are continually shifting. On the right, you’ll find optimum health and wellbeing, while on the left, you’ll find illness and death. One can keep moving towards the positive end of the spectrum by increasing awareness, education, and growth.

Dimensions of wellness

You may notice fewer or more dimensions depending on where you look. According to the National Wellness Institute, there are six dimensions:

1. Emotional Wellness? – the awareness and acceptance of your feelings and emotions and how you cope with relationships and life in general.

2. Occupational Wellness – the idea of enriching your life through work that aligns with your values and is fulfilling and rewarding.

3. Physical Wellness – how you care for yourself through what you eat and drink, ensuring you are sleeping enough, and exercising.

4. Social Wellness – how you contribute to your community and interact with others.

5. Intellectual Wellness – keeping your brain stimulated by engaging in challenging and creative activities.

6. Spiritual Wellness – to discover your meaning of life and using your beliefs and values to live a life with purpose.

Stages on the wellness continuum

The ultimate goal as you progress along the spectrum is to improve your mental, bodily, and spiritual well-being so that you can reach your maximum potential.

A neutral zone separates the stages on this journey. As you go toward sickness, you will encounter signs, symptoms, and impairment. You pass through awareness, education, and progress on your route to high-level wellness.

Throughout your life, and even day to day, you can travel up and down this spectrum.

How does it work

You should practice behaviors that assist you advance along the positive road in your daily life.

You must be in a good frame of mind to live your life to its utmost potential. The body cannot perform at its optimum if it is in a state of physical or emotional illness.

As you work toward wellness, many aspects of your life can improve, including your physical health and relationships.

Newton’s First Law of Motion, which states that a body in motion stays in motion, is presumably familiar to you. The same is true when it comes to achieving wellness. When one aspect of your life improves, it inspires you to make other positive adjustments that benefit your entire health.

how can you apply it to your everyday life

You can make your way along the wellness continuum by taking a series of small steps. The following are simple things you may gradually incorporate into your life to aid with each aspect of wellness:

• Eating well by adding in wholesome nutritious food to your diet.

• Get your body moving every day.

• Practice meditating.

• Try activities that challenge you and make you step out of your comfort zone.

• Do caring acts for others.

• Practice mindfulness.

• Make sure your circle is filled with people who contribute positively to your life.

• If you belong to a church, participate in activities.

• Rest well! Shoot for at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night.

• Try to limit how often you are on social media.

• Pick up a new hobby.

Common questions

What are the five health stages that form the wellness continuum?

The 5 stages along the continuum are disability, symptoms, awareness, education, and growth.

What are the two categories that make up the wellness continuum?

Premature mortality is at the extreme of the illness spectrum, and high level wellness is at the end of the wellness spectrum.

What are the six dimensions of wellness?

Emotional Wellness, Occupational Wellness, Physical Wellness, Social Wellness, Intellectual Wellness, and Spiritual Wellness are the 6 dimensions.

Is there such a thing as a health-illness continuum?

The health illness, illness-wellness, and health continuum are all terms used to describe the wellness continuum. All of these words are used to describe the same thing.

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Chapter 8: Positivity-Focused

Positive thinking: Stop negative self-talk to reduce stress

Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health.

Do you see your glass as half-full or half-empty? How you respond to this age-old question about positive thinking may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude toward yourself, and whether you’re optimistic or pessimistic — and it could even have an impact on your health.

Indeed, some research suggests that personality qualities like optimism and pessimism might have an impact on a variety of aspects of your health and well-being. Positive thinking, which is often associated with optimism, is an important component of good stress management. And effective stress management is linked to a slew of health advantages. Don’t worry if you’re a pessimist; positive thinking abilities may be learned.

Understanding positive thinking and self-talk

Positive thinking does not imply that you disregard the unpleasant aspects of life. Positive thinking simply means approaching unpleasant situations in a more positive and productive manner. You expect the best, not the worst, to happen.

Self-talk is a common starting point for positive thinking. The unending stream of unsaid thoughts that go through your head is known as self-talk. These thoughts might be either pleasant or negative. Logic and reason play a role in some of your self-talk. Other self-talk may stem from misunderstandings you acquire as a result of a lack of facts or expectations based on previous notions about what might happen.

If the majority of your thoughts are negative, you are more likely to have a pessimistic attitude on life. If you think largely positively, you’re probably an optimist, or someone who believes in positive thinking.

The health benefits of positive thinking

The impacts of positive thinking and optimism on health are still being studied by researchers. Positive thinking may provide the following health benefits:

• Increased life span

• Lower rates of depression

• Lower levels of distress and pain

• Greater resistance to illnesses

• Better psychological and physical well-being

• Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease and stroke

• Reduced risk of death from cancer

• Reduced risk of death from respiratory conditions

• Reduced risk of death from infections

• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress

It’s unclear why those who practice positive thinking have such good health. According to one theory, having a positive mindset helps you cope better with stressful events, reducing the negative health impacts of stress on your body.

Positive and optimistic people are also regarded to have healthier lifestyles, as they engage in more physical exercise, eat a healthier diet, and don’t smoke or drink excessively.

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Chapter 9: Strengths-Based

The strengths-based approach is both a complement and a counterbalance to the deficit-based approach. And strengths-based development allows us to spend more time developing and stretching our strengths rather than hammering out our flaws and deficiencies.

What is strengths-based development and how does it vary from deficit development?

We have been swimming in a sea of negativity since birth. We are surrounded with guidance and diktats on how we should and shouldn’t behave from the moment we are born, based on others’ deeply held convictions about what is wrong and what is right.

We are also neurologically predisposed to focus on risk and danger considerably more than on pleasant stimuli, according to research. This combination creates the ideal environment for a negative internal conversation to emerge from a young age. This ‘inner critic,’ which we all have, will tell us that we need to improve, that we need to be stronger, faster, smarter, more, and different. Finally, our inner critic tells us that we are inadequate, that we aren’t good enough.

And because we’re so focused on avoiding the bad stuff, working on it, improving it, or running away or hiding from it, when we come across something positive in ourselves – a quality, skill, trait, or talent, something that we naturally find easy or that we’re good at – we often don’t notice it at all. As a result, we overlook the positive or downplay its significance. Our inner critic is continuously reminding us to concentrate on the far more significant issue of what isn’t good enough.

As a result, most of us greatly underbake the opportunity to focus on what we’re naturally good at – our strengths – to turn them from good to outstanding, to advance from competence to mastery, at school, at home, and at work. All because of the natural human negativity bias, which is exacerbated by negative external feedback. Bring on the strengths-based strategy, especially strengths-based development.

All elements of our lives — school, home, and work – resonate with strengths-based development. It signals a shift back to focusing on the good and improving in areas where we are naturally strong. This course manual will concentrate on strengths-based development, why it is important, and how we may devote more of our time to it.

