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Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is the idea that we can literally rewire our brain. The brain creates pathways for ideas and tasks that are performed by a person. The more those neurological pathways are accessed, the quicker those neural operations become. Neurologists have concluded that when a neural pathway is accessed regularly, the brain creates a more direct neural pathway that allows the person to recall, remember or access that information faster than ever before. This means that the more we think about something, reflect on something or visualise something, the better able we are to perform those tasks.

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is one focussed on possibility and potential. There is no room for failure because failure doesn't exist.

This sprint was the most difficult one yet. I got error message after error message and felt I had burnt out 100 times. With this many 'failures', normally, I would have abandoned the task I was performing altogether and probably email Jack and demand an immediate withdrawal.I would be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind. I'd also be lying if I said that all it took was watching one Ted talk to change the way I felt and have always felt about failure and success. I see this as something that I have to practice and slowly develop over time. It was hard. One morning I was in front of my laptop at 2am on one of the kata challenges trying to reassure myself over and over that I was going to do it ...but I just got angry because somewhere deep inside I was still hung up on this idea of underperforming...or failure. It was just another lesson for me that it's one thing to know something and another thing to practice it. It helped to think that I might not have gotten things perfect, but I'll get there, and though my code might not pass the tests right now, I know I've broken the questions down into smaller tasks, I know what needs to be done at each step of the way, which is the most important thing.

It's really funny. I did a lot of research to answer this question, I had a generic URL I was about to link; but as I am typing this, I'm listening to an audiobook about growing wealth that is talking about this precise issue right now. Maybe it's a sign. Chapter 5 of Jen Sincero's 'You are a Badass at Making Money' summarises the growth mindset eloquently and in the most relevant way possible. I don't have a link for the book, but you can purchase it much cheaper than anywhere else here.

It will be a good idea to go back and revise my learning plan to include some of the more salient points.

Things I will include in my new learning plan

    Visualisation
    Giving more focus and attention to my work
    More focus on planning the task in my mind before going to my laptop
    Keeping it moving, even if I get stuck, move on to something else and keep the momentum high
    After having learnt something new, recall the steps in my mind as to how I did it step by step
    Not getting caught up on not getting things right now, and being certain that I just don't fully get it YET, but I'll get there...and watch out when I do