The Power of Yet…basic human abilities can be grown.

I love psychologist Carol Dweck, PhD. !

She is a professor of Psychology at Stanford University and has pioneered the area of Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset throughout her 20+ years of research. The concept is that a Fixed Mindset brain believes if a goal has not been achieved in this present moment, it will not ever happen and failure has already occurred. Whereas a Growth Mindset brain believes that the goal has not been achieved YET, and therefore success is merely a matter of time. This one tiny word has large ramifications on the brain and the active use of (belief in) it causes different areas of the brain to light up. Carol has lots of brain scans to prove it. Her work came onto my radar because she has specifically studied brains of children.

She says,

“If parents want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning. The way, their children don’t have to be slaves to praise. They will have a lifelong way to build and repair their own confidence.”

Her book is called, MINDSET. She discusses how the neurons in the brain can develop more connections when children are praised for the process and not the result because that parenting style cultivates the power of YET. This will be a game changer in your parenting and probably only require a small shift.

As you can imagine, she has many lectures on the topic but here is one of my favorites.

Here is a good animated explanation on this topic as well. It explores the impact that parenting could have in the environment of a child’s development.

The Power of Play

Neuroscience is a fascinating topic that I began to study while getting my coaching certification. The brain areas that are triggered by behavior, learning style, and emotional state are at just the tip of what we are learning we can impact.

In 2017 the LEGO Foundation curated a very informative white paper called, Neuroscience and learning through play: a review of the evidence

Claire Liu, S. Lynneth Solis, Hanne Jensen, Emily Hopkins, Dave Neale, Jennifer Zosh, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, & David Whitebread

You can read it here.