- The term growth mindset is everywhere. A quick Google search will
show hundreds of sports teams, schools and companies using this research, and that is awesome. (bright music) - But there are still
some misconceptions here. So the idea today, I want to clear up a few
things about growth mindset and then zoom in on the
most important piece, which is how do we actually build one. (bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music continues) Quick recap on what the mindsets are. This is a term coined by Carol Dweck. She's been researching learning for longer than I've been alive, and what she's discovered is
so simple and so important that the way we think about learning can change the way we do it. Sometimes we operate from what
she calls a fixed mindset. Here we believe skills are
something you're born with, that you sort of have 'em or you don't, and that you can't really change that. - Walter, how do you write
such good social letters? - Well, Nora, it's a talent. Some people have it and some don't. - Our core idea towards learning is, I can't or don't have to grow. I can't is, I'm just not
cut out to be a leader. I can never build that skill, or don't have to is,
I'm a natural at this. I don't need to work at it. So that's two sides of the fixed mindset. This mindset is a source of what we call limiting
beliefs and stories about skills like, I'm not a math person, I could never learn this,
I could never do that. Other times we operate from
what she calls a growth mindset. Here we believe that skills
are something that are built, that we earn and develop our skills, that we are in control of them. - [Narrator] Most people are
capable of playing the piano, but like other skills, this form of behavior has to be learned and then strengthened in practice. (piano music) - That if someone's good with numbers, it's because they've built that skill. If someone can't dance, it's because they haven't danced enough. Now the big idea is, depending on what mindset
we're operating in, this can influence the way we grow, and the reason why is our
mindsets can impact our actions, especially when it comes to learning. - Sometimes people over
complicate this stuff, but the way it works is
actually pretty simple. My name is Sophia Scott,
and I'm 10 years old. It's time to school you up in mindset. This is how the learning process works. Belief leads to action,
and action leads to growth. B-A-G, bag. Belief, this is what we think about when we are learning a new skill. I think I can or I think I can't. Action, you know, we're
talking about practice, trying new things, working hard. Growth, this is when we see progress and get better at stuff. The problem is, when we
have a fixed mindset, we don't believe we can learn stuff. I'm not artsy, I'm not
creative, I'm not a math person. This isn't just for kids.
Adults have stories too. I'm not a leader. I can't
learn new technology. I can't make new friends. So they're missing the belief. If we don't believe we
can learn something, do you think we'll practice enough? If this is gone, that's gone. If you don't believe you can dance, then you're probably
not gonna practice it. And if you don't practice, then you'll probably not be able to dance. You can't get good at stuff
if you don't practice. Weird, right? Stories become true if
they rob us of action. If we have a growth mindset,
this process works differently. Is this thing on? If I believe I can grow, I'm more likely to take action. When I put in the work, I'm more likely to grow and get better. And again, this becomes true. It's really that simple. We gotta believe, y'all,
and also take action. - Now let's dig into some
things we have to be clear on. First, growth mindset
is not some magic pill or secret formula. Yeah, you just have to
believe, and then you can grow. No, you know and I know
action is the key to growth. We still have to do the work. That can take some time. That can take some patience. That's gonna take some experimentation. But the belief we can
grow provides the fuel. The other idea, we're not
just one or the other. There's no such thing as just a growth mindset
person or just a fix. This can change by the day, by the project, by the skill, by our mood. Maybe instead of mindset, the
term should be mind state. It's like in this current
moment, I believe I can grow. That might not be true in even 10 minutes, but when we're aware of
the nuts and the bolts, we can work to change it. A skill we can all develop is maintaining the belief we can grow, despite the things that are thrown at us, despite the challenges and problems and obstacles thrown our way, because we don't really control them, and we definitely don't control
the things people say to us. But beliefs happen between our ears, and we can work to maintain
that growth mindset, despite the things people
say, which I think is step one in this long process of
becoming a great learner. - I'm Larry Wilkins, and right now I'm a restorative
justice facilitator. I facilitate classes and workshops dealing with restorative justice. We teach at different homeless shelters and transitional programs
where people are transitioning from prison to the streets
and need help reentering. Environmental factors always play a part when it comes to growth mindset,
especially when it seems like everything around
you is just so fixed, It seems like that nothing
is going to change. It's just the way it is. Maybe my mother had the
same mindset, my father, my brother, you know, just
people within the neighborhood. So that's my starting point because I want to debrief them to say, "Hey, just because everybody
else in your family or a majority of the
people that surround you went down that path, you don't
have to, you have choices. Not saying that the process
