I’d like to teach you an important lesson from 2nd Grade. I had the opportunity to interact with some young students, and I think we all learned something valuable.
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I'd like to teach you an important lesson from 2nd grade. Welcome to the podcast with your host Craig T. Owens. Craig's new book, When Sheep Bite, is available now at CraigTowens.com. I had the privilege to serve as a guest teacher in a 2nd grade classroom the other day, and part of my duties was to lead the students through this Scholastic News article about a growth mindset. Now this is contrasted with a fixed mindset, and really it comes down to this. The growth mindset says, "I can learn new things." The fixed mindset says, "I've got it all. I can't go any farther than this." There was a scientist that was quoted in this article that said that there's one word that we can say that physiologically makes a difference. It literally changes our brain, and that's the word "yet." See if you say things like, "I don't know how to do that," or, "I'm not good at that," and you just leave it right there, your brain stops looking for any further information. But if you add this powerful word "yet," if you say, "I don't know how to do that yet," or "I'm not very good at that yet," your brain stays open. It starts looking for new information. It starts seeking out people who might be skilled enough to help me learn how to do that or to get better at that, just adding that one little word. There's another word we need to pay attention to as well. That same scientist in that article said this, "If you make a mistake, be kind to yourself." I don't know about you, but sometimes I struggle with beating myself up if I make a mistake. There are some things that I will say to myself when I stumble on something that I sort of wonder how would I respond if somebody else walked up to me and said the same thing? I probably wouldn't be too happy with them. So why do I allow myself to talk to myself in an unkind way? Instead, I need to say something like, "Well, yes, I made a mistake, but that's proof that I'm still trying. I'm still learning. I still have a ways to go, and I am going to get better at this." In fact, one of the exercises that I get to leave the second graders through after we read through this article was they wrote a letter to their future self. The letter said something like, "Dear me, you don't know how to do this thing yet, but you're going to learn. You're going to get better at it. And if you feel frustrated, if you feel like giving up, remember, and then they had some blank so they could fill in to remind themselves. But then I also love this. At the end, there was a spot for them to draw a picture doing that thing that they don't know how to do yet, but they are going to learn how to do it in the future. Maybe you could do that for yourself. Start painting a mental picture of what would it look like when you learn how to do that, or when you get better at that. Keep using that word yet. I'm not very good yet. I don't know it yet. Don't beat yourself up when you make those mistakes, but speak kindly to yourself. And if you do, you're going to foster a growth mindset that's going to serve you well for years and years to come. Craig's new book, When Sheep Bite, is available now. To order, go to CraigTowens.com. [MUSIC]
