based on gender (or race or other characteristics).
A group of young women recently shared with me their experience of approaching their mathematics professor with a question after one of their first classes at a top university. When they asked their question, the professor said it was too basic and they should take a class at the local community college. The women, all African American students, decided at that moment to leave STEM subjects for good. They had experienced enough of these messages and, like many other students before them, they walked away.
Mathematics is, of course, not the only subject that fuels damaging ideas about who can achieve. Art, English, music, sports—all of these are areas where students are initially interested until they begin to struggle and decide they don’t have the right kind of brain (or body). In all cases when students get these damaging ideas, some portion of their future potential is foreclosed. And not only in school. Fixed ideas about potential impact their work lives as well.
I have now talked with many professionals who tell me that before they learned about brain science, they were too nervous to offer ideas in meetings, in case they were wrong, and they were always living in fear of being judged. This is not surprising, as we have grown up in a fixed-brain world that judges everyone on their “smartness.” Many of us have grown up feeling judged for everything, often feeling “not good enough” and worrying about being found out. When people let go of fixed-brain ideas, they become unlocked, especially when they combine this knowledge with other findings from neuroscience that we will explore shortly.
Workers suffer the effects of fixed-brain thinking, but often managers do as well. Managers in companies are just as likely to write off an employee as not having a good brain or being smart enough. If, instead, managers saw the limitless potential of the people they work with, they would talk to them differently and open up opportunities rather than close them down. Instead of deciding that some workers are of limited value, managers might decide that they could be given different opportunities for learning—some may need something to read or study or build (more on this in later chapters). This would change the ways many companies operate and empower many more employers to create important ideas and products.
The first step in living a limitless, unlocked life is to know brains are constantly reorganizing, growing, and changing. Remembering that every day of our lives, we wake up with a changed brain. In every moment of our lives our brains have opportunities to make connections, to strengthen pathways, and to form new pathways. When we face a challenging situation, rather than turn away because of fear of not being good enough, we should dive in, knowing that the situation presents opportunities for brain growth. As we start to recognize the huge implications of the adaptability of our brains, we will start to open our minds, and live differently. The key information that will enable our new pathways and approaches to be enhanced further will be shared in the remaining chapters.
WHY WE SHOULD LOVE MISTAKES, STRUGGLE, AND EVEN FAILURE
OUR LIVES are filled with mistakes. We make them all the time, and they are simply part of everyday life. Even though mistakes sometimes make no difference or end up producing fortuitous results, most of us instinctively respond to mistakes by mentally beating ourselves up and feeling terrible. It is not surprising that large sections of the population respond negatively to mistakes. Most of us have grown up with the idea that mistakes are bad, especially if we attended test-driven schools, where we were frequently marked down for making mistakes, or our parents punished mistakes with harsh words and actions. This is unfortunate, and this is why.
LEARNING KEY #2
The times when we are struggling and making mistakes are the best times for brain growth.
When we are willing to face obstacles and make mistakes in the learning process, we enhance neural connections that expedite and improve the learning experience. The research on the positive impact of mistakes and struggle is emerging from both neuroscience1 and behavioral studies of high-achieving people.2 Some of this work is counterintuitive, as we have believed for so long in the absolute necessity that everything be “correct.” Releasing people from the idea that they must always be correct and not make any mistakes turns out to be transformative.
The Science of Mistakes
I first became aware of the positive impact of mistakes when I was hosting a workshop for teachers and Carol Dweck, the pioneer of mindset research, joined us. The teachers attending the workshop that day had gathered in a large group and listened attentively to Carol. She announced that every time we make mistakes, synapses fire in the brain, indicating brain growth. All the teachers in the room were shocked, as they had all been working under the premise that mistakes are to be avoided. Carol was drawing from work that has researched the brain’s response when we make mistakes, particularly investigating the different ways brains respond when people have a growth or a fixed mindset.3
Jason Moser and his colleagues extended Carol’s work investigating the brain’s response when we make mistakes. Moser and his team found something stunning. They had asked participants to take tests while they monitored the participants’ brains with MRI technology. They looked at the scans when people got questions correct and when they got them incorrect. The researchers found that when people made mistakes, brains were more active, producing strengthening and growth, than when people got work correct.4 Neuroscientists now agree that mistakes positively contribute to the strengthening of neural pathways.
This learning key is particularly significant because most teachers design classes so that everyone is successful. Curricula and textbooks are designed with trivial, unchallenging questions, so that students will get a high percentage of answers correct. The common belief is that getting most answers correct will motivate students toward greater success. Here’s the problem, though. Getting questions right is not a good brain exercise.
For students to experience growth, they need to be working on questions that challenge them, questions that are at the edge of their understanding. And they need to be working on them in an environment that encourages mistakes and makes students aware of the benefits of mistakes. This point is critical. Not only should the work be challenging to foster mistakes; the environment must also be encouraging, so that the students do not experience challenge or struggle as a deterrent. Both components need to work together to create an ideal learning experience.
Author Daniel Coyle studied “talent hotbeds,” places producing a larger proportion than normal of high-achievers, and concludes that achievement comes not from any natural-born ability, but rather from a special kind of work and practice. He has studied examples of those who excel at learning in music, sports, and academic subjects. His research reveals that all of the people who achieved at very high levels engaged in a particular kind of practice that caused the coating of brain pathways with myelin.
Our brains function through an interconnected web of nerve fibers (including neurons), and myelin is a form of insulation that wraps around fibers and increases their signal strength, speed, and accuracy. When we revisit an idea or kick a soccer ball, myelin coats the neural pathways involved, optimizing the particular circuits and making our movements and thoughts more fluid and efficient in the future. Myelin is vital to the learning process. Most learning takes time, and myelin aids the process by reinforcing signals and slowly strengthening pathways. Coyle gives a number of examples of the highest-achieving mathematicians, golfers, soccer players, and pianists practicing their craft and describes the role of myelin in wrapping layers of insulation around their neural circuits. He characterizes the world’s experts as having “super-duper pathways” wrapped in layer upon layer of myelin, which makes them very effective.
So
