What is it you really want in life? No matter what you choose, obstacles are part of the journey. You have an opportunity to leverage your experiences of defeat and utilize these moments to increase your learning mindset. The circumstances for personal growth depend on your attitude and choice about failure. [Read more…] about Leveraging Failure to Propel You Toward Growth
Learning
The Mindset of Exploration – Be an Explorer of the World and Your Heart
You don’t have to be an expert to be an explorer. Anyone can do it at any age. Exploration is about mindset.
Explore. Traverse for the purpose of discovery. Oh, the places to go!
All around there’s a world courting us with curiosity and wonder. There are also places within us that we have yet uncovered.
What amazes you?
What makes you curious?
Where do you want to go with your life?
Fuel your inquiring mind by being an explorer of possibilities both around you and within you. A movement toward understanding is an expanding mindset. Plus, a bent toward forward thinking equals an energy of expansion.
Do not limit your possibilities. Continue to kindle your desire for learning. Be intentional about your exploration, both of the world and of your heart.
Take time to learn something new about the world. In addition, spend some time in self-reflection and allow new insights to emerge.
What have you learned today?
Is there something you still need to learn?
What are you eager to discover tomorrow?
I welcome your comments.
What does mental fitness mean to you?
What does mental fitness mean to you? How do you practice fitness for your psychological well-being?
Physical fitness, the health of physical well-being, is a significant core value for me. Mental fitness, the health of psychological well-being, is also a fundamental principle in my commitment to personal growth.
Learning is one of the ways I strengthen my mental fitness. Knowledge is a process, a journey, part of growth mindset, a mentality of expansive possibility and opportunity. I keep my brain in shape through reading and finding time for critical thinking as much as possible.
Foster Your Intellectual Well-Being
There are other ways to nurture your mental well-being. Some examples are working puzzles, playing chess or other strategy games, and doing problem-solving work. Other approaches involve introducing diverse mental challenges to stimulate your brain.
Change your routine by interjecting something different to challenge your mind. Just like physical fitness, you don’t want to do the same exercises over and over again, or your intellect becomes stale. Challenge yourself to do various exercises on a regular basis to improve.
What helps you strengthen your mental fitness? What activities challenge your mind?
I welcome your comments.
When you fail, fail forward
How do you learn from your mistakes? How do you fail forward?
What helps you grow from failure?
Failure. Mistakes. Errors. No one is exempt from failure. Everyone makes mistakes. The notion of a perfect human being is a misnomer. Fact: failure happens – to all of us. We all make mistakes. How we learn from them makes the difference in life.
A mistake tells you there’s something else you need to learn. Something more needs improving.
Don’t Practice Errors
Several years ago while studying classical guitar, my instructor would continually coach me in a mantra-like cadence, “Do not practice mistakes.” He stressed that practice makes permanent, so don’t practice errors. Whenever and wherever you make a mistake, stop and then work through the measure or section. Practice slowly at first until you can play through the interval flawlessly. Then practice at tempo. Again, once you can play through the section error-free, then you can go on to the next measure. My instructor’s advice stays with me.
His other advice that sticks with me is to learn a piece of music by starting at the end, the last measure, then work your way back to the beginning. When you make a mistake, stop. Then take the time to learn where and why you made the error in the music. Practice slowly, going over the fingering of each note and practice the section until it is error-free. Then practice at tempo with no mistakes before moving back to the next measure. Repeat this until you reach the beginning, and then play the piece forward to the end. My instructor mentioned this technique is also an excellent way to memorize the music. His point: Learn from the mistake. Understand why you made the error. Slow down. Practice with purpose to improve. Fail forward.
No Mistakes, Only Great Recoveries
With humans, there is no such thing as perfection. (Full disclosure: I am a recovering perfectionist). On the weekends, I direct a volunteer Gospel Choir. One of my mantras I tell them about singing and playing is, “There are no mistakes, only great recoveries.” I learned this kernel of wisdom from one of my theology professors during graduate school for my Masters of Divinity. During a class on worship and ritual, she used that phrase often to remind us that mistakes happen. We are not perfect, and there is no such thing as flawless worship. She stressed that it is essential to keep moving forward in the liturgical ritual and not let your mistakes be a distraction to other people’s praying. In other words, don’t telegraph your mistakes. Recover quickly, and keep moving forward.
Fail Forward
Fall forward. This advice came from my oldest brother, Tom. He was always about a growth mindset, having a positive attitude, and learning from your mistakes. He reminded me that progress happens in the learning and the constant moving forward toward your objective or goal. Failure will occur again, and you may go back now and then. The essential point is to keep learning and growing. Let your mistakes propel you toward improvement.
In the last year of his life, during his battle with lung cancer, he shared the following insights with my family and me:
Fail and fall forward toward getting better. Failure is inevitable. Learning from the mistake is optional. Deciding to grow and get better is up to each one of us. Choose to fail forward in life.
How does failure propel you toward personal growth?
What have you learned about yourself from past failures?
I welcome your comments.
Gratitude and appreciation to my classical guitar instructor, Steven Novacek, on the concept of not practicing errors; to my theology professor, Sister Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, on the wisdom of no mistakes, only great recoveries; and in memory of my brother, Charles Thomas Pyles, Jr., whose spirit keeps encouraging me toward living fully as my best self, even with all my flaws.
If You Read One Life-Changing Book This Year, Read This One – Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
If You Read One Life-Changing Book This Year, Read This One – Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential
There are very few books I have read where I can honestly say they have had a significant influence on me. This book is one of the exceptions. The insights from Carol Dweck’s book have been a game-changer and continue to expand my personal growth and potential. If I list the top five books that have changed my life in a positive direction, this would be the number one book so far.
Carol Dweck writes of growth mindset. Your mindset guides a large part of your life. Fixed and growth are the two types of mindsets we all have. Mindsets are beliefs, and we have both within us. According to Dweck, the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.
Dweck uses research to support her findings in the book. However, the read is not a total head trip. Her insights are understandable and practical in everyday aspects of living – work environment, relationships, parenting, school, leadership, and coaching. [Read more…] about If You Read One Life-Changing Book This Year, Read This One – Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
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