Growth mindset’s critical significance in strengths-based development

If you have a growth mindset, you’re more likely to appreciate difficulties, despite the danger, because you value learning and growth more than any fears you might have about people thinking you’re incompetent. And, because you’re eager to try new things, you frequently don’t know what you’re doing, at least at first, but you don’t see this as a danger; rather, you see it as an opportunity to learn and improve at something you could appreciate.

Any fixed mindset worries and anxieties might be amplified with strengths-based learning and development since you’re moving into a space where you’re owning that you have strengths and that you’re choosing to work on them in order to become even better in those areas. The inner critic voices of fixed mindsetters may now be saying things like, ‘well, you’re setting yourself up to fail here, aren’t you?’, ‘you don’t want to come across as bigheaded or arrogant by declaring you’ve got all these strengths, do you?’, and so on.

As a result, you should be aware that working on enhancing and expanding your talents can cause discomfort and worry before things return to normal. Stick with the discomfort since it’s where you’ll learn the most and have the most fun.

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Chapter 10: Cognitive Biases

What Is Cognitive Bias?

Have you ever been so engrossed in your phone conversation that you miss the fact that the light has gone green and it is your turn to cross the street?

Have you ever exclaimed, “I knew it was going to happen!” after your favorite baseball team loses after blowing a big lead in the ninth inning?

Have you ever found yourself just reading news reports that bolster your own point of view?

These are only a handful of the many examples of cognitive bias that we encounter on a daily basis. But, before we get into these various biases, let’s take a step back and clarify what bias is.

A cognitive bias is a mental error that causes you to misinterpret information from the environment, affecting the logic and correctness of your decisions and judgments. Biases are unconscious, automatic processes that speed up and improve the efficiency of decision-making. Heuristics (mental shortcuts), societal pressures, and emotions, for example, can all contribute to cognitive biases.

Bias is a tendency to favor or oppose a person, group, concept, or item, usually in an unjust way. Biases are natural — they’re a part of our makeup — and they don’t only live in our heads; they have an impact on how we make decisions and act.

Biases are divided into two categories in psychology: conscious and unconscious biases. You are aware of your attitudes and the behaviors that emerge from them when you have conscious bias, also known as explicit bias.

Explicit bias can be beneficial since it gives you a feeling of self and helps you make smart judgments (for example, being biased towards healthy foods).

However, when these biases manifest themselves as conscious stereotyping, they can be extremely hazardous.

Unconscious bias, also known as cognitive bias, refers to a set of unintentional biases in which you are unaware of your attitudes and the behaviors that emerge from them.

We get around 11 million bits of information each second, but we can only analyze about 40 bits per second, thus cognitive bias is often the product of your brain’s attempt to simplify information processing.

As a result, we frequently rely on mental shortcuts (also known as heuristics) to help us make sense of the world quickly. As a result, these errors are frequently caused by issues with thinking, such as memory, attention, and other mental errors.

Unconscious biases, like conscious prejudices, can be useful because they don’t involve much mental effort and allow you to make decisions fast. However, much like conscious biases, unconscious biases can also be destructive prejudice that harms an individual or a group.

And, while it may appear that unconscious bias has recently increased, particularly in the context of police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement, this is not a new phenomena.

The History of Cognitive Bias: A Crash Course

Israeli psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman created the term “cognitive bias” in the 1970s to explain people’s erroneous habits of thinking in response to judgment and decision issues.

The heuristics and biases study program of Tversky and Kahneman looked into how people make decisions with limited resources (for example, limited time to decide which food to eat or limited information to decide which house to buy).

People are compelled to rely on heuristics, or rapid mental shortcuts, to help them make judgments as a result of their limited resources.

Tversky and Kahneman sought to know more about the unique biases that come with this type of assessment and decision-making.

To do so, the two researchers used a research paradigm in which participants were given with a reasoning issue with a computed normative response (they used probability theory and statistics to compute the expected answer).

The actual responses of the participants were then compared to the prepared solution to uncover the consistent mental aberrations.

The researchers were able to detect several norm breaches that occur when our minds rely on these cognitive biases to make decisions and judgements after conducting several tests involving a large number of reasoning issues.

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Chapter 11: Limiting Beliefs

If you go back to your earliest childhood recollections, you’re sure to recall times when you were fearless, when your curiosity led you to places you’d never dare to go now.

As you grew older, though, you were bombarded with a never-ending litany of rules about what you should say, how you should act, and what you should do. As a result, you’ve probably developed limiting beliefs and may not have reached your full potential.

While you must follow some standards, it is critical that you do not limit yourself from living a complete life.

This course manual will show you how to recognize and overcome your limiting beliefs.

What Are Limiting Beliefs?

Have you ever said something to the effect of “I’m not good at arithmetic” or “I have two left feet and could never be a decent dancer”? These are examples of limiting beliefs that trap you in a box you created for yourself and often define you incorrectly.

A limiting belief is a state of mind, conviction, or belief that you hold to be true and that you believe to be true, but that confines you in some way. This limiting idea could be about yourself, your interactions with others, or the world and how it functions.

Limiting beliefs can have a variety of harmful consequences. They may prevent you from making good decisions, taking new chances, or realizing your full potential. Limiting beliefs can keep you caught in a negative mindset and prevent you from enjoying the life you really want.

Causes of Limiting Beliefs

Do you know what generates limiting beliefs now that you know what they are? What are their origins, and how have they influenced your life choices?

Some claim that individuals aren’t wired to be open-minded since our biases lead us to seek out only good and agreeable information.

Aside from inherent biases and an incapacity to be open-minded, there are other factors that contribute to restricting views. You’ll find a handful that may strike a chord with you below.

Family Beliefs

Your parents most certainly tried to instill principles and ideals in you as a child. These were frequently based on their own family’s views and ideals about how you and the world should be. It could be things like choosing a job route, how to act, and how to interact with others.

Based on the views they established in you, you may develop your own limiting beliefs. Your parents, for example, may instill in you the attitude that authority should never be questioned.

As a result, you may assume that unjust treatment from persons in positions of authority must be accepted rather than contested. It’s possible that you won’t be able to notice this conduct.

Education

Education also has a significant impact in the formation of limiting beliefs. Whether you learn from your parents, school, or friends, they all have an influence on what you believe to be true. This is due to the fact that they are both in positions of power and are constantly exchanging information, ideas, and views about how the world works.

When you’re learning from someone you respect, you’re more likely to believe what they’re telling you is true.

Experiences

It is typical for people to draw conclusions after making decisions or having life experiences. If you fell in love and it ends in heartbreak, for example, you might assume that love is always painful.

Negative events, in particular, can have a significant impact on your limiting beliefs. It’s critical to remember that the conclusions you reach following terrible situations are only relevant for a limited time.

