Adopt a Growth Mindset and Never Stop Learning … or Believing You Can
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’m currently in the process of learning French. It’s my fourth stab at it, I think. The first was in high school, with Sister Mary Catherine. All I remember from that go-round was how to say, “Ferme la bouche, Ernesto.”
I’m chagrined to say I might have heard that more than a few times. Later, my career took me around the world. I filled up a passport as the publisher of a group of technology magazines and got to visit France on half a dozen working trips. Each time I knew I was going to be there I dug out my Pimsleur CDs (I know, anachronistic nowadays), buckled down, and managed to cram enough into my brain to be able to order in restaurants and arrange transportation. But it never really stuck because I could never really hear it. While English is my native language, getting the sound of Spanish in my ears had come relatively easily to me. But French just always sounded like a bunch of undifferentiated vowels, most of which I also couldn’t pronounce. It was even a struggle to get the right sound for the simple word for water, eau, to stick in my head. So I tried to learn it four or five times between high school and age 53. Some might say, give up already. But I love languages. And I’d really like to know French. So I started again earlier this year, with a summer vacation in Quebec as prod. And this time I made it past some sort of critical tipping point. First, the learning got really hard. That part where you’re past the easy beginner stuff and everything seems to make your head spin is deeply uncomfortable. You just can’t hear what you’re supposed to hear, and you want to pull your hair in frustration. But instead of walking away this time, I embraced the discomfort and kept going. And months later, I can finally hear it. It’s there in my head. It’s in my ears. In my mouth. I’m getting it. What made me try again? I chalk it up to a “growth mindset.” Carol Dweck, writing for Harvard Business Review, defines a growth mindset like this: “Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a
growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts).” My mother, a teacher and linguist, is most responsible for my growth mindset. She never let “I’m just not good at this” be a reason for me to quit. We both acknowledged there are some things I’ll never love doing or want to do for fun (calculus). But with her steady insistence, I came out of childhood with the surety that if I wanted or needed to do something badly enough, I could learn it. And then improve at it. In the case of French, without a growth mindset, I would have quit after the second try. Maybe the first. And I would have missed out on how much fun learning the language has become since passing that hurdle. Am I fluent? A million miles from that. But I’m progressing. Almost everything that’s truly important to me, that’s deeply satisfying, has come not from a surfeit of natural talent but from an obstinate conviction that, with enough effort, I can learn anything. I share this with you, as you contemplate what to do next as your high school career nears its end, neither to brag about being able to speak French (I still speak it like a toddler) or boast of some inspiring or inherent talent I have for learning. Rather the opposite. I’ve found learning many things, important things, things I really wanted and needed to know, incredibly difficult. And you probably will, too. But here’s the secret. When it feels the hardest, the worst, the most difficult, that’s when the magic is happening. Take heart at that moment, because you’re really growing. And there is nothing you can’t achieve. — ERNESTO BURDEN VICE PRESIDENT/PUBLISHER YANKEE PUBLISHING NEW HAMPSHIRE GROUP
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