This video clip explains how these relationships influence student learning and behavior.

For a succinct summary of . . . → Read More: Increasing Learning by Minding Mindset]]> The story of “The Little Engine That Could” illustrates the ideas of belief, effort, achievement, and confidence. If we connect these ideas, we notice the following relationships: belief influences effort; effort influences achievement; achievement influences confidence.

This video clip explains how these relationships influence student learning and behavior.

For a succinct summary of the research findings regarding mindset, it’s tough to beat this quote attributed to Henry Ford: “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

The complete “Increasing Learning by Minding Mindset” is available via ACSI’s Nexus portal, http://my.acsi.org.

Ideas evolve daily. Some live briefly, some lay dormant, but others grow. They become a vision: This is what [my students, my school, my business, my world] would look like as a result of this idea. Soon, strategy becomes critical for moving ideology to practicality, and eventually, measurable objectives are developed to measure evidence of vision . . . → Read More: 15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Educational Consultant]]>

Ideas evolve daily. Some live briefly, some lay dormant, but others grow. They become a vision: This is what [my students, my school, my business, my world] would look like as a result of this idea. Soon, strategy becomes critical for moving ideology to practicality, and eventually, measurable objectives are developed to measure evidence of vision fulfillment.

Every school has a vision statement that is constantly challenged by political, scientific, donor, curricular influencers and more. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to help align strategies and objectives for a missional integrity that flourish under scrutiny and testing. Working with a qualified, effective individual is critical. Here are 15 questions to ask before hiring an educational consultant:

1. Does the consultant show genuine interest in your school’s vision?
2. Does the consultant have expertise in an area you perceive as needing attention?
3. What certification, experience, and other valid indicators of expertise does the consultant possess?
4. Is the consultant up-to-date on research related to the topic being addressed?
5. Does the consultant’s approach and/or program help your school better align its mission and practices?
6. Does the consultant’s approach and/or program increase the intentionality with which teachers make instructional decisions?
7. Is the consultant multi-disciplinary in his/her research and development? Is the approach/program constructed on a sufficient base of diverse but related fields?
8. Does the consultant hold and promote a holistic view of the learner? Does he/she view the learner as more than empty vessels to be filled?
9. Does the consultant plan to follow up and does he/she welcome after-event inquiries and requests?
10. Does the consultant use methods and tools that he/she encourages teachers to utilize?
11. Does the consultant’s approach/program benefit teachers and students in all desired grade levels and disciplines?
12. Does the consultant’s approach/program help teachers learn why and not just what to do?
13. Does the consultant’s approach/program have enough practical application, not just head knowledge, for teachers?
14. Does the consultant’s approach/program help teachers understand how to foster learning more effectively? Are solutions offered and not just problems identified?
15. Has the consultant pursued and been granted graduate credit status through an accredited institution for his/her program?

The consultation process is a relationship; vision focuses the effort and willingness fosters development and growth. Make an informed decision to be sure your ideas—your vision—will thrive and flourish.

Throughout childhood we are aware of vertical development. Many a kitchen wall holds the recorded history of young upward growth. As adults we may be more concerned about horizontal expansion. Thankfully the bathroom scale doesn’t generate a similar, wall-based record.

Physical growth is automatic; personal and professional growth, in contrast, are optional. We . . . → Read More: Cultivate a Learning Mindset: Growth]]>

Throughout childhood we are aware of vertical development. Many a kitchen wall holds the recorded history of young upward growth. As adults we may be more concerned about horizontal expansion. Thankfully the bathroom scale doesn’t generate a similar, wall-based record.

Physical growth is automatic; personal and professional growth, in contrast, are optional. We have to choose to learn and to apply our learning to our practice. Part of maintaining a learning mindset is making those choices again and again.

Here are three actions that indicate we are making those choices:

• Seeking challenge. Ever notice when driving on a flat, mostly straight highway that it’s easy to zone out and drive for miles unaware that you’re moving? It’s as if you are on an endless plateau. Challenge is minimal, change is almost nonexistent, and trajectory is uni-level. Other than the driver’s open eyes, it is difficult to know if he’s even conscious of his minimal actions.

  When we resist or avoid challenge, we plateau, and like a zoned-out driver, we make only the movements required to stay between the lines. We’re active, but we lose effectiveness. Pretty soon, when the road curves, as it eventually will, we may struggle to keep our vehicle between the lines.

  The way off this sleepy highway? Challenge. When we allow ourselves—our ideas, our practices—to be challenged, we engage thought processes that spark growth and improvement.