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Chapter 12: Leadership: Process Feedback

The Importance of Feedback

Any leader’s skill set must include the ability to give and receive feedback. This is a talent that project managers, team leaders, teachers, and coaches develop over the course of their careers. It is critical to not only give but also receive feedback in order to effectively share knowledge within teams and organizations. Let’s take a closer look at its worth and see how we can improve our ability to deliver it.

Constructive feedback is a powerful tool for fostering a positive work atmosphere, increasing productivity and engagement, and improving performance. It has a favorable impact on communication, team member engagement, and teamwork outcomes in a variety of industries. This is how it works for various processes:

• The importance of feedback in the workplace is hard to overestimate: sharing information on what can and needs to be improved helps optimize the work process and get things done in less time.

• Feedback is extremely beneficial to leadership and communication because it clarifies the image and enhances transparency.

• Feedback is critical in education and learning since it aids in the faster adoption of new information and the avoidance of common errors.

• The same can be said for feedback in sports and coaching: it aids in the development of new skills and the attainment of improved results.

Constructive criticism in the workplace is critical: for a company to succeed and thrive, it must have effective communication. Feedback not only boosts employee morale, but it also teaches us more about ourselves, our strengths and shortcomings, our behaviors, and how our actions effect others. It also improves our self-awareness and promotes personal growth.

It is not always necessary for feedback to be positive. Negative criticism identifies areas where we need to improve, allowing us to improve our job in the long term. However, it is critical that you provide feedback in a skillful and productive manner; otherwise, there would be no basis for progress.

It goes without saying that providing good, constructive feedback is challenging, so I’ll explain how to do it and what the key advantages are. This course manual will also provide you with some examples of constructive feedback words to utilize at work.

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Curriculum

Cultivating Potential – Workshop 2 – Growth Foundation

1. Growth Mindset
2. Intention Sets the Course
3. Three-Part Brain
4. Basic Human Needs
5. Self-Esteem & Self-Efficacy
6. PERMA Model of Human Flourishing
7. Illness/Wellness Continuum
8. Positivity-Focused
9. Strengths-Based
10. Cognitive Biases
11. Limiting Beliefs
12. Leadership: Process Feedback

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Distance Learning

Introduction

Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Cultivating Potential corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.

Study environment

You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.

Study tools & rules

Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.

Successful distance-learning

Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.

Self-assessment

Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.

Accepting responsibility as a student

Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.

Planning

By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.

Management

Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.

Study objectives & tasks

The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.

Study forecast

As a guide, the Appleton Greene Cultivating Potential corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiations are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.

Performance management

It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.

With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.

With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to task planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your task expectations. You need to be consistent with your task management, otherwise you will never know whether you are achieving your program objectives or not.

Keeping in touch

You will have access to qualified and experienced professors and tutors who are responsible for providing tutorial support for your particular training program. So don’t be shy about letting them know how you are getting on. We keep electronic records of all tutorial support emails so that professors and tutors can review previous correspondence before considering an individual response. It also means that there is a record of all communications between you and your professors and tutors and this helps to avoid any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. If you have a problem relating to the program, share it with them via email. It is likely that they have come across the same problem before and are usually able to make helpful suggestions and steer you in the right direction. To learn more about when and how to use tutorial support, please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide. This will help you to ensure that you are making the most of tutorial support that is available to you and will ultimately contribute towards your success and enjoyment with your training program.

Work colleagues and family

You should certainly discuss your program study progress with your colleagues, friends and your family. Appleton Greene training programs are very practical. They require you to seek information from other people, to plan, develop and implement processes with other people and to achieve feedback from other people in relation to viability and productivity. You will therefore have plenty of opportunities to test your ideas and enlist the views of others. People tend to be sympathetic towards distance-learners, so don’t bottle it all up in yourself. Get out there and share it! It is also likely that your family and colleagues are going to benefit from your labors with the program, so they are likely to be much more interested in being involved than you might think. Be bold about delegating work to those who might benefit themselves. This is a great way to achieve understanding and commitment from people who you may later rely upon for process implementation. Share your experiences with your friends and family.

Making it relevant

The key to successful learning is to make it relevant to your own individual circumstances. At all times you should be trying to make bridges between the content of the program and your own situation. Whether you achieve this through quiet reflection or through interactive discussion with your colleagues, client partners or your family, remember that it is the most important and rewarding aspect of translating your studies into real self-improvement. You should be clear about how you want the program to benefit you. This involves setting clear study objectives in relation to the content of the course in terms of understanding, concepts, completing research or reviewing activities and relating the content of the modules to your own situation. Your objectives may understandably change as you work through the program, in which case you should enter the revised objectives on your study plan so that you have a permanent reminder of what you are trying to achieve, when and why.

Distance-learning check-list

Prepare your study environment, your study tools and rules.
Undertake detailed self-assessment in terms of your ability as a learner.
Create a format for your study plan.
Consider your study objectives and tasks.
Create a study forecast.
Assess your study performance.
Re-evaluate your study forecast.
Be consistent when managing your study plan.
Use your Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) for tutorial support.
Make sure you keep in touch with those around you.

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Tutorial Support

Programs

Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.

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Support available

You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and an Accredited Consultant and we encourage you to communicate with them as much as possible. In all cases tutorial support is provided online because we can then keep a record of all communications to ensure that tutorial support remains consistent. You would also be forwarding your work to the tutorial support unit for evaluation and assessment. You will receive individual feedback on all of the work that you undertake on a one-to-one basis, together with specific recommendations for anything that may need to be changed in order to achieve a pass with merit or a pass with distinction and you then have as many opportunities as you may need to re-submit project studies until they meet with the required standard. Consequently the only reason that you should really fail (CLP) is if you do not do the work. It makes no difference to us whether a student takes 12 months or 18 months to complete the program, what matters is that in all cases the same quality standard will have been achieved.

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Support Process

Please forward all of your future emails to the designated (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit email address that has been provided and please do not duplicate or copy your emails to other AGC email accounts as this will just cause unnecessary administration. Please note that emails are always answered as quickly as possible but you will need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general tutorial support emails during busy periods, because emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. You will also need to allow a period of up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Please therefore kindly allow for this within your time planning. All communications are managed online via email because it enables tutorial service support managers to review other communications which have been received before responding and it ensures that there is a copy of all communications retained on file for future reference. All communications will be stored within your personal (CLP) study file here at Appleton Greene throughout your designated study period. If you need any assistance or clarification at any time, please do not hesitate to contact us by forwarding an email and remember that we are here to help. If you have any questions, please list and number your questions succinctly and you can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each and every query.

