You can learn almost anything that anyone else can this isn't quote I've seen multiple versions of and is something many people need to know
But this quote isn't as black and white as it sounds in this video
I will dig a little deeper so we can understand what we're all capable of doing so let's get started
In the book Mindset which I've talked about many times
The author asks the question can everyone do well like when it comes to Learning Sports Etc
Now we could take this to an extreme and ask could anyone with enough determination in the right Mindset be the next Einstein
Or the next Mozart, but to that extreme
We really don't know many would argue probably not anyone
But unless a person goes through years of very intense study like einstein or mozart did it's very hard to say
But this is talking about the best of the best, and we don't need to be at this level to succeed
but what if we take this scale down a little bit and ask is it possible to walk into the worst high school with
Low-performing students and teach them college-level calculus and have them pass the Ap exam
If this is possible it might reveal that we are at least much more capable than we think we are
Well if you have not seen the movie stand and deliver
I highly recommend you do
It's a movie based on the true story of a teacher who begins teaching at high school in East Los Angeles
Which was one of the worst in the state?
It was a very low-performing high school where students were far behind academically and had serious social issues
The goal this teacher was to have students. Take ap
Calculus a b or first-year calculus by their senior year which was meant basically with remarks like they're just not capable enough by other faculty
Will be eventually not only taught in calculus
But got them to the top of the national charts in which he had more people taking the exam than almost any other school in
the Nation
He had years where around 90% of the students were passing and many were getting fours and fives which were the top scores, you can
This is just one example and doesn't mean we can all become geniuses
but it does mean we are so much more capable than we think we are and what the right Mindset and
Believing that we can learn more many things we think may be out of our reach simply are not
Now we aren't all born equals some people have learning
Disabilities and some people are child prodigies that you hear of doing Algebra like 4 years old
But the interesting thing about these prodigies is that they have an extreme love for learning and challenging themselves
Yes, they are born with some ability
But it grows through constant curiosity and learning
Achievement really comes down to this no matter who you are effort and persistence will take you much further than you may realize
We all have interests that can turn into strong abilities in the same way through persistence
Give an average person the persistence of einstein or Mozart, and we don't know if they could accomplish as much
But we know they would very likely reach levels Beyond. What most can achieve regardless of any pre-existing talent?
Now there's something known as the 10,000 hour rule that you may have heard of but it states that takes
10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become World-class in any field
But experts have dug deeper and analyzed how people practice during those 10,000 hours and look for differences?
If two people put in 10,000 hours of work to become let's say a world-class guitar player or a chess player
It's very possible one will be much better, but why is that?
The answer says experts spend their time focusing on deliberate practice or serious study
This is about working through difficult activities and working on areas that most need improvement
so you can stretch your abilities Beyond most other people and
So good
They can't ignore you cal Newport outlines in comparison with guitar he tells the story of how two guitar players
Start at around the same age and after about six years one is significantly better than the other
Now the thing is the person who got much better did practice a little more?
But it wasn't anything extreme that was not the reason for the difference
through interviews and analyzing practice habits he found that the better player was doing much more deliberate practice as
In the expert player would begin a challenging song he'd never done before
Every time you got a note wrong you would start over until he got it just right
He was constantly looking for more intense songs to learn seeking help from instructors and perfecting his craft
The other player on the other hand hated going through that
He would learn a song and then he would stick with it once he got the hang of it
He felt discomfort playing what he didn't know well now don't get me wrong. He got to a strong level of playing definitely
What you would expect from someone after six years, but the other player was just significantly better
And it can easily be seen why and his exact thing apply to many other fields as well
So here's a takeaway from this if you just work hard you will get better, but you will hit a performance plateau
Especially when you're not challenging areas that need improvement
You see this allows the gym where people gain a certain amount of muscle or lose weight over time
But then the results slow down and they hit that plateau
To overcome this you need to actively be figuring out. What's wrong
You need to look for outside help like with a trainer or online help, and you need to be constantly improving areas that need it
that's the deliberate practice that you need now the thing is this serious study or deliberate practice is typically not enjoyable and
That's exactly where most people don't reach mastery level
This can even be seen when learning a new math
Concept you have to put in deliberate practice and push yourself through what you find challenging and this right here is difficult for people already
They find it mentally uncomfortable. So maybe they just move on to problems. They already know how to do or they find easier
It's definitely not as enjoyable to learn a new
Complicated technique compared to doing a problem you already know but this is how you expand your knowledge and reach that next level of understanding
and
Something to realize is that scientists have studied experts in various fields and besides some clear natural Advantages like being tall and joining the NBA
That we really can't control
scientists have failed to find much evidence at all that says natural ability explains expert success as in the
explanation for most success when it comes to experts in a field is years and years of Deliberate practice and
Pushing through discomfort and over plateaus to get to a level Beyond. What most people can achieve
Yet when we see those people doing incredible things so easily
We automatically attribute it to an eight talent and don't realize all the hard work
They had to go through to get them to where they are
Now this has been talking a lot about experts and mastering something
But what about work common topics like learning that material for your math class or getting through that tough?
Engineering a programming class or just getting your degree and so on that thousands to millions of people have done
Well a researcher named Benjamin bloom worked in the field of educational psychology and worked on many things including mastery learning after
40 years of Intensive research
He said he came to a major conclusion which Matches our other findings
And it's this what any person in the world can learn?
almost all persons can learn if provided with the appropriate prior and current conditions of learning as
If we take everyone out there
and then we don't count the two or three percent of people's severe impairments and
also
Take out those one to two percent of prodigies who have an insane love for learning
Then everyone else can pretty much learn the same material as each other
But it's a matter of how you put in the work. How will you challenge yourself and then executing that determines how much you'll achieve
there of course other factors
but we talk on a general scale this is what it comes down to
And for people who follow this channel saying I don't think I can handle this major
Or can I make it as an engineer or whatever it may be?
Trust me when I say pretty much all engineers scientists doctors even musicians and so on fall into this category
Not all but definitely the majority even most people who go to mit fall in here
They may be the upper tier and have worked very hard to get there, but most people are in this category
And it's really up to you. How hard you want to work to move up to the top?
If you're in a college class with a 12 year old, then yeah that person would be from this category of Prodigies
but again most people are not
And if you're struggling a lot with a class or just school in general right now and don't think you can learn something
what is
Hypothetically they said your final or your next exam was a year from now and on top of that as you get an a you'll
Get let's say $1,000,000
I'm willing to bet you would find a way to not only learn everything but completely master it
Now if your only objection to this is well, okay?
Yeah, I'd study like crazy and probably get really good
But I mean I would have an entire year to study and also really strong incentive which is isn't reality
Then right there you have at least admitted to yourself that you do have the ability to learn the topic
It's just a matter of how much time you have to do so which means now
It's a matter of managing your time properly and putting in the right work to learn as much as possible and push past any plateaus
If it's early in the term then guess what your final is months away?
And you do have the time to start putting in the work now you
can learn it dozens of your classmates have to and
Thousands to millions of people depending on subject have learned it before you
Many of whom were no smarter than you and that sign says there's really no reason you can't do the same
Now I'll leave you with this anyone who's ahead of where you are right now
You may think was born smarter or more talented than you?
But very likely and especially as you get older they have been using better strategies
Practiced harder and push through obstacles more and if you want to you can do all this - it's your choice
And there's so much less holding you back, then you probably think I
Hope this helped give you some motivation
And if you liked the video don't forget to comment like and subscribe, and I'll see you all next time
you