Neuroplasticity and Growth Mindset

Neuroplasticity

Until recently, it was thought that our brain was a fixed or hard wired after a certain age and no matter how much you tried you could never change your mindset. Latest science revealed that actually that was not true, with consistent effort and focus one could completely change their way of thinking. Our brain is more like a malleable plastic, which could be bend in whatever shape we want. This property of the brain is known as Neuroplasticity.

How does it benefit people in their learning ?

According to decades of research done by Dr Carol Dweck, it was found out that if you make people believe that they dont have a fixed mindset and they can actually change their mental ability, people are more likely to put more efforts into what they are doing. This leads them to be more successful in their learning paths and also overall more successful in their lives.

How to engage with the principles of neuroplasticity for your benefit ?

According to study done by Kleim and Jones (Kleim, J. A., & Jones, T. A. (2008). Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: implications for rehabilitation after brain damage. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 51(1), S225–S239. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2008/018)), there are 10 principles of neuroplasticity. I wont go into detail of all of them, but I will use some of them to convey my point.

Some of the principles are :

Use it or Lose it: It is very important to put continuous efforts towards a particular skill that you wish to retain, otherwise you start to forget it.

Use it and Improve it: If you wish to learn something new or improve on a particular skill, you have to practice that skill and learn it every single day.

Repetition matters: Last but not the least, the more you repeat any particular skill the better you will get at it.

Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is a term used to describe a way of thinking when a person believes that facing adversities and challenges lead to growth of that individual. Growth mindset is relevant because by acquiring that mindset, there is no limit to what a person percieves as their potential. Only sky is the limit. Often, we limit ourselves by having oppposite of Growth mindset, which is a Fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset, we try to avoid challenges and like to stay in our comfort zone. This leads to stagnation and ultimately downfall.

Integrating growth mindset into my learning journey

For me, Integrating growth mindset would be to set aside atleast 2 hours every day and focus on working on developing new skills and improving and polishing my current skills.

A useful resource

A link to Huberman lab podcast on Growth mindset: Click Here

Blending Neuroplasticity and growth mindset with my learning plan and strategies

I already apply growth mindset to lot of things that I do as a part of my learning journey. Despite that, I still get stuck in that fixed mindset where you put yourself into boxes of your percieved limit. My plan is to be more open to the idea that there is no limit to what you can do and try to have that growth mindset for every aspect of my life. I will try to inculcate more tough challenges for myself into my learning and really push myself.