23 Chapter 2 Mindset Matters Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. What Is Mindset? Why Does It Matter? In order to help you own your experience and recognize your power, this chapter focuses on both the power your mindset has over you and the power you hold to shape this mindset. This chapter will lead you through a few ways to think about your mindset, which are applicable to life in general, college, and the world beyond. Mindset is not an external motivator rather, it helps you own the power that already lies within you and utilize that power to work intentionally toward your goals. What is mindset? Put simply, mindset describes habits of our mind that are shaped by previous experience. Just as you have habits of action or ritual or routine, you also have habits of mind: mindsets. Mindset names habituated ways of thinking. Because it is habituated, we tend to be unaware of or less conscious about it—it becomes an automatic way of seeing something rather than a deci- sion or intention. Sometimes, even when we have encounters or experiences that challenge our habituated beliefs or attitudes, we don’t change them because they are so deeply ingrained in us. Instead, we think that the experience or encoun- ter is an exception or a fluke. Or perhaps we just find it difficult to get out of a deeply habitual way of thinking. Mindsets can become self-perpetuating ways of ordering and anticipating our experiences and interactions. While that may save time, it is also problematic, because like many habits, (thumb sucking, eating junk food, binge watching), it might not be healthy, or productive. It’s a habit because we engage in it automatically and without actively choosing it. Habits, or more specifically bad habits, get in the way of making a better choice. Habits of mind, our mindset, can get in the way of seeing old or new things in a new way. And just like it takes significant conscious effort to break a habit like nail-biting, it takes significant conscious effort to shift your mindset. S E C T I O N 2.1 THINK ABOUT IT Reflect on expectations you have for yourself and your experience at college. What are they? Where do they come from? How do they make you feel?