30 days of growth mindset: day 23

I’ve lost count of the days since my reset. I think I’m up to day 23. That will do anyway.

I’ve been wondering what I can do to explore the growth mindset further before the end of the month. There are a couple of exercises in Carol Dweck’s book I had planned on doing but haven’t got around to yet, but I still have a whole week!

I’ve also been continuing learning a new skill apart from a few (um, most) days I missed when I was on holiday.

I might as well tell you what I’ve been doing, and that’s to learn a skill I have always believed I never had and never had any chance of developing. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I was never the arty one; that was the domain of Lil Sis. My maternal grandmother used to produce beautiful pictures of flowers and my father was a technical drafter in the military, and we have some of his drawings, which are really good.

Pevensey
Lil Sis and I took Dad’s drawing of Pevensey Castle in Sussex back to the original location

I gave up art after Grade 7. Looking back I remember it being difficult and me being no good at it, so I had no desire to pursue it. I could be mistaken because I recently found my school reports and my Grade 7 art teacher had given me the equivalent of an A and written:

“Straightlinesgirl is a talented student who has an instinctive sense of proportion and perspective. She has the ability to retain a clear visual image and is able to draw from memory.”

I was reading that thinking that whoever she was writing about there, it wasn’t me. Or else she wrote this about everyone.

I have started the exercises in the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain at least twice, and given up fairly early on each time. When I was thinking of things to do for this challenge I stumbled on a book I’d downloaded several years ago and never looked at. It’s called You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler.

20160722 Draw

30 days huh? Well that’s the length of my challenge. Try anything for 30 days right?

So I started. I’m now up to lesson 9, rather than lesson 23 because I wanted to spend enough time on each lesson to do it justice, rather than rush through each one in the 15-20 minutes I had to do it every morning.

It’s been an interesting process.

I’ve observed two things. First, drawing isn’t the big scary unknown thing I thought it was. Second I have seen myself want to give up on an exercise when it’s got a bit tricky. And I have battled myself on the lines that (1) I won’t learn if I don’t do it and (2) much as I want it to be perfect, it won’t be. I’ve been doing this for 23 days or thereabouts. My pictures won’t look like the ones in the book because I’m a beginner. I’m not Mr Kistler, so my pictures will have my nuances, not his.

So there you have it. Even if I don’t explore the concept of growth mindset any further, I’m applying it practically, which is, perhaps, a more valuable activity than getting stuck in my head would be.

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