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Time Management

It takes approximately 1 Year to complete the Cultivating Potential corporate training program, incorporating 12 x 6-hour monthly workshops. Each student will also need to contribute approximately 4 hours per week over 1 Year of their personal time. Students can study from home or work at their own pace and are responsible for managing their own study plan. There are no formal examinations and students are evaluated and assessed based upon their project study submissions, together with the quality of their internal analysis and supporting documents. They can contribute more time towards study when they have the time to do so and can contribute less time when they are busy. All students tend to be in full time employment while studying and the Cultivating Potential program is purposely designed to accommodate this, so there is plenty of flexibility in terms of time management. It makes no difference to us at Appleton Greene, whether individuals take 12-18 months to complete this program. What matters is that in all cases the same standard of quality will have been achieved with the standard and bespoke programs that have been developed.

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Distance Learning Guide

The distance learning guide should be your first port of call when starting your training program. It will help you when you are planning how and when to study, how to create the right environment and how to establish the right frame of mind. If you can lay the foundations properly during the planning stage, then it will contribute to your enjoyment and productivity while training later. The guide helps to change your lifestyle in order to accommodate time for study and to cultivate good study habits. It helps you to chart your progress so that you can measure your performance and achieve your goals. It explains the tools that you will need for study and how to make them work. It also explains how to translate academic theory into practical reality. Spend some time now working through your distance learning guide and make sure that you have firm foundations in place so that you can make the most of your distance learning program. There is no requirement for you to attend training workshops or classes at Appleton Greene offices. The entire program is undertaken online, program course manuals and project studies are administered via the Appleton Greene web site and via email, so you are able to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office as long as you have a computer and access to the internet.

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How To Study

The how to study guide provides students with a clear understanding of the Appleton Greene facilitation via distance learning training methods and enables students to obtain a clear overview of the training program content. It enables students to understand the step-by-step training methods used by Appleton Greene and how course manuals are integrated with project studies. It explains the research and development that is required and the need to provide evidence and references to support your statements. It also enables students to understand precisely what will be required of them in order to achieve a pass with merit and a pass with distinction for individual project studies and provides useful guidance on how to be innovative and creative when developing your Unique Program Proposition (UPP).

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Tutorial Support

Tutorial support for the Appleton Greene Cultivating Potential corporate training program is provided online either through the Appleton Greene Client Support Portal (CSP), or via email. All tutorial support requests are facilitated by a designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). They are responsible for deciding which professor or tutor is the most appropriate option relating to the support required and then the tutorial support request is forwarded onto them. Once the professor or tutor has completed the tutorial support request and answered any questions that have been asked, this communication is then returned to the student via email by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). This enables all tutorial support, between students, professors and tutors, to be facilitated by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM) efficiently and securely through the email account. You will therefore need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general support queries and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because all tutorial support requests are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Consequently you need to put some thought into the management of your tutorial support procedure in order to ensure that your study plan is feasible and to obtain the maximum possible benefit from tutorial support during your period of study. Please retain copies of your tutorial support emails for future reference. Please ensure that ALL of your tutorial support emails are set out using the format as suggested within your guide to tutorial support. Your tutorial support emails need to be referenced clearly to the specific part of the course manual or project study which you are working on at any given time. You also need to list and number any questions that you would like to ask, up to a maximum of five questions within each tutorial support email. Remember the more specific you can be with your questions the more specific your answers will be too and this will help you to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or duplication. The guide to tutorial support is intended to help you to understand how and when to use support in order to ensure that you get the most out of your training program. Appleton Greene training programs are designed to enable you to do things for yourself. They provide you with a structure or a framework and we use tutorial support to facilitate students while they practically implement what they learn. In other words, we are enabling students to do things for themselves. The benefits of distance learning via facilitation are considerable and are much more sustainable in the long-term than traditional short-term knowledge sharing programs. Consequently you should learn how and when to use tutorial support so that you can maximize the benefits from your learning experience with Appleton Greene. This guide describes the purpose of each training function and how to use them and how to use tutorial support in relation to each aspect of the training program. It also provides useful tips and guidance with regard to best practice.

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Tutorial Support Tips

Students are often unsure about how and when to use tutorial support with Appleton Greene. This Tip List will help you to understand more about how to achieve the most from using tutorial support. Refer to it regularly to ensure that you are continuing to use the service properly. Tutorial support is critical to the success of your training experience, but it is important to understand when and how to use it in order to maximize the benefit that you receive. It is no coincidence that those students who succeed are those that learn how to be positive, proactive and productive when using tutorial support.

Be positive and friendly with your tutorial support emails

Remember that if you forward an email to the tutorial support unit, you are dealing with real people. “Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you”. If you are positive, complimentary and generally friendly in your emails, you will generate a similar response in return. This will be more enjoyable, productive and rewarding for you in the long-term.

Think about the impression that you want to create

Every time that you communicate, you create an impression, which can be either positive or negative, so put some thought into the impression that you want to create. Remember that copies of all tutorial support emails are stored electronically and tutors will always refer to prior correspondence before responding to any current emails. Over a period of time, a general opinion will be arrived at in relation to your character, attitude and ability. Try to manage your own frustrations, mood swings and temperament professionally, without involving the tutorial support team. Demonstrating frustration or a lack of patience is a weakness and will be interpreted as such. The good thing about communicating in writing, is that you will have the time to consider your content carefully, you can review it and proof-read it before sending your email to Appleton Greene and this should help you to communicate more professionally, consistently and to avoid any unnecessary knee-jerk reactions to individual situations as and when they may arise. Please also remember that the CLP Tutorial Support Unit will not just be responsible for evaluating and assessing the quality of your work, they will also be responsible for providing recommendations to other learning providers and to client contacts within the Appleton Greene global client network, so do be in control of your own emotions and try to create a good impression.

Remember that quality is preferred to quantity

Please remember that when you send an email to the tutorial support team, you are not using Twitter or Text Messaging. Try not to forward an email every time that you have a thought. This will not prove to be productive either for you or for the tutorial support team. Take time to prepare your communications properly, as if you were writing a professional letter to a business colleague and make a list of queries that you are likely to have and then incorporate them within one email, say once every month, so that the tutorial support team can understand more about context, application and your methodology for study. Get yourself into a consistent routine with your tutorial support requests and use the tutorial support template provided with ALL of your emails. The (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit will not spoon-feed you with information. They need to be able to evaluate and assess your tutorial support requests carefully and professionally.

Be specific about your questions in order to receive specific answers

Try not to write essays by thinking as you are writing tutorial support emails. The tutorial support unit can be unclear about what in fact you are asking, or what you are looking to achieve. Be specific about asking questions that you want answers to. Number your questions. You will then receive specific answers to each and every question. This is the main purpose of tutorial support via email.

Keep a record of your tutorial support emails

It is important that you keep a record of all tutorial support emails that are forwarded to you. You can then refer to them when necessary and it avoids any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.