is gonna happen overnight. Not saying that the first day that I go out and do it is going to work, but I started the process. So I think using the growth
mindset is a great tool. - To me, there are three
important layers of growth mindset that are hard to argue with. One, it gives us ignition to start. If I believe I can grow, I'm more likely to start
learning something new. Two, I think it helps
build some resilience when I start to struggle
and face challenges. The belief that I can
change, that I am not stuck, can keep me going even when it gets hard. - With the growth mindset, it's like once I experience
failure or adversity, it's like, okay, I'm really
in a bad place right now. It's a reality that this
is going on in my life, and this is a tragedy, this happened, but I don't have to stay stuck there. Not saying that you run from reality, or you don't accept what's
going on in the environment, but not letting that take over you, and not letting that
blind you or cut off you from having a vision of
seeing further than that. With a growth mindset is
saying, okay, this happened. This was a setback. Financially, it was a setback. Relationship-wise, it was a
setback on whatever level, but the growth mindset allows me to move out of that and move forward. - Three, I think it keeps us hungry even when we do achieve some success. All three of those layers, yes, they're supported
in Dweck's research, but it's also common sense. I'm more likely to start,
more likely to stick with it and more likely to stay
hungry, all three matter. On the flip side, it's also true. In a fixed mindset, I'm
less likely to start because why would I try
to learn something new if I don't believe I can grow? I'm more likely to give
up when it gets hard. I'm stuck. I can't change. And when I do achieve some success, I'm likely to take the foot off the gas. I get complacent because look, we did it. We discovered the system. I don't need to learn,
grow and get better. Okay, so growth mindset
is an important piece of the learning puzzle. It's not the whole puzzle,
but it's an essential piece. So now the question becomes,
how do we build that belief? I think there are three ways to do that. One, so simple, but it is effective. Reflect, remember the
skills that you've built and how you built the skills. - Come here, come here!
- Oh my gosh! - Oh my gosh!
- You got it! - Yeah!
- Woo-hoo! - You did it, come here.
- Wow. - Woo!
- Oh, yeah! You're walking! - Look, we're all good at so many things. Remember what that process was like. When we reflect and give ourself credit, it's a good sort of backdoor
way of building this belief. I can learn. Another thing we can do, learn new stuff. There's some schools that I've worked with that do what they call
the anti-talent show, where all the students, all the teachers, pick something that they can't do. They spend 10 days practicing, and then do an anti-talent show. Now in 10 days, no one masters the skill, but most of 'em can do it. Do you see the overarching lesson here is, you can learn stuff. Three, we need to unpack the research of what they call neuroplasticity. Now I know that's lots
of syllables in one word, but it's a really important
topic to dig into. Neuroplasticity is the
study of our brains, and it shows how our brains
are constantly adapting and changing with our environment through our thoughts and
especially through action. I could nerd out about
neuroplasticity for hours, but I just wanna zoom in
on a few of the basics. First, the name, neuro,
that's referring to our brain. - [Narrator] The human brain, the brain, a pulpy mass of cells and fibers. - Plasticity is talking about that it's moldable, changeable. In Trevor language, our brain
can change, neuroplasticity. - I began to realize that the
dominant view of the brain and its capacity to change itself beyond early childhood was wrong. - This is Michael Merzenich. He's been studying this
stuff for literally decades. He's known as the father
of brain plasticity. - And we did experiments. Other scientists had also done experiments earlier in an parallel
that showed that the brain, in fact, was massively plastic,
you know, at an older age, at any age, on any ability,
and I could improve it, and not just improve the ability, improve the machinery of the brain that supports the ability. - Our brain is a series
of circuits and pathways. Anytime we do something,
bang, we fire a pathway. The idea is if we fire a
pathway a bunch of times, our brain will reinforce that circuit, and we become better at it. This is how practice builds a skill. The neuroscientists say what
fires together, wires together. - And the real message is is that the brain is designed to change. It turns out that plasticity
in the brain is its big trick. It's the main thing that
makes it so fabulous. - The way I think about it is, our brain works a lot like a muscle, and I know that that is
a cliche we've all heard, but there's actually a
lot of truth to that, and there's a few layers. One, my brain is like a muscle, which means it needs struggle to grow. To build muscles, we add weight. We add weight to induce struggle because we know that's
how we get stronger. Same rules apply to learning. We need some challenges and
obstacles and struggle to grow. - You can train a human in a
skill where it's just easy. (laughs) You know, they
always get the answer right. Nothing changes. Why
would it change, you know? You don't wanna make it so hard that you can never get the answer right. That also shuts down the brain. You don't wanna be so easy
that you always get it right. That also, both of those
things shut down the brain. You wanna be in that
challenge mode where you say, "Okay, I'm gonna improve at this." - The other idea, if I wanted to make a
physical change in my body, think about how I would do that. I might upgrade my diet.