  Challenges are opportunities, not obstructions. When perceived this way, challenges engage our emotions, focus our attention, and activate our strategic thinking abilities. Strategic thinking creates the possibility of strategic action, which can lead to changes in thinking and behavior.

  As a runner, I know the power of challenge. I have yet to start a race with an absolute certainty of how I will finish. Yet, the power of a challenge—the wonder of the “what if?”—propels me to embrace the mission. Sometimes I feel like I finished a race in a blaze of glory. Other times I feel the sting of not-quite. Even in failure, when the challenge remains unmet, I’ve grown through the strategy and action the challenge sparked. Without the challenge, without a goal that is beyond what I’ve accomplished before, I zone out; I run a casual race. No challenge, no improvement in results, and no growth.

  Don’t hide from challenge; seek it!

• Inviting feedback. Feedback comes in many forms. Failure, when viewed correctly, is a form of feedback. So are observations and insights shared by a knowing colleague. Research demonstrates repeatedly that increased feedback in classrooms produces deeper learning and greater achievement. The same is true in life’s other arenas. To grow, pursue and remain open to feedback.

  Early in my professional career I worked next to an amazing teacher. She was effective in every detail related to teaching and learning. Classroom management? She created and maintained an optimal learning environment. Engaging teaching? She knew how to mix methods, tools, and humor to gain and keep student attention and how to provoke deep learning. My respect for her enabled me, even in my new-teacher-insecure state, to seek and accept her feedback. I became a teacher through her informal mentoring.

  Seeking and remaining open to feedback does not mean that all feedback is equal and should be heeded. Listening and understanding does not equal adopting another’s perspective. We certainly need to be cautious of whose feedback we regard and the wisdom of any reviews we receive. However, pursuing growth without feedback means we’re on our own, striving to improve ourselves with only ourselves for direction. Is such growth possible? Absolutely. Is it wise? efficient? humble?

• Reflecting on practice. The phrase measurable results ignites strong opinions and loud discussions among educators. Let’s remove standardized test scores from the current discussion and think instead about quantifiable elements that reveal important details about our practices.

  For example, many teachers wait minimal amounts of time after asking questions. In fact, the average wait time is a single second—one tick of the clock passes between a teacher posing a question and calling on a student to reply. Simply increasing that to 3-7 seconds produces better responses, more student engagement, AND facilitates better questions.¹ Wait time is measurable. It is something an observer could quantify. Knowing what our average wait times are could help us adopt better practices that would make us more effective.

  Research also suggests that increasing the amount of instructive feedback we provide will increase and deepen learning. How many students receive feedback from you in a class period? This could be observed and could form a basis for improvement (or congratulations) in this area.

  However, not everything worthwhile can be counted. For example, classroom atmosphere contributes to (or detracts from) learning. Classrooms with a “nurturing atmosphere,” in which our best teaching practices have optimal effect, are characterized by trust, motivation, and accountability. While we can practice behaviors that contribute to such an atmosphere, these traits can only be sensed. That does not diminish their importance or the possibility of getting feedback on them. For example, when you ask visitors to your classroom, office, or workplace to describe the atmosphere, what terms do they use? Those descriptors indicate the characteristics they sensed. If they describe something other than an optimal environment, we can work on changing ourselves so that our influence on the environment is in more positive directions. In other words, we can grow.

Pencil marks on a wall tell a story of growth. Apart from physical height, it’s a story we must continue to write if we are to remain effective. Challenge, feedback, and reflection produce the best personal stories.

References

1. Ferlazzo, L. & Hull-Sypnieski, K., “Developing a Self-Motivated Student Culture” (presentation at Learning and the Brain: Using Brain Science to Boost Social and Emotional Skills, February 2014).

“I’m so stupid. I’ll never get this!” The message looped inside Kent’s mind, its echoes blinding him to any way forward. When his teacher came by, she assumed he was daydreaming and not giving the practice exercises any effort. A reprimand followed, Kent looked back at the work in front of him, and . . . → Read More: Teaching Resilience: Reflection]]>

“I’m so stupid. I’ll never get this!” The message looped inside Kent’s mind, its echoes blinding him to any way forward. When his teacher came by, she assumed he was daydreaming and not giving the practice exercises any effort. A reprimand followed, Kent looked back at the work in front of him, and the audio loop returned. “I’m stupid,” it reverberated. “I’ll never get this.”

In addition to imagination, fostering students’ reflection abilities helps them develop resilience. We can equip students to think their ways out of defeat and into healthy mind states where learning — deep learning, in fact — can happen. Continued at SmartBlog on Education

PHOTO CREDIT
Davide Restivo/flickrcc

Samantha exhales and brings her hands to the sides of her forehead. Her thoughts begin a downward spiral. “I can only get so far before I don’t know what to do next. I’m not good at writing. I never have been, and don’t think I ever will be.” Her teacher, Mr. Williams, watches . . . → Read More: Teaching Resilience: Imagination]]>

Samantha exhales and brings her hands to the sides of her forehead. Her thoughts begin a downward spiral. “I can only get so far before I don’t know what to do next. I’m not good at writing. I never have been, and don’t think I ever will be.” Her teacher, Mr. Williams, watches her pencil drop to the desk and recognizes the look of surrender on her face. Undaunted, he approaches her desk… Continued at SmartBlog on Education

PHOTO CREDIT
Lauren Manning/flickrcc

Creativity. The word stirs and scares us. We associate it with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Barrie’s Peter Pan, Botticelli’s Temptations of Christ, and other incomparable artistic achievements. But creativity empowers more than art; it is found wherever success and effectiveness thrive, and in organizations characterized by a learning mindset.

Creativity arises . . . → Read More: Cultivate a Learning Mindset: Creativity]]>

Creativity. The word stirs and scares us. We associate it with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Barrie’s Peter Pan, Botticelli’s Temptations of Christ, and other incomparable artistic achievements. But creativity empowers more than art; it is found wherever success and effectiveness thrive, and in organizations characterized by a learning mindset.

Dis- & Re-

Creativity arises from a readiness to dis- and re-assemble. Researcher and author Nancy Andreasen suggests this willingness is key to creative thinking: “…during the creative process the brain begins by disorganizing, making links between shadowy forms of objects or symbols or words or remembered experiences that have not been previously linked. Out of this disorganization, self-organization eventually emerges and takes over in the brain. The result is a completely new and original thing: a mathematical function, a symphony, or a poem.”¹ Creative thinkers eagerly break apart entities—both concrete and conceptual—and reassemble the pieces in new ways to craft or express something in a novel way.

Children playing with interlocking blocks provide an effective metaphor. The building built in the last round of play gets disassembled and its component blocks are reassembled into a fighter jet. The child enjoys the current structure but also anticipates what could be next. There is a pleasant tension between what currently exists and what could result from dis- and re-assembling.

Such readiness in practicing professionals keeps individuals and organizations growing. Healthy institutions know what works today may not work tomorrow. When results from the status quo diminish, a readiness to dis- and re-assemble is a positive vital sign.

Working for the New

Disassembling may reveal a need for new tactics rather than a restructuring of established practices. Perspective, more than any other factor, influences the success of new ideas. When individuals possess a willingness to work on establishing something new, results can exceed expectations.

For example, a school in the Southeastern United States recognized its current approach to training students in writing was not producing the desired results. They used a week-long professional development event to spark thinking and discussion about what writing instruction should “look like” in their classrooms. Building on what they learned from the course and what they knew from experience, the teachers developed approaches and materials to support a new and effective approach to training student writers. Organizations with learning mindsets keep what works while learning new routes to increased effectiveness. They have a willingness to work for something new.

Equipping & Enabling

Growth is free, but sparking it often requires investing. Organizations treasuring a learning mindset devote resources to equipping and enabling their most valuable assets: their people. Failing to devote time, energy, and yes, money, to professional development indicates an institution in decline. While professional growth can and should be a personal pursuit, it is beneficial for us to be challenged by others, by individuals we may not encounter via social media or even books and graduate classes. These sparks can move minds, making new solutions and new approaches more likely.

For example, I find it beneficial to attend conferences where I encounter neurocognitive researchers and learn about their findings and conclusions. I become aware of concepts I would likely not encounter any other way, and when I return home, these sparks, these new ideas, fire my own thinking about the brain, learning, and potential applications to teaching. These discoveries lead to new approaches and results in my own work with educators.

We don’t have to be Beethoven to allow creativity to help us and our organizations produce exceptional results. As with many things, how we think, how we approach our work, and how we use our resources determines our continued vitality.

References

1. Andreasen, N.C., The Creative Brain: The Science of Genius (New York: Penguin Group, 2005), 77-78.

The cluster of strangers sitting or standing closely together reveals where an airport gate’s electrical outlets are located. Most travelers follow the unwritten rule of leaving an empty seat between them and the nearest fellow traveler. (Apparently we replicate what we hope to find in airplane seating while still at the gate.) However, . . . → Read More: Cultivate a Learning Mindset: Passion]]>

The cluster of strangers sitting or standing closely together reveals where an airport gate’s electrical outlets are located. Most travelers follow the unwritten rule of leaving an empty seat between them and the nearest fellow traveler. (Apparently we replicate what we hope to find in airplane seating while still at the gate.) However, when your phone has only 5% of its battery life left, the unwritten rule cedes its power to your need for a recharge.

Cell phone batteries do not recharge themselves. They give us network access for a certain amount of time. Then, without a cord and an outlet, they shut down. No more texting, no more surfing, not even a non-emergency phone call. Wouldn’t it be great if their batteries were in a constant state of energy renewal, if they never needed outside assistance to become useful again? At the very least, it would make the outlet Twister games between fellow airline travelers optional.

An organization characterized by a learning mindset seems to have found the secret to self-sustaining energy—a resource we call “passion.” Passion fuels pursuit and achievement. It finds untapped wells when energy levels run low and prevents determination and progress from dwindling. It’s invisible, but its effects are observable.

What can be seen in an organization with a learning mindset characterized by passion?

Eagerness. Eagerness, the excitement—or at least the will—to grow exceeds reluctance and resistance, even when it requires learning. I have worked with several organizations looking to improve their outcomes. While individual responses to improvement initiatives differ, the spectrum includes three general groups: the enthusiastic crusaders, the cautiously curious, and the unhearing critics. The first group, the enthusiastic crusaders, are usually anxious to move from the current station of teaching to any train going in another direction. The third group, the unhearing critics, desire their own status quo. They are usually biding their time until the next holiday break, summer, or the day they can leave the organization.

The middle group, the cautiously curious, provides the stability and progress needed to make the desired change reality. Their eagerness is slightly greater than their questions; in other words, they want to know more, even when the answers they receive differ from their expectations. In fact, their questions indicate focused attention, which is essential for constructing understanding. “As we focus on what we are learning,” explains Daniel Goleman, “the brain maps that information on what we already know, making new neural connections.”¹ It is such connections between the new and the known that promote practical and flexible comprehension. The cautiously curious may not be an initiative’s initial cheerleaders, but their eagerness to understand makes them solid long-term supporters and effective practitioners.

Desire. The cautiously curious are guarded for a good reason; they desire to understand underlying principles rather than thoughtlessly follow a prescribed sequence of steps. The understanding they’ve carefully constructed directs continued effectiveness when current practices do not yield results. They act intentionally, knowing why what they do works.

They are like experienced surgeons. They know the way to get from Point A to Point B (or C or D or…), but they also know what to do when an unexpected curve shows up in the process. A surgeon who only knows the procedure when everything goes according to plan is likely to panic, proceed without attending to the changed circumstances, or quit mid-way through and blame the process (or other colleagues) for the poor results.

Recognizing that understanding enables strategic thinking, the learning mindset desires deep-rooted comprehension of research and practice.

Self-direction. Initial success can be circumstantial; sustained success results from continual growth. A passionate practitioner, be that a tennis player, a teacher, an architect, or any other example of accomplished human endeavor, seeks new growth and improved capacity without external prompting or extrinsic motivation.

We occasionally play a game with our dog Ernest (named after the Oscar Wilde play). We show him that we have a treat, and then we make him sit while we hide it. When we say, “Okay!,” he begins to search, mostly following his nose. If the treat is well hidden, he will occasionally stop and look to us for guidance, but he never gives up. That treat will be found! Of course as soon as he finds it, he thinks we should play another round.

Ernest is a great metaphor for a self-directed learner. There is something to be discovered, to be known, and once it’s understood, there is something else to pursue. While there may be pauses for guidance along the way, the passion for comprehending is greater than the challenge of the pursuit.

So, when it comes to you and your organization:

Is an eagerness to grow evident, even when it means learning and mastering new concepts and skills? Are we eager, ready to learn?

Is there a desire for understanding so that intentional action and flexible strategizing is possible? Are we applying our minds to constructing deep and useful understandings?

Is there a self-driven striving for continual growth, a drive that is not dependent on approval, kudos, or rewards from external sources? Are we pursuing new learning because we love our craft?

In short, are we (Am I? Are you? Are our organizations?) passionate practitioners? Are we generally charged up and genuinely excited about the potential of today and tomorrow and our part in fulfilling it?

Our honest responses matter, because passion is the self-charging battery that powers authentic learning organizations.