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Individual training workshops or telephone support

Please be advised that Appleton Greene does not provide separate or individual tutorial support meetings, workshops, or provide telephone support for individual students. Appleton Greene is an equal opportunities learning and service provider and we are therefore understandably bound to treat all students equally. We cannot therefore broker special financial or study arrangements with individual students regardless of the circumstances. All tutorial support is provided online and this enables Appleton Greene to keep a record of all communications between students, professors and tutors on file for future reference, in accordance with our quality management procedure and your terms and conditions of enrolment. All tutorial support is provided online via email because it enables us to have time to consider support content carefully, it ensures that you receive a considered and detailed response to your queries. You can number questions that you would like to ask, which relate to things that you do not understand or where clarification may be required. You can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each individual query. You will also then have a record of these communications and of all tutorial support, which has been provided to you. This makes tutorial support administration more productive by avoiding any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.

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Tutorial Support Email Format

You should use this tutorial support format if you need to request clarification or assistance while studying with your training program. Please note that ALL of your tutorial support request emails should use the same format. You should therefore set up a standard email template, which you can then use as and when you need to. Emails that are forwarded to Appleton Greene, which do not use the following format, may be rejected and returned to you by the (CLP) Program Administration Manager. A detailed response will then be forwarded to you via email usually within 20 business days of receipt for general support queries and 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Your tutorial support request, together with the corresponding TSU reply, will then be saved and stored within your electronic TSU file at Appleton Greene for future reference.

Subject line of your email

Please insert: Appleton Greene (CLP) Tutorial Support Request: (Your Full Name) (Date), within the subject line of your email.

Main body of your email

Please insert:
1. Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) Tutorial Support Request
2. Your Full Name
3. Date of TS request
4. Preferred email address
5. Backup email address
6. Course manual page name or number (reference)
7. Project study page name or number (reference)

Subject of enquiry
Please insert a maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Briefly outline the subject matter of your inquiry, or what your questions relate to.

Question 1

Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)

Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)

Question 3

Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)

Question 4

Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)

Question 5

Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)

Please note that a maximum of 5 questions is permitted with each individual tutorial support request email.

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Procedure

* List the questions that you want to ask first, then re-arrange them in order of priority. Make sure that you reference them, where necessary, to the course manuals or project studies.
* Make sure that you are specific about your questions and number them. Try to plan the content within your emails to make sure that it is relevant.
* Make sure that your tutorial support emails are set out correctly, using the Tutorial Support Email Format provided here.
* Save a copy of your email and incorporate the date sent after the subject title. Keep your tutorial support emails within the same file and in date order for easy reference.
* Allow up to 20 business days for a response to general tutorial support emails and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because detailed individual responses will be made in all cases and tutorial support emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received.
* Emails can and do get lost. So if you have not received a reply within the appropriate time, forward another copy or a reminder to the tutorial support unit to be sure that it has been received but do not forward reminders unless the appropriate time has elapsed.
* When you receive a reply, save it immediately featuring the date of receipt after the subject heading for easy reference. In most cases the tutorial support unit replies to your questions individually, so you will have a record of the questions that you asked as well as the answers offered. With project studies however, separate emails are usually forwarded by the tutorial support unit, so do keep a record of your own original emails as well.
* Remember to be positive and friendly in your emails. You are dealing with real people who will respond to the same things that you respond to.
* Try not to repeat questions that have already been asked in previous emails. If this happens the tutorial support unit will probably just refer you to the appropriate answers that have already been provided within previous emails.
* If you lose your tutorial support email records you can write to Appleton Greene to receive a copy of your tutorial support file, but a separate administration charge may be levied for this service.

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How To Study

Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can help you to plan a task list for getting started so that you can be clear about your direction and your priorities in relation to your training program. It is also a good way to introduce yourself to the tutorial support team.

Planning your study environment

Your study conditions are of great importance and will have a direct effect on how much you enjoy your training program. Consider how much space you will have, whether it is comfortable and private and whether you are likely to be disturbed. The study tools and facilities at your disposal are also important to the success of your distance-learning experience. Your tutorial support unit can help with useful tips and guidance, regardless of your starting position. It is important to get this right before you start working on your training program.

Planning your program objectives

It is important that you have a clear list of study objectives, in order of priority, before you start working on your training program. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance here to ensure that your study objectives have been afforded due consideration and priority.

Planning how and when to study

Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. This approach is designed to let you study efficiently away from the traditional classroom environment. It is important however, that you plan how and when to study, so that you are making the most of your natural attributes, strengths and opportunities. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance and useful tips to ensure that you are playing to your strengths.

Planning your study tasks

You should have a clear understanding of the study tasks that you should be undertaking and the priority associated with each task. These tasks should also be integrated with your program objectives. The distance learning guide and the guide to tutorial support for students should help you here, but if you need any clarification or assistance, please contact your tutorial support unit.

Planning your time

You will need to allocate specific times during your calendar when you intend to study if you are to have a realistic chance of completing your program on time. You are responsible for planning and managing your own study time, so it is important that you are successful with this. Your tutorial support unit can help you with this if your time plan is not working.

Keeping in touch

Consistency is the key here. If you communicate too frequently in short bursts, or too infrequently with no pattern, then your management ability with your studies will be questioned, both by you and by your tutorial support unit. It is obvious when a student is in control and when one is not and this will depend how able you are at sticking with your study plan. Inconsistency invariably leads to in-completion.

Charting your progress

Your tutorial support team can help you to chart your own study progress. Refer to your distance learning guide for further details.

Making it work

To succeed, all that you will need to do is apply yourself to undertaking your training program and interpreting it correctly. Success or failure lies in your hands and your hands alone, so be sure that you have a strategy for making it work. Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can guide you through the process of program planning, development and implementation.

Reading methods

Interpretation is often unique to the individual but it can be improved and even quantified by implementing consistent interpretation methods. Interpretation can be affected by outside interference such as family members, TV, or the Internet, or simply by other thoughts which are demanding priority in our minds. One thing that can improve our productivity is using recognized reading methods. This helps us to focus and to be more structured when reading information for reasons of importance, rather than relaxation.

Speed reading

When reading through course manuals for the first time, subconsciously set your reading speed to be just fast enough that you cannot dwell on individual words or tables. With practice, you should be able to read an A4 sheet of paper in one minute. You will not achieve much in the way of a detailed understanding, but your brain will retain a useful overview. This overview will be important later on and will enable you to keep individual issues in perspective with a more generic picture because speed reading appeals to the memory part of the brain. Do not worry about what you do or do not remember at this stage.

Content reading

Once you have speed read everything, you can then start work in earnest. You now need to read a particular section of your course manual thoroughly, by making detailed notes while you read. This process is called Content Reading and it will help to consolidate your understanding and interpretation of the information that has been provided.

