Old Becomes New Again

Dr. Travis Bradberry wrote an interesting article about the importance of learning. Bradberry cited research from Stanford University conducted by Carol Dweck and her team that focused on people who were struggling with their performance. Her research project involved two groups that were given specific tasks. One group was taught how to perform better on a task that they had performed poorly in. For the task that the second group performed badly in, this group was taught they were not stuck and that improving their performance was a choice and, in fact, that learning produces physiological changes in the brain, just like exercise changes muscles. All they needed to do was believe in themselves to make it happen.

Upon readdressing the two groups a few months later, the first groups was doing their task even worse. The second group that had been taught that they had the power to change their brains and improve their performance themselves improved dramatically.

Bradberry’s take on Dweck’s research is that we should never get complacent with the skills we have acquired. We should never stop learning. He says that the moment we think we are who we are is the moment we give away our unrealized potential. In fact, he writes that the act of learning is every bit as important as what you learn.

This is why I love kung fu. I have been practicing the art for almost four decades and I never stop learning. As my body ages and injuries pile on, I have to adapt to my changing reality and learn to cope and compete under a new set of rules. The old becomes new again.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)