References

1. Goleman, D. Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence (New York: HarperCollins, 16).

Cooper’s hawks commonly take wing outside my home’s rear windows. They are majestic birds, soaring effortlessly over the wooded terrain. Occasionally, one or two find an updraft and soar in an ascending spiral, the uplifting thermal keeping them airborne and rising.

Gratitude is like that thermal. It lifts us, both as givers and . . . → Read More: Cultivate a Learning Mindset: Gratitude]]>

Cooper’s hawks commonly take wing outside my home’s rear windows. They are majestic birds, soaring effortlessly over the wooded terrain. Occasionally, one or two find an updraft and soar in an ascending spiral, the uplifting thermal keeping them airborne and rising.

Gratitude is like that thermal. It lifts us, both as givers and receivers of thankfulness, and it fuels our continued growth. The learning mindset recognizes this and allows itself time, space, and opportunity to contemplate and communicate gratitude. It appreciates history, nurtures a “get to” perspective, and pursues chances to express gratefulness.

Appreciation of history. The learning mindset recognizes that it stands “on the shoulders of giants,” that its current understandings result from its past interactions with influential individuals. The learning mindset appreciates its personal history, and this gratefulness provides the foundation for the humility that enables a continuing chronicle.

The learning mindset also appreciates the history of the organizations it serves. Every school, corporation, and small business has a history—a story that provided its present state and informs its future. Knowing that history and valuing the organization’s story helps the learning mind to find its place, its home, in the institution’s continuing chronicle.

Such knowledge also helps the learning mind guard those practices that truly define the organization, while recognizing where the status quo has strayed from the organization’s vision and mission. And, when refinement (or revolution) is necessary, knowing and valuing history guides the change agent to better and smoother implementation of new ideas and practices. The learning mindset appreciates that the organization was not and will not be built around him, but by finding his home in its history, the learning mind can contribute to the organization’s continued growth.

A “get to” outlook. For me, it was always amusement parks. In those childhood moments when some adult would ask me why I was excited about an upcoming trip, my answer was usually, “Because we get to go to (insert amusement park name here)!”

That little verb get is telling. It contrasts with the verb have, as in the phrase have to. Do I have to exercise today? or do I get to exercise today? Do I have to teach today? or do I get to teach today? Do I have to go to that meeting? or do I get to go to that meeting?

We all have things that we have to do, things that would not make it to our ideal to-do list. However, when have to becomes more common than get to, the learning mindset is hurtling toward burnout. Avoiding the flames of ineffectiveness can be as simple (and powerful) as changing verbs, switching from the negative have to the positive get.

I love teaching, but there are days when I’d rather hang out in a coffee shop and let my introspective impulses dictate my direction. When I start to sense those longings influencing my thoughts about teaching, I look at the activities I’ve planned for my learners. It may be that I need to change what I am doing as a teacher to shift my perspective. But more often, in reviewing my plans I find something I can’t wait for my students to experience, know, understand, or do. Immediately my verb shifts from have to get.

When such review and revision do not work, researchers suggest that just forcing a change in our language can shift our perspectives. In other words, just telling myself that I get to monitor the playground, attend the committee meeting, or develop the budget can help me find a bit of intrinsic motivation for the task. The learning mindset, guided by gratitude, gets to.

Expressive gratefulness. Gratitude unexpressed only benefits the grateful one; gratitude expressed strengthens both the beholden and benefactor. What difference does expressed gratitude make? Imagine a place (a home, a school, a business, a community) where people reflected on what they had received from others and expressed their thankfulness for those blessings. It is difficult to imagine a more uplifting environment, or a place more conducive to individual and organizational growth.

A couple years ago, I determined to find some of my most influential teachers and convey my thanks to them for equipping me to be content and successful in what I do today. The responses I received gushed with gratitude for my expressed gratefulness. Expressed gratitude is so rare that when it is received, spirits soar, carrying with them more motivation for continued good work.

Beware. Envy can get in the way. When we witness another doing something that works, we can grow annoyed by the achievement and attention such success brings. At our worst, we may hope for failure to find its way into our friend’s or colleague’s endeavors. Sadly, this response often becomes our own downfall.

Rather than envy, the learning mindset responds with gratitude. When others succeed, they reveal what is possible. New successes create new boundaries, and new boundaries give us a reason to move. Knowing what is possible can spark our own growth as we strive to expand our own abilities within the enlarged territory.

A year ago, a friend and I were at the same level of running achievement. Our race results were within seconds of each other, and our training paces were exactly the same. Then injury and illness swept me off the roads and race routes for a few months. Coming back has been my challenge, and though I’ve worked faithfully, I’m slower than my friend. He has accomplished some of the goals