Making structured notes on the course manuals

When you are content reading, you should be making detailed notes, which are both structured and informative. Make these notes in a MS Word document on your computer, because you can then amend and update these as and when you deem it to be necessary. List your notes under three headings: 1. Interpretation – 2. Questions – 3. Tasks. The purpose of the 1st section is to clarify your interpretation by writing it down. The purpose of the 2nd section is to list any questions that the issue raises for you. The purpose of the 3rd section is to list any tasks that you should undertake as a result. Anyone who has graduated with a business-related degree should already be familiar with this process.

Organizing structured notes separately

You should then transfer your notes to a separate study notebook, preferably one that enables easy referencing, such as a MS Word Document, a MS Excel Spreadsheet, a MS Access Database, or a personal organizer on your cell phone. Transferring your notes allows you to have the opportunity of cross-checking and verifying them, which assists considerably with understanding and interpretation. You will also find that the better you are at doing this, the more chance you will have of ensuring that you achieve your study objectives.

Question your understanding

Do challenge your understanding. Explain things to yourself in your own words by writing things down.

Clarifying your understanding

If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your understanding.

Question your interpretation

Do challenge your interpretation. Qualify your interpretation by writing it down.

Clarifying your interpretation

If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your interpretation.

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Qualification Requirements

The student will need to successfully complete the project study and all of the exercises relating to the Cultivating Potential corporate training program, achieving a pass with merit or distinction in each case, in order to qualify as an Accredited Cultivating Potential Specialist (ACPS). All monthly workshops need to be tried and tested within your company. These project studies can be completed in your own time and at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office. There are no formal examinations, assessment is based upon the successful completion of the project studies. They are called project studies because, unlike case studies, these projects are not theoretical, they incorporate real program processes that need to be properly researched and developed. The project studies assist us in measuring your understanding and interpretation of the training program and enable us to assess qualification merits. All of the project studies are based entirely upon the content within the training program and they enable you to integrate what you have learnt into your corporate training practice.

Cultivating Potential – Grading Contribution

Project Study – Grading Contribution

Customer Service – 10%
E-business – 05%
Finance – 10%
Globalization – 10%
Human Resources – 10%
Information Technology – 10%
Legal – 05%
Management – 10%
Marketing – 10%
Production – 10%
Education – 05%
Logistics – 05%
TOTAL GRADING – 100%

Qualification grades

A mark of 90% = Pass with Distinction.
A mark of 75% = Pass with Merit.
A mark of less than 75% = Fail.
If you fail to achieve a mark of 75% with a project study, you will receive detailed feedback from the Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and/or Accredited Consultant, together with a list of tasks which you will need to complete, in order to ensure that your project study meets with the minimum quality standard that is required by Appleton Greene. You can then re-submit your project study for further evaluation and assessment. Indeed you can re-submit as many drafts of your project studies as you need to, until such a time as they eventually meet with the required standard by Appleton Greene, so you need not worry about this, it is all part of the learning process.

When marking project studies, Appleton Greene is looking for sufficient evidence of the following:

Pass with merit

A satisfactory level of program understanding
A satisfactory level of program interpretation
A satisfactory level of project study content presentation
A satisfactory level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
A satisfactory level of the practical integration of academic theory

Pass with distinction

An exceptional level of program understanding
An exceptional level of program interpretation
An exceptional level of project study content presentation
An exceptional level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
An exceptional level of the practical integration of academic theory

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Preliminary Analysis

Research Article

The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation

By Brain Sciences, Published online 2018 Jan 26.

“Abstract

Our actions can be triggered by intentions, incentives or intrinsic values. Recent neuroscientific research has yielded some results about the growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. With the advances in neuroscience and motivational studies, there is a global need to utilize this information to inform educational practice and research. Yet, little is known about the neuroscientific interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. This paper attempts to draw on the theories of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation, together with contemporary ideas in neuroscience, outline the potential for neuroscientific research in education. It aims to shed light on the relationship between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation in terms of supporting a growth mindset to facilitate intrinsic motivation through neural responses. Recent empirical research from the educational neuroscience perspective that provides insights into the interplay between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation will also be discussed.

1. Introduction

With an emphasis on inquiry and scientific skills, students are encouraged to discover, produce and evaluate knowledge, using inquiry and scientific skills [1]. Such inquiry learning should be structured in a way that student learning is facilitated, while encouraging students to plan and conduct their own investigation. An autonomy-supportive environment facilitates autonomous learning, and fosters self-determined motivation in students [2]. Students learn to synthesize contradictory perspectives and rise to intellectual meta-levels of thinking, which is a crucial trait for the 21st-century operating environment [3]. As such, it is fundamental to nurture the young generation in becoming adaptive, self-regulated and self-determined.

In the 21st century, there has been a strong proliferation of research on growth mindset and intrinsic motivation in learning. The constructs of mindset and motivation have been important foci among educators seeking to positively impact student learning and outcomes. The underlying mechanism for students to have their own agency in finding out new knowledge is intrinsic motivation. However, much of this research has relied on quantitative approaches for assessing students’ self-reports on motivational regulations and learning outcomes [4,5]. Some of these quantitative findings are used to generalize across school settings. Although the multiple facets of student motivation and learning have been identified in quantitative analyses, they have not provided a detailed understanding of students’ motivational processes. Neuroscience methods may offer new insights regarding students’ motivation and learning processes.

Most neuroscience studies have focused on research related to cognitive functions, such as attention, memory and decision-making. In addition to these cognitive studies, there is also the implicit nature of mindsets that lead to the malleability of self-attributes (e.g., intelligence) [6]. Subtle feedback and messages related to growth mindset can have noticeable effects on students’ attitudes and motivation that may transfer to long-term outcomes. Likewise, human motivation is important, as it is one’s intrinsic desire to learn and obtain information. Growth mindset is the belief that intelligence can be nurtured through learning and effort, while intrinsic motivation is the volition to engage in a task for inherent satisfaction. Individuals with growth mindset believe that motivation can be nurtured, and that extrinsic motivation can be internalized (i.e., from extrinsic regulation to integrated regulation that is similar to intrinsically motivated behavior). In an integrative view, growth mindset and intrinsic motivation are important and interrelated, thus raising fundamental questions about the neural mechanisms of mindset-motivation interaction. The links among growth mindset, brain and motivation are important to academic performance. Therefore, it is important to draw on neuroscientific findings to show the way the brain is motivated, and how it learns by changing mindset (i.e., from a fixed to a growth mindset). Such intervention studies are still not common, and there is potential in these research areas.

