Week 6- practice makes perfect

This week has been great to reflect on aspects of my life where I adopt the entity theory and others where I use the incremental theory. I really appreciated that Dweck mentioned that a person can have both theories present in their life and that each person isn't just one or the other. I really related to the example of the entity theory in relation to math skills. I tend to say that I'm really bad at math in the sense that it's an innate characteristic not the result of me spending relatively little time practicing those skills. I tend to adopt the entity theory as well in saying that I'm not a very patient person or that I'm not very athletic. I can logically think that those are skills that I just haven't spent a lot of time on. I tend to apply Dweck's incremental theory when it comes to school work and musical activities. I know that I need to work hard and put in a lot of effort to do well in school. As an example, I didn't do well on our first anatomy quiz and I put in a lot more work and did really well on the second quiz and exam. Also, when it comes to music, I have spent a lot of time learning the violin and when a challenging piece comes along I know that I need to spend more time practicing and learning the music. It is really rewarding to work hard at something and then achieve the goal you've been working toward!

My past occupations have been heavily influenced by the incremental theory, because my dad has always been my supporter by praising my hard work and pushing me to get better at things that don't come naturally. I can see that mindset in my school work, music pursuits, and other activities. I feel capable of doing anything if I work hard enough and seek to learn from mistakes rather than shove them away to be ignored. 

With my new occupation, by nature of the task itself I have to adopt an incremental theory to go anywhere with it. If I adopted the entity theory, I would have stopped pottery a long time ago because it hasn't come naturally. I know that as I keep practicing and learn from other people and past experiences, I can make a super sweet mug! My experience this week left me a little discouraged because of the slow progress, but I reminded myself (with my best incremental theory mindset) that these are steps toward getting better. This mindset helps me to remember that I don't have to be great at pottery yet to continue to enjoy it and to celebrate the small victories!