GU101
Student Success
Week
3 Lecture
“Victim/Creator
Mindsets”
***
Andrew and Thomas
worked together in a business office.
The company announced a change of their Customer Relationship Management
system. A mass email was sent to all
employees, and both Thomas and Andrew read it.
Later, both employees bumped into each other in the break room. The following conversation occurred.
Andrew: Did you read the email?
Thomas: About the change in the system? Yeah, I read
it.
Andrew: Can you believe it? I mean without any warning, they just go and
change stuff on us. Now I suppose we have to attend a bunch of trainings and
stuff and spend months trying to figure out this new system. Great.
Just great. As if I don’t have
enough to do.
Thomas: I suppose we will be trained, and change can
be bumpy, but the current system does not work well for us. Remember how many times it went down last
month?
Andrew: But that doesn’t mean we need a whole new
system! I mean seriously – just FIX THE PROBLEM. It’s not rocket science, and now because of
their incompetence and inability to fix things the right way, I have to jump
through hoops and learn their new system.
Thomas: But what if the new system is better and
ultimately saves us time? I bet the
company would not be spending all this money to make our system worse. I clicked on the link to the product in the
email, and already I found several things we will be able to do that we
couldn’t do before. I can see some of
the advantages even now.
Andrew: Are you serious? They are all the same. Why aren’t you angry
about this? I mean, it’s going to affect
you too. Maybe it just hasn’t hit you
yet about all the time and effort that this is going to take. They probably expect us to learn some of it
on our own time too just to save a dime.
Both
characters had the same event happen to them, but their responses were very
different. Thomas has something called
the creator mindset. In the creator
mindset, a person believes that they are in control of their lives. They see
new things as opportunities rather than challenges. On the other hand, Andrew has the victim
mindset. He believes that life happens
to him and that challenges or obstacles are barriers to his success.
If you
were managing both employees, whose mindset would be more beneficial to the
work environment? Who could you count on
to try the new customer relationship management system before making a
judgment? Having the right mindset goes
beyond college. Your mindset may affect
how others view you and may affect the opportunities you are offered in the
future.
So,
let’s see how you rate yourself on a victim/creator scale.
Victim
/ Creator Assessment
Read
the following statements and determine if they align to your thoughts and
beliefs most of the time or if they are unlike what you think and believe you
most of the time. Record a “L” if the statement is like you and a “U” if it is unlike
you.
1.
I believe I control my destiny.
2.
Challenges are really opportunities.
3.
I frequently change my behaviors when what I am
doing doesn’t work for me.
4.
I can control the direction my life is taking.
5.
When something is an obstacle, I stop trying.
6.
I am powerless to change what happens to me.
7.
Life is a struggle.
8.
Most issues are temporary.
9.
I can name my weaknesses more easily than I can
name my strengths.
10.
My
weight is a direct result of the choices I make.
11.
I look for ways to help solve problems at work
/ at school.
12.
My actions or choices are usually based on
something that happened to me (that driver cut me off, my instructor made me
mad…)
Now,
look at the following list to determine which mentality was in alignment with
each statement.
1.
Creator
2.
Creator
3.
Creator
4.
Creator
5.
Victim
6.
Victim
7.
Victim
8.
Creator
9.
Victim
10.
Creator
11.
Creator
12.
Victim
Self-scoring
Guidelines:
For
every creator statement (#1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11) that
you ranked as “L,” give yourself one point.
For
every victim statement (#5, 6, 7, 9, 12) that you
ranked as “U,” give yourself one point.
How
many points did you end up with? Which
are you more like – a creator, a victim, or are you a bit of both?
***
It’s
easier to be a creator when you know what resources are available to you when
you face challenges. This would be a good time to anticipate
what kind of challenges or obstacles may await – childcare issues? Time management? Upcoming deployment? Travel required for work? Illness?
Throughout this course, we are trying to help you match up
resources that you may need. We offer a
number of free resources through the GU website – tutoring, library, student
advising, financial aid, career services.
But there are some resources you will need to investigate in your
hometown. Prepare a list now, so that
when the “fire” comes along, you will know the “drill.”
