2023 - Between Philosophy and Practice: Introducing Yoga
Learning to Fail: Grit and the Mindset it takes to succeed
1. Learning to Fail
GRIT AND THE MINDSET IT TAKES TO SUCCEED
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
2. PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
I have failed.
I’ve failed often.
I’ve failed badly.
But I’m still trying.
3. Unreasonable Standards
Anything short of perfection has
become failure
”All or nothing” thinking
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
4. PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
How often are any of us perfect?
Never.
5. “Maybe medicine just isn’t for me”
“I’m just not good at math”
“He was born to be a doctor”
“I should just quit while I’m ahead”
“I’m a failure” “I can’t do this”
“Everyone here is smarter than me”
“I hate biochemistry”
“I’ve never been good at essay writing”
“They’re so gifted”
“I’m giving up”
“The evaluations were biased”
“That class wasn’t fair”
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
“I’m not a good test taker”
“There isn’t enough time”
“I’m already behind”
“I don’t have the same background knowledge as my classmates”
“I was focused on other things”
“The test wasn’t representative of the material”
“I’m tired”
“This seems impossibly hard”
“I don’t understand it”
6. Grit
A non-cognitive trait based on an individual's
passion for a long-term goal, coupled with a
powerful motivation to achieve their respective
objective.
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
7. Grit
A non-cognitive trait based on an individual's
passion for a long-term goal, coupled with a
powerful motivation to achieve their respective
objective.
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
9. PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
Your view of
intelligence will
impact the way you
learn
10. Mindset
FIXED
INTELLIGENCE IS STATIC
Leads to a desire to look smart:
Avoid challenges
Give up easily
See effort as fruitless or worse
Ignore useful negative feedback
Feel threatened by the success of
others
GROWTH
INTELLIGENCE IS DEVELOPED
Leads to a desire to learn:
Embrace challenges
Persist in the face of setbacks
See effort as the path to mastery
Learn from criticism
Find inspiration in the success of
others
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11. PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
I’ll never get there
vs
I’m not there yet
12. Overcoming Failure
Willing to:
Try new study methods
Learn from setbacks
Ask for help
Seek mentors
Try again
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
14. Becoming self-motivated
Foster your passion:
Shadowing
Volunteering
Clinical experience
Research
Mentoring
Networking
Elective courses
Mission trips
Phi Delta Epsilon
The patient is why I am here
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
15. Steps to Success
Start early
Remember your passion
Growth Mindset
Practice self-care
Have hope & optimism
Foster relationships
Celebrate small wins
Cultivate grit
Express gratitude
Resilience after failure
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
16. Resources
Jim Brosseau
Jounce: Crafting a Resilient Life in an Increasingly Chaotic World
Daniel Coyle
The Little Book of Talent
Carol Dweck
Mindset: The New psychology of Success
Atul Gawande
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
MindsetKit.org
Mindsetworks.com
PHI DELTA EPSILON REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2017
Editor's Notes
Good afternoon everyone. My name is Megan Fisher and I am a second year medical student at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, Ohio.
Today I wanted to talk with you about something that was hardly ever mentioned when I was a premedical student - and that is failure.
I'm using failure in the broad sense of the word to mean everything from test scores that weren't good enough and mcats that had to be taken again to bad interviews and rejected applications.
I’m sure many of you here today are a lot like me. Somehow in our years of being "gifted" students, we have forgotten how to learn from failure, overcome setbacks, and try again.
The last place I expected to encounter failure was during medical school.
I failed the first anatomy assessment that I took in medical school. My school grades pass/fail, with passing being a 70% and i believe I got a 57% on the first Friday quiz. I spent the weekend alternating between crying and looking up the job opportunities I could pursue with a bachelor's in science.
And then I went to visit our Academic services office and they told me a secret - 82% of our 160 person class (~131 people) had also failed that first assessment.
No one admitted it – this is a culture problem
These unreasonable standards have created an environment where anything short of perfection has become failure. This all or nothing thinking is creating an environment where students are willing to sacrifice acquiring new knowledge for the sake of grades and evaluations.
The appearance of perfection has become expected
How often are any of us perfect?
Never
I was too hard on myself. 2 weeks in, bathroom in library, etc.
As a peer mentor this is what I hear:
Maybe medicine just isn’t for me
Disclaimer that people do leave medicine
The default answer/response to failure cannot be to quit. This is the mindset we need to change
So that brings me to the second part of the title of my presentation today: grit and the mindset it takes to succeed
So what is grit?
A non-cognitive trait based on an individual's passion for a long-term goal, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective.
A non-cognitive trait based on an individual's passion for a long-term goal, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective.
Break down into 2 key parts:
Passion. Motivation
Passion: easy part. You are already here
Motivation: hard part. Difficult to foster motivation and hard to keep self motivated when struggling
This brings me to the theory of mindset.
Your view of intelligence will impact the way you learn. – 2 mindsets
The goal of mindset theory is to acknowledge which mindset you commonly fall into in various situations and make a conscious decision to improve your response to challenges, obstacles, effort, criticism, and the success of others to further yourself.
2 mindsets. Fixed vs. growth.
Explain both – chart
Its not realistic to expect a growth mindset 100% of the time. The goal is training your response form fixed to growth
Theory of mindset is training your response from I’ll never get there to I’m not there yet
Growth mindset is remembering that a failed test does not make you a failure.
Unfortunately that first quiz was not the last thing I’ve failed at in medical school.
Overcoming that failure took almost the entire year
I’m here to help you get a head start on applying growth mindset for your academic success.
Go through the list on slide
Go through the flower petals – all of theses add up to resilience
Resilience through failure leads to success
Become self motivated through fostering passion
List some examples on slide
The patient is why I am here theory
Steps to success compiled from my own experiences, readings, and the help of my fellow peer mentors
List and explain
Top 3: growth mindset, celebrate small wins, resilience after failure.
Remember medicine is a journey. There is no right or wrong way to medical school.
You have to develop grit by fostering your passion for medicine and using that as motivation during the difficult parts of the journey.
When they say it’s a marathon not a sprint, they are exactly right.
In order to succeed in this profession we will inevitably fail and have to pick ourselves up and try again. That is why they call medicine a practice after all.
It is full of ups and downs. Your love of medicine must be stronger than your fear of failure.
For those interested in the theory of mindset and how it translates to success here are some resources I recommend.
I wish you all the best on your medical school journey.
Thank you
