By Cicely Sandifer/ reporter

Academic advisor Brittany Duncan offered NE students information about the importance of a person’s mindset in Got Grit?? Nov. 8.

Grit is the tendency to sustain interest and effort for long-term goals. Duncan said when students think they can’t do something, that is their mindset working against them. Nothing gets accomplished because there’s no grit.

“Mindset is a set of beliefs or way of thinking that determines one’s behavior, outlook and mental attitude,” she said. “It’s all about how you perceive things and how you set your mind to it.”

People can have one of two mindsets: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

“Someone with a fixed mindset usually is very narrow,” she said. “They believe that intelligence and ability are fixed and that scores measure their potential.”

Contrary to a fixed mindset, Duncan emphasized that having a growth mindset will get somebody far in life because it’s a mindset that grows throughout life, not immediately.

“They believe that intelligence and ability are flexible,” she said.

The mindset that someone has is determined by how they were raised and/or what someone told them. When Duncan was growing up, she was told that because her mother wasn’t good at math, she wasn’t good at math.

“That stuck in my head,” she said. “I still, to this day, don’t think that I’m good at math.”

Duncan suggested students try to switch their mindset to know they belong on campus and in the community they are trying to join.

“Evidence shows that mindset is more associated with school performance and test scores,” she said.

Duncan showed videos depicting famous people who went through obstacles to succeed and a YouTube video about productivity.

“If you’re writing a book, you do it one page at a time,” she said referring to the video. “If you’re trying to master a new language, try it one word at a time.”