##No More Snowflakes
Top Talent, Rockstars, A-Players. Tradition states that these are exceptional humans, possessing talents that others do not. The good news is they are not special, they were not born into success.
The better news is that you're not special either.
This talk is about learning to learn, putting ourselves in a place where being more awesome is inevitable. It will explore how the brain's structure changes as we internalize skills and how that can be used to build positive feedback loops. It talks about how I believe that focus itself is an acquired skill and how we can nurture that to build more grit. Finally, we explore how our perception of others effects their ability to grow.
This talk is for anybody who's ready to stop being special and start becoming great.
###Core
#####The desolation of nice, smart, and bad at math. #####Fixed vs growth modes of thinking. What are they and why you care. #####Grades, stack ranking, IQ tests, and other toxins. #####The mechanics of learning; 20 hours 'till fun #####Falling in love with criticism #####Fixed vs fluid teams. How to not be Enron. #####Viewing our inherent traits as absolute kills our growth. #####Viewing others' inherent traits as absolute can kill their growth.
###Potential Points
####Self
- The everybody-gets-a-medal for the sake of self esteem movement created glass egos entitled to effortless victory.
- Tests of absolute traits (IQ, personality) are toxic when misused.
- Put the yoke of genius on somebody you hate. If they try hard then they must not be very smart. To maintain the self-illusion of brilliance they must avoid hard work. To work hard and to fail is to fail without excuses.
- If you're just not talented at (sports, music, math, programming, dancing, drawing) then why bother trying?
- Growth mindset - belief that our abilities can always grow, that our traits are not fixed. That we can always be better tomorrow than today.
- Merely adopting the growth mindset more often can make our lives better. Correlates with grit, perseverance, and resilience.
- A growth mindset is self-hosting. We can practice getting better at adopting it.
####Groups
- Organizations can also adopt a fixed or growth mindset
- Genius, Top Talent, Rockstar, A-Player. Focus on what people ARE can be limiting. If we put people on a pedestal then we must continually re-evaluate them. How many mistakes can somebody make before they no longer have "it"?
- Genius-rockstars are more likely to avoid situations where they look stupid, such as asking questions. They are less likely to seek feedback and will be more brittle when taking criticism.
- The moment we decide somebody is inherently less capable, we ensure that is the case. We're less likely to trust them and give subtle clues. They loose confidence, second guess themselves, and are less likely to put themselves in a position to grow.
- Hard work, creative solution, good question, understandable mistake. Focus on what people do, not what they are, frees them to be whatever they want.