Episode #10: "Grit and Learning"

Transcript

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Simply Brilliant. I'd like to talk today about grit and learning. I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of our viewers. While we do this for thought leadership and for education, and we do it for our own selves, our own enjoyment and betterment, I must admit that it's really nice to get the accolades that we receive, whether in person or via email. So thank you very much for your feedback. It really makes a big difference.

Turning to today's topics about learning and the quest for perpetual learning, my wife and I enrolled all three of our children into progressive education. The primary reason is that we want them to want to learn and be enthralled by the concept of learning. While there's nothing wrong with rogue memorization, it's not something that we particularly subscribe to. So the concept of learning for learning's sake and always being curious is really important.

In fact, curiosity is one of the things that we hire for. When we look at candidates at Brilliant, one of the things we want to see is, how curious are they? Are they naturally curious? Are they inquisitive? Are they problem solvers? Do they seek to find truth and rely on themselves? So one of the things that we talk about when it comes to learning, is sort of taking candid feedback in a positive fashion, and I'll give a prime example.

My youngest daughter was enrolled in a ski racing camp over Thanksgiving break, and her coach was a four-time female Olympian, Sarah Schleper. She's an incredible person, an incredible athlete, an incredible coach. When I picked up my daughter after the first day of skiing, I said, "So how did it go today? What feedback did you get?" She said, "Well, Sarah said, and I quote, I 'sucked' today."

And I thought, "Oh, my goodness. What's going to happen? How did she respond to this? What is she going to think about all of this?" In the end, she rose to the challenge. She decided that she was gonna do something about it. She didn't like hearing that she sucked. She didn't take it personally. She didn't let her ego get in the way. She said, "I'm going to do something about it." I was incredibly proud of her, when at the end of the week, my daughter, Victoria, won the Most Improved Athlete for that period of time.

So that sort of self-determination where you're going to take feedback and not fold...and we've seen it happen with friends and employees and others, where you'll offer candid feedback in a very direct fashion, meant to improve and be supportive, and so on and so forth, and ego gets in the way. Or somebody thinks that you're wrong and so they quit, or something like that. So I think that the pursuit of doing things better, learning, and wanting to improve, and that determination is really critical.

The other thing I would talk about is, my kids at their private school, again, are having their music concert this week. So I went and I listened to my daughter in sixth grade, and I was very impressed that a non-music oriented school could turn out a classroom of kids that could perform this classical music just by the fact that they practice and they repeat. Right? That's really all they do. I don't think it's a world-class music institution.

I think while the educators are very talented and caring, the kids may or may not be interested in classical music or the violin, or whatever it is that they're playing. But because it's part of their curriculum, they show up, they practice, they're supposed to practice at home. My guess is some of them do, some of them don't. But the point is, there's a curriculum. They go through the process. Just getting together, whatever it is, twice a week for an hour and practicing, and doing a little bit of practice at home, they could put it all together and they could play this beautiful piece of music.

What was amazing to me was then listening to the seventh-graders, and then followed by the eighth-graders, going through the same program, just how much an additional year of practice of an instrument and education really improved. It was discernible between the sixth grade and the seventh grade, and the eighth grade. So one of the things that we talked about, as I sat there listening to them, enjoying the music, I couldn't help but think, "Wow. This is incredible. The human species can sit, and just through repetition and practice, learn something that they're not naturally capable of doing and improve over time, and you can hear it between the sixth grade, the seventh grade, and the eighth grade.

I thought to myself, "Well, what if people were really engaged in what it was that they were doing, whether employees or students, or athletes?" But instead of just showing up for the classroom and going through the motions for an hour and playing the violin, or whatever instrument it is, what if you were really, really engaged? And you were in that moment, and you were really eager to learn and do the best performance you could, and you took feedback positively, and you were determined to improve and so on, how much better would those people be?

I think that the answer is, those folks are enrolled likely in a music school and they're doing far better work. I think at the end of the day, the people that have the grit and the determination, the perseverance, the drive, the confidence to succeed ultimately find superior education in the way of leadership or mentorship, or better educators. So for instance, my oldest daughter swims. We just moved her from the varsity swim team to a swim league, and the reason is because she gets better coaching. They focus a lot more on the stroke, on the glide, and then on the little things that really make a huge difference. Right?

Like, the start, if you get a better start or a worse start, that could be the difference between first, second, or third place. It's that close. Likewise, the flip-turn at the end of the lap, the people that make the turn the most effective and efficient and with the best technique can oftentimes win. When I watched her at her most recent meet, I was disappointed at her flip-turn. It wasn't very good. She actually came out underwater almost in the neighboring lane, and that's just an inefficient use of energy. That should be forward momentum, as opposed to sideways.

So, the desire to learn and grow, and practice and be diligent, with proper coaching and mentoring, and dedication and perseverance, can lead to great things. So, I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts on learning and grit with our audience. Thank you very much for watching this episode of Simply Brilliant. We hope you've enjoyed it. We'd encourage you to share this with all your friends, and go ahead and subscribe. So, with that, thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.

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