I might sign up for a gym. I might hire a trainer, and
I'm definitely gonna work out two or three times a week
for a really long time because I know how muscles are built. We have to deploy the same
tactics to building skills. So many times, we try something
twice, it doesn't work. We go, "Yep, can't learn that." That's the equivalent of
doing like one set of pushups. Then I look in the mirror and go, " Not bigger. Guess I can't grow." We would never do that in the weight room because we know it takes practice, reps, struggle and time to build muscles. Well, the same rules apply to learning. I can't go to the weight room and watch someone do
squats, and I get stronger. That would be awesome, but
that's not how it works. I could observe and
learn how to do a squat. I could learn from their
form and technique, and all that can be useful, but to actually see the results,
I have to do the squats. Same rules apply to learning. I can listen, watch and observe. I can learn how to do something. I can learn from someone's experiences and their tactics and technique, but when it gets down to it, the best way to build the
skill is to fire the pathway, and the best way to fire the
pathway is through action. The last layer, look, we're all not gonna become bodybuilders, but would you agree, we could all make any muscles
stronger if we worked it out, and probably much
stronger than we realize. You know where I'm headed?
Same rules apply to learning. We're all not gonna become
experts at everything or master every skill,
but we can all get better. - Some people are slower learners, right? They struggle, but guess what? The machinery that controls
learning is plastic. You can approve it. We take people, and we
train them in a certain way that exercise the machinery
that controls changing the brain and they learn faster. Of course, they do. And what they have to understand is, is that there can be a
pretty long progression. You know, I mean, it's not. It takes effort. It takes a focus of attention. Conditions have to be right
to change the brain, right? It's not free. - To wrap this thing up, I'm not standing up here
saying anyone can do anything. That is not our message. Like I'm not gonna go play in the NBA because I know about neuroplasticity. But we are going to bat on the
fact that for the most part we can get better at stuff,
much better than we realize. Rather than letting the stories rob us of the action, the challenges, let's put this thing in
the right environment and put the stories to the test, that if we give it some time to struggle, to solve the problems,
to fire the pathways, I think we'll be surprised. Our capacity to grow is much
greater than we realize. Again, we're all different. We're gonna go at different speeds. We definitely have our strengths. We definitely have weaknesses. There are some head starts. There are environmental things at play. But we can all build our skills, and the more skills we build, the more things we get better at, usually the more things we can do. We have to stop letting the stories, this fixed mindset,
rob us of those skills. - You are designed to be
continuously improvable. Nobody's done. Nobody's defined what their limits are. I can tell you, whatever you think your
limits are, you're wrong. Absolutely, everyone has the capacity to be better at virtually everything. You can be better next week, a little bit, but in a year, you can be a lot better in almost anything that matters to you, and that's the way you
should think about it. I mean, if I wanna be
better at these things that matter to me, let's get to work. - Look, I don't want this to come across that like learning is easy. No, it is hard. It is frustrating, and it takes some time. And again, there are challenges that can absolutely get in the way, but we can all get
better at getting better. - And the magic is, is that once you get into a learning mode, once you're really trying
to improve yourself on a regular basis and
acquiring new skills and improving whatever
is important to you, you actually improve the machinery that controls learning for everything. - The best advice I have for
you is aim low, start small. Pick one skill, one relevant skill that if you develop could
help you get better. Spend some time practicing. Spend some time firing the pathways. And as we start to see that progress, we start to gain momentum. The floor becomes higher,
and we build from there. Stay patient, aim low, build the skills. (bright music) This is something we can
all do a little bit more of. I hope this video will help
you start to take that action. Thanks.
♪ Do do do do ♪ (downtempo rhythm blues music)
♪ DAV ♪ ♪ Uh-huh-huh ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Uh-huh-huh ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Uh-huh-huh ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Uh-huh-Huh ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪
