Rough Draft-Bibliography

I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, and for as long as I can remember I received many compliments on my drawings with the key words “gifted” and “talented.”These compliments really only came from family members and because my family are always supportive and positive, not to mention artists themselves, I’d take those compliments with a grain of salt. I didn’t doubt the truthfulness behind those statements, nor did I not value them, I just seemed like more of a confidence boost than anything else. Despite my family being artists, they never really intervened with my art. They didn’t try to push or force anything onto me or try to teach me anything if I didn’t ask. My interest in art was purely my own. Therefore, the developments that I would make solely came from my mindset and how I thought to put things together. Recently, I continued to draw after a personal 3 year hiatus. As I’m rebuilding my foundation, I notice how many essential ideas began to came back to me. This triggered me to wonder more about fundamentals which turned into me wondering about the meaning of mentality and the meaning of mindset. I also began to think about those words “gifted” and “talent” and the connections between them.

By definition, mentality is the characteristic attitude of mind or way of thinking of a person or group, and mindset is the established set of attitudes held by someone. Essentially, the characteristics of a mentality make up a mindset. The definition of being talented is to have a natural aptitude or skill for something, while the definition of being gifted is to have an exceptional talent or natural ability: essentially an elevated version of talent. I believe that the definitions of gifted and talented are not entirely true. I believe that being gifted identifies more with the mentality of an individual while being talented focuses more on the individual’s mindset and application. I believe being gifted is the foundation of being talented. In an article titled “What Is The Difference Between Gifted And Talented?” By Ray Fitzgerald, it states “While a test that identifies a gifted child looks more at broad cognitive skills, testing for an academically talented child focuses on the nitty gritty these students are ones who score in the top percentiles of all students on individual subject-area tests for math, science, reading or any other topic.” This quote is stating that tests for children identified as gifted, focuses more on their mental action and process of understanding information while testing for talented children focuses more on the applying their smarts to different subjects.

One example would be in Kobe Bryant’s “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.” Kobe Bryant was a professional NBA player that spent his entire 20 year career on the Los Angeles Lakers. Besides the successful career he had, one aspect about him that he will always be remembered for was his “Mamba Mentality” (Black Mamba was his nickname). In an excerpt of his book, it states “When it came to basketball, I had no fear. What I mean by that is: if I wanted to implement something new into my game, I’d see it and try incorporating it immediately. I wasn’t scared of missing, looking bad, or being embarrassed. That’s because I always kept the end result, the long game, in my mind…” Bryant breaks down and describes 4 different characteristics of his mentality. First, he was never in fear; never in fear of how bad or embarrassed he looked. Second, he had the urge to constantly learn and apply new material. Third, he stay focused and kept his goal in sight. Fourth, his high work ethic. These gifted characteristics, among others unmentioned, helped establish his mindset which made him the generational talent he was. Kobe had the mentality of being the best version he could possibly be in anything he attempted.

In addition to my definitions of mentality, mindset, gifted and talented, there is also the idea that anyone with any type of mindset and still achieve anything they desire. However when an individual has a certain mentality, they are able to perform or achieve certain things faster and/or at a greater level than others. Of course that means that there are short comings as well. For example, let’s say there are 2 people: person A who has is gifted with math expertise; and person B who is gifted with language arts expertise. They are both gifted in their own right, but what if they both are striving to become authors? Both can do so but person A will have to work harder to achieve this feat because their characteristics don’t compliment the goal they’re after as well as person B.

There are common misconceptions of the idea of “gifted” and “talented.”  In an article titled “Is There a Mindset Misconception with Giftedness?” By Emily Mofield, it states “The buzz about mindsets, what we believe about our intelligence, has captivated parents and educators in recent years. Its message is powerful if you believe your intelligence can grow, you will embrace challenges and achieve more… this mighty notion of mindset can be misinterpreted. In discussions about giftedness and mindsets, there may also be misconceptions. Research about praise tells us that when we praise students for their intelligence, they are likely to develop fixed mindset beliefs—the belief that your abilities do not change and so, they are more likely to avoid challenges in order to maintain a smart identity…” This quote identifies 2 different types of mindsets, 1 being a growth mindset and 2 being a fixed mindset. A growth mindset is a mindset that regardless of any limitations, one’s intelligence can still grow and achieve more; it’s a mindset that everyone potentially has. A fixed mindset is where one believes that one can’t grow beyond the gifts they have. However, as stated before, they’re only misconceptions.

After realizing my personal definition of mentality, mindset, gifts, and talents; I’ve also realized that people are way more capable than they know. Anything is achievable with the right amount of work and effort. Anyone can truly surpass their own limitations.