A key goal I am determined to achieve is to focus less on the grade I receive, and more on the depth with which I learn the material. My academic education, in my opinion, is much more than a percentage or a grade; it's an opportunity to learn absolutely everything you want and a chance for you to take on challenges that will help you grow intellectually. To achieve such things, I need to change my mindset and this is something I learned from Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. In this book, she describes the "growth" and "fixed" mindsets and emphasizes how much more beneficial a "growth" mindset is, especially when it comes to learning . This growth mindset is characterized by overcoming challenges, persisting in the face of setbacks, learning from criticism, and having a greater sense of agency, and I want to incorporate all of this into my experience of learning here at Illinois State University. College presents many challenges and setbacks, and I want to be able to not only handle them, but learn from them. Rather than feeling upset when I receive a bad grade, I will do my best to understand what I did wrong and make it a learning experience. Rather than giving up if I don't understand something, I will persevere to understand the material at a deeper level than the surface. My attitude towards my education will consist of nothing less than positivity, perseverance and the desire to