🤯 Nueroplasticity & Mindset 🤯
Nueroplasticity
Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to change, change meaning the ability to make new connections within the brain, or scientifically speaking the creation of new connections between neurons within the brain.
Proverbs such as "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" are a load of bulls**t, and only exist due to the old way of thinking that intelligence was a fixed attribute, recent studies have proven that our brain can repair and rewire itself.
Benefits of Nueroplasticity
The benefits of neuroplasticity are not limited to any person, situation, or ailment; the principles can benefit students, leaders, people with disabilities, stroke sufferers, victims of crime, & the list goes on. Neuroplasticity's benefits are also wide-ranging; some of the more common applications are learning new skills or languages, regaining mobility after injury, building confidence, overcoming trauma, overcoming procrastination, and moving on from past life events.
Increasing Nueroplasticity
Stimulation is the key to learning and therefore the growth of the brain. The more enriched and diverse experiences we have, the more stimulation and potential for new connections to be made, this is the key to increasing neuroplasticity and growing the brain.
Most of us don't always recognise the opportunities for growth due to our conditioning, life situation, and other outside influences; however, the opportunities are obvious and available to those who are aware. Some of the ways of increasing neuroplasticity are:
- Ironically, having a good knowledge of neuroplasticity unlocks the potential to increase neuroplasticity
- Be a life long learner (I.E always seeking new knowledge like learning an instrument, language, etc)
- Create a purpose for what you are trying to learn
- Quality rest and sleep
- Reduce stressors in life. Some great ways of doing this include travel, exercise, getting out in nature, & meditation
- Play video games, sounds lush but most modern video games do increase valuable attributes such as problem-solving, coordination, and cognitive function
I recently purchased a Udemy course called 'Neuroplasticity: How To Rewire Your Brain' developed by Gregory Caremans. The course has been quite life-changing for me and I would highly recommend it to anyone seeking to explore the subject further. See the following link:
Udemy:'Nueroplasticity: How to rewire your brain'Growth Mindset
The growth mindset is a state of mind, it is an approach-based methodology that encourages us to view our abilities as malleable and to thrive on the challenge of continual learning and growth. The opposing mindset is fixed, where we view ourselves as static in intelligence, characteristics, etc, and therefore avoid challenges due to the risk of failure to live up to these fixed characteristics.
We can dip in and out of the two mindsets quite easily based on our life situation; the most important part is having the awareness to understand our current mindset and work towards cultivating a mindset more synonymous with growth. This is where neuroplasticity can intersect to help us to shift our mindset.
My Exploration
During this exploration it did become apparent why I have felt discontent in my previous role in my career, my mindset towards the majority of the situation was very fixed which did impact my achievement and growth during the 3 years. On reflection, since finishing there my mindset has opened up and is slowly moving back to a place of growth, this exploration has assured me that I made the right decision to return to study and change my career path.
I have kept saying to myself that I am going to enjoy the process and remove goal or outcome-focused orientation, without knowing it this was telling myself to get into a growth mindset; I will be continuing with this self-talk and continually remind myself to enjoy the process and learning until it becomes more innate.
Impacts On My Learning Plan
The learnings from this exploration will help supplement my learning plan quite nicely in terms of being more focused on enjoying the process and learning and less outcome-oriented. I will be completing a Udemy course on neuroplasticity over the next 2 weeks, this will help me to accelerate my learning and overcome procrastination
In terms of my networking skills and interaction with fellow EDA students and facilitators, cultivating a growth mindset will help me to refrain from making comparisons and therefore connect with people on a deeper level.