Stop Punishing Yourself

The e-mail we get from our customers is often brilliant. For example:

“My husband did not watch the instructional video at first and was spending a long time on each question, acting like he was supposed to know them after one viewing and feeling “stupid” for not getting it right away.

Even after watching the instructions twice, I noticed he was still reluctant to let go of this learning style.

I’ve noticed in my teaching (math, mostly) that many people have had this style beaten into them and they enforce it on themselves now:

Receive information ==> regurgitate information ==> get punished for not getting it right.”

Change Your Attitude

If you attended a public or private school in, say, the last 100 years, that’s how you were taught to learn. Receive information … tell it back to the teacher … get punished when you’re wrong.

It’s a hard habit to change … but you really need to do it.

Just take a minute and tell yourself something radical. Say out loud, “My mistakes are OK.”

Now try being even more radical and say, “My mistakes are an important part of my learning process.”

It’s a very different attitude …

… and it will help you learn a lot faster.