Austin Scholar #127: The self-belief secret of happiness
& why having a growth mindset made me happier
Hey, y'all!
This week from Austin Scholar...
Austin’s Anecdote: Why having a growth mindset made me happier
The self-belief secret of happiness
Scholar’s Sources: What I’ve been up to…
I had another lovely week of summer: spending copious amounts of time with my friends, figure skating, reading, doing Math Academy, watching baseball games, and being anxious about college. I am really enjoying the lack of serious pressure to do a ton of work (for pretty much the first time ever) and am trying to take advantage of it.
Austin’s Anecdote: Why having a growth mindset made me happier
As someone who’s gone through a ton of therapy, I find myself often thinking about what makes me happy – or, better, what makes me feel fulfilled.
Over time, I’ve identified a multitude of things that bring a warm glow to my chest and a soft smile on my lips:
Giving my sister a hug
Snuggling in my parents’ bed and watching a show with them
Going to dinner with my friends
Writing an awesome newsletter
Landing a jump while figure skating
The list could go on and on. And while I strive to do these things every day and definitely feel happier after, these external activities aren’t the most important source of my life satisfaction.
My deepest fulfillment comes from within.
When I was going through my hardest time, even when I was at dinner with my friends or hugging my sister, negative thoughts about myself swirled in my head. I was so stuck in my head that I was distracted from actually living.
Changing how I viewed myself was the number one way I improved my mental health.
That was a slow journey – my thoughts went from “I’m terrible at everything I do” to “I might not be great at some things, but I can be at least okay in others” to “I have strengths and weaknesses, and that’s okay. I can work hard to improve.”
Instead of having a broken, fixed mindset, I thought of myself as someone who could grow and improve and change – someone with an endless number of possibilities in front of her.
I think positively of myself now – I am free from the whirlpool of negative thoughts threatening to drag me down at any moment.
I can actually enjoy most moments of my life because I’m happy with who I am and what I can do.
The self-belief secret of happiness
Those were a lot of pretty words, but you might be wondering, how can I replicate this for my kid?
Well, let’s start with the facts.
This study shows that life satisfaction is closely tied to personality traits and the way one views themselves.
This graph showcases the beliefs that lead to both a higher life satisfaction and a lower life satisfaction:
Something else important to note: the larger and bolder statements are said to have a more significant impact on life satisfaction.
Let’s pull out the most important statements:
Am good at many things
Believe that by working hard a person can achieve anything
Take risks
Easily apologize when I have been wrong
Believe on has special duties to one’s family
Likes to visit new places
Am an extremely loyal person
Respect authority
Work on improving myself
If your kid identifies with even half of these nine statements, they are almost guaranteed to have a higher life satisfaction.
But how do I actually get my kid to believe these things? you might be wondering.