Why I chose to read this book?

I chose to read “Mindset The new Psychology of Success” by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D because I wanted to learn more about how to fulfill our potential in parenting, business, school, and relationships.

What I am learning from reading this book?

In the first chapter titled, “The Mindsets” I am learning that you can either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. In the fixed mindset we are forced to prove ourselves over and over. A certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character better be enough to get us through life or succeed. In the growth mindset it is believed that our basic qualities can be cultivated through our efforts, strategies, and help from others. Although we all differ in every way from everyone we can change and grow through application and experience. People who adopt the growth mindset believe that a person’s true potential is unknown. That it is impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training. When you believe qualities can be developed it creates a passion for learning. There are several questions in the chapter I reflected on like: Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide your deficiencies instead of overcoming them? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it even when it is not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset.

How this book will contribute to my success upon release?

I am learning from this book that the growth mindset is the mindset I have adopted since my incarceration. When I got arrested at 24 years old and sentenced to 32 years in prison, I confronted the hard situation and decided to work hard to get more education and grow as a person. Through this prison experience I have been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses. I have tried to convert my life lessons into lessons for future success. When I got arrested instead of taking an attitude of defeat with so much time to do and being so young. I decided to try and take advantage of this time and do something meaningful with it. To always live and prepare like I am getting out soon. This mindset has helped me on days that I feel depressed. I set goals that I want to achieve and try my hardest to work on them everyday despite being in this place. Education has been a big motivator for me. I like to learn new things and focus on learning as much as possible. I do not try to prove myself over and over but rather focus on learning and becoming better each day. When I first got arrested I was scared to do all this time. I am learning to accept my mistakes and overcome them. I am using the lessons I am learning in my reading to help mold my mindset a little deeper by understanding that a growth mindset can be developed and we are not stuck on a one track mind. That it is impossible to see a persons true potential years down the road. That it is good to prepare everyday for the future. I am learning that I am truly much more than this place and this time and with proper motivation and training. I will be successful upon release.

I chose to read “Prison! 8344th Day” by Michael Santos. I joined Prison Professors and it is a part of a bundle of books he sent me. I wanted to learn more about how Michael utilized his time in prison. I wanted to see what similarities and differences were in his experience and mine. I learned what a day in prison for Michael was like. I really like the way he explained in detail what he did from waking up to going to bed. I saw so many similarities to my experience. I like that he took time to have alone time early in the mornings and be able to write and study. I like that he took time to always include his wife in everything he was accomplishing and doing which created a bond. I like that he had a set schedule to do things and well defined goals that he wanted to achieve. I read how he utilized a day planner to keep track of events and dates. More importantly, I liked that he was always doing something with purpose for the future and he didn’t waste time. This book will contribute to my success upon release because it is putting me in the mindset to start doing all my activities right now in preparation for my future. I have always done my time in this way like taken advantage of classes and and education I can take for free. After reading the book it brought more of these thoughts into perspective to really pick it up a notch and not waste time on meaningless activities and to really start visualizing the life I want right now for when I leave prison. It gave me hope that while I work everyday toward a better future that if I continue to keep the end in mind my efforts will pay off and my chances for success will be greater.