This paper reviews the theoretical frameworks of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation, and how they are linked to neuroscientific evidence. It also reviews a number of recent neuroscience studies related to growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. It is important to survey the progress of neuroscience research on growth mindset and intrinsic motivation, as understanding the neural substrates will provide insights into human motivation and drive. Neuroscience research has the potential to support and refine models of motivation and cognitive skill. It may play a pivotal role in developing classroom interventions and understanding non-cognitive skills (e.g., mindset). Knowing the key brain regions that are associated with growth mindset and intrinsic motivation, researchers and practitioners could work together to investigate the granular processes of motivation in relation to growth mindset.

Most empirical research on growth mindset and intrinsic motivation has focused on behavioral methods and self-reports of experiences. There is little information about the internal processes of motivation at a higher level of resolution. It is, therefore, relevant and timely to examine the existing literature and empirical research that is associated with intrinsic motivation. Neuroscientific evidence has the potential to uncover new insights and refine the conceptual ideas of intrinsic motivation by articulating the granular processes of motivation that behavioral methods alone cannot afford. This paper offers recommendations for potential neuroscience research in studying growth mindset and intrinsic motivation.

2. Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is defined as a belief that construes intelligence as malleable and improvable [6]. Students with growth mindset are likely to learn by a mastery approach, embrace challenges and put in effort to learn. For instance, growth-minded individuals perceive task setbacks as a necessary part of the learning process and they “bounce back” by increasing their motivational effort [7,8]. One recent study on elementary students showed that leveraging an online educational game (the BrainPOP website) with in-game rewards can promote a growth mindset by directly incentivizing effort and encouraging persistence in low performing students [7]. Learners with growth mindset tend to embrace lifelong learning and the joy of incremental personal growth. In addition, they do not see their intelligence or personality as fixed traits. They will mobilize their learning resources without being defeated by the threat of failure. This paper aims to provide some insights into the cultivation of resilience and mastery in university students, preparing them to overcome challenges in the real working world.

Empirical studies have revealed that growth mindset has positive effects on student motivation and academic performance [9,10]. Recent research has also shown that mindset is related to student outcomes and behaviors including academic achievement, engagement, and willingness to attempt new challenges [11,12]. Numerous studies have shown the effects of growth mindset interventions on students’ achievement at all ages. According to Dweck [9], teaching growth mindset to junior high school students resulted in increased motivation and better academic achievement. Her findings revealed that students in the growth mindset intervention group outperformed those in the control group (who received excellent training in study skills), indicating improved learning and desire to work hard. The growth mindset intervention teaches students that intelligence is not a fixed quality [13]. Intelligence can be nurtured through challenging tasks, as intelligence grows with hard work on challenging problems. A growth mindset intervention was especially impactful with student outcomes in particular subjects such as science and mathematics [14].

An individual with a growth mindset works hard and improves without an incentive reward in mind as the outcome. The conceptualization of growth mindset is similar to that of intrinsic motivation. A learner with a growth mindset tends to self-regulate their own learning and has the propensity to cope with academic tasks. Hence, encouraging a growth mindset can improve the academic performance of college students [14,15] and middle school math students [9].

Most of the abovementioned empirical studies reported the utility of questionnaires or self-report measures. There is still limited neuroscientific research on the neural mechanism of growth mindset. It is, therefore, important to examine data from other means such as neuroscientific information about how the brain changes with experience of learning and how it is associated to growth mindset. The subsequent sections will discuss the neuroscientific evidence of growth mindset.”

To continue reading this research article, please visit: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Research Article

The effects of a growth mindset on self-efficacy and motivation

By Emily Rhew, Jody S. Piro, Pauline Goolkasian & Particia Cosentino, 06/11/2017

“ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a growth mindset intervention would improve adolescent special education students’ self-efficacy and motivation. The sample included sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students receiving learning disability services in the area of reading. The study was quasi-experimental in design which included both a comparison group and a treatment group. The treatment group received a growth mindset intervention called Brainology. The Reader Self-Perception Scale 2nd Edition and the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire were used to measure whether there were differences in the mean scores for self-efficacy and motivation in reading. Results suggested that a growth mindset intervention had a significant difference in the motivation, but not self-efficacy, of adolescent special education participants.

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a growth mindset intervention called Brainology would improve adolescent special education students’ self-efficacy and motivation. The sample included sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students receiving learning disability services in the area of reading in the United States. The treatment group received a growth mindset intervention called Brainology and the comparison group did not. Results suggested that a growth mindset intervention had a significant difference in the motivation, but not the self-efficacy, of adolescent special education participants.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress results and high-school dropout rates (Uline & Johnson, 2005) have suggested that some special education students experience low academic performance in the United States. For example, the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (2013) documented 78,653 students who identified as needing special education services who dropped out of school in the United States between 2010 and 2011. Identifying the causes of nonsuccess has been problematic because low academic performance among students with special needs is influenced by several different factors (Rumberger, 2001).

Students who repeatedly fail to achieve become fearful of new challenges and devastated by setbacks (Dweck, 1999, 2006). Finding alternative methods to improve self-efficacy and motivation while facilitating the academic success of special education students may decrease the dropout rate. Dweck’s (2006) research indicated that students’ beliefs in fixed intelligence might raise their concerns about aptitude while also increasing their anxiety when being challenged. As a result, those students attribute their failures to intelligence, which reinforced a defensive and helpless behavior, worsening their performance. Students with a fixed-intelligence mindset may feel threatened at the notion of their flaws being unmasked because they believe their flaws result in failures. Therefore, they might be unwilling to attempt challenging tasks (Dweck, 1999, 2006). A belief that intelligence was malleable and could improve with effort created a desire for learning, and obstacles were viewed as a natural part of learning (Dweck, 1999). Improving the mindset of special education students may have a positive, long-lasting impact on students’ learning and performance (Dweck, 2006).

Because of the rigorous expectations associated with the Common Core State Standards, shared standards adopted by many states in the United States, and high-stakes standardized assessments, all students are required to successfully master difficult concepts. Following the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, the gap widened between students who have reading difficulties and their peers. According to Burris and Aja (2014), students with disabilities of all nationalities, income levels, and backgrounds experienced plunging achievement scores in 2012. In fifth grade, 75% of students with disabilities scored “Below Standard” on the English Language Arts and Literacy Common Core tests. Tabassam and Granger (2002) found that students with disabilities scored drastically lower scores in academic self-efficacy than peers without a disability.

In educational contexts, success is often attributed to high capability and hard work, and failure is credited to low capability and lack of trying (Weiner, 1985). However, students with special needs frequently attributed their failure to internal causes (Bryan, 1986). Consequently, students with special needs may perceive that lack of success in school indicates an inability to succeed academically, or that it is proof that they did not exert enough effort to achieve. Though there is some research that examined the relationship between self-efficacy, motivation, and achievement following students receiving a growth mindset intervention (Saunders, 2013), there is limited research on how growth mindset interventions support adolescent special education students.

1. Related literature

1.1. Mindset

Dweck (1999) explored why certain students enjoyed learning, even though the work was difficult, while other students were anxious or unwilling to attempt tasks that appeared challenging. She developed a theory of mindset with a spectrum ranging from the fixed mindset to the growth mindset. The spectrum illustrated how people could have different mindsets—fixed or growth—toward varying areas within their lives. For example, students with a fixed mindset toward their ability to complete academic tasks may simultaneously experience a growth mindset toward their ability to play baseball. Students with a fixed mindset deem intelligence as a factor that cannot be changed (Dweck, 1999, 2006; Mueller & Dweck, 1998). Normally, students with a fixed mindset saw their failures, whether academic or not, as a reflection of their intelligence. Even more debilitating for students was the combination of exerting effort and still enduring failure; this blend left the fixed mindset students with no other excuse for their failure except perceived lack of intelligence (Dweck, 2006).

Students with a fixed mindset characteristically ignore constructive feedback and feel threatened by the success of their peers (Saunders, 2013). They may blame outside factors for their failure. For instance, if they failed a test, fixed mindset students might blame teachers by suggesting, “They did not teach us that,” or, “That was not on the study guide.” As a result, students with a fixed mindset tended to believe that their failure was not due to their lack of skill or determination, but rather the result of other people’s actions (Dweck, 2006).

Conversely, students with a growth mindset believed that intelligence was malleable and could change, and through their failures, they learned and grew. Belief in the importance of effort permitted students with a growth mindset to view failure as a motivator that drove them to continue learning (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Plaks & Stecher, 2007). Eventually, growth mindset students’ persistence and desire to persevere resulted in success (Dweck, 1999, 2006). Furthermore, students with a growth mindset used constructive feedback to improve and learned from the success of others (Saunders, 2013). Dweck (2006) found student improvement even when the feedback was negative. Students with a growth mindset did not blame outside factors for their failures, and they looked for ways to improve on the subsequent assessments. Boosting students’ self-esteem through praise did not improve students’ motivation and academic success. Feedback from teachers could “convey messages that affect students’ opinion of themselves, their motivation, and their achievement” (Dweck, 2006, p. 207). Furthermore, the praise might be interpreted as an indication that their teacher did not perceive that students were capable of accomplishing more (Dweck, 1999).

Hartmann (2013) suggested that special education students tended to possess a more fixed mindset compared to their typical peers. Students requiring special education assistance for a specific learning disability did not achieve with the same propensity as their typical peers (Frederickson, Simmonds, Evans, & Soulsby, 2007). These students were accustomed to receiving failing or otherwise unacceptable grades (Hartmann, 2013). When educators or parents instilled the idea that students were measured by their accomplishments, the students further surmised that they were measured by their failures and tended to focus on their performance rather than on knowledge acquisition (Hartmann, 2013).

1.2. Self-efficacy

Psychologist Albert Bandura (1986) described self-efficacy as a belief in one’s own ability to be successful in particular circumstances. Self-efficacy attitudes governed how prospects and hindrances were observed and affected not only people’s choices, but how much they were willing to strive and persist until they were successful (Bandura, 1997). An individual’s self-efficacy was built upon past successes, especially ones that challenged the individual and were overcome with abundant effort. Otherwise, failures easily shattered an individual’s sense of self-efficacy, especially if the individual only achieved accomplishments effortlessly (Bandura, 1995).

In addition, if individuals with a growth mindset observed others succeeding at a task, they perceived that they had the potential to be successful. When individuals with a fixed mindset observed others failing at a task or if individuals were given negative verbal feedback about their ability to achieve, these individuals put forth less effort or would not attempt the task at hand (Bandura, 1995).

Academic self-efficacy significantly affected students’ success at the secondary level and in higher-education coursework. “Self-efficacy beliefs have shown convergent validity in influencing such key indices of academic motivation as choice of activities, level of effort, persistence, and emotional reactions” (Zimmerman, 2000, p. 86). Therefore, students who had greater levels of academic self-efficacy were more likely to work harder to complete a challenging task. Students with high academic self-efficacy tended to be eager to participate in an activity, persevered through trials, and had fewer emotional frustrations or negative feelings when they were not successful than students who had lower academic self-efficacy (Zimmerman, 2000).

For students with special education needs, low self-efficacy could be a barrier to academic success. Past performance was considered the most powerful element in fostering self-efficacy. Subsequently, special education students who experienced repeated academic failures or difficulties were likely to have lower self-efficacy (Hampton, 1996). Special education students with low self-efficacy may be less willing to attempt a challenging task and to sustain effort (Hampton, 1996). This outcome may reinforce the poor perceptions that special education students maintained about their academic abilities.

Special education students may dedicate significantly more time and effort to achieve the same results as their typical peers. As a result, when students who have a learning disability observe that they must put in extra effort, they experienced a lowered sense of self-efficacy (Bergen, 2013). Having both low self-efficacy and a disability is a “dangerous dynamic” because it was essential for special education students to have increased perseverance to meet the same standards as their typical peers (Bergen, 2013, p. 1). Klassen (2007) studied special education students and found that, while adolescent special education students were highly confident in their performance in a specific academic domain, they were completely unaware that they were performing poorly. Klassen (2007) asserted that teachers could address this miscalibration of efficacy and low self-efficacy.

Self-efficacy was an essential component to students’ ability to complete daily classroom activities, perform well on standardized assessments, and succeed overall in school (Pajares & Schunk, 2001). “Compared with students who doubt their learning capabilities, those who feel efficacious for learning or performing a task participate more readily, work harder, persist longer when they encounter difficulties, and achieve at a higher level” (Pajares & Schunk, 2001, p. 2–3). Self-efficacy “makes a difference in how people feel, think and act” (Schwarzer, 2014, p. 1). For instance, low self-efficacy caused feelings of depression and anxiety as well as an overall feeling of helplessness (Schwarzer, 2014). Klassen, Krawchuk, and Rajani (2008) found that undergraduate students with lower self-efficacy had significantly lower GPAs and higher tendencies to procrastinate on daily academic work.

Students with more of a growth mindset characteristically had higher levels of self-efficacy than students with more of a fixed mindset (Dweck & Master, 2009). Furthermore, students with a growth mindset were usually willing to participate and persevere in a task and to put forth additional effort (Urdan & Turner, 2005). Thus, students with a growth mindset were likely to have had high academic self-efficacy and persisted through challenging tasks, resulting in academic achievement (Dweck, 2009). Encouragement or praise from others increased a student’s self-efficacy. When praise focused on effort, strategies, and overcoming obstacles, students learned to believe they could accomplish challenging tasks (Dweck, 2009). The manner in which educators discussed success, failure, and challenges with students had a strong effect on increasing self-efficacy (The Scientific Foundation for Mindset, 2015).”

To continue reading this research article, please visit: www.tandfonline.com

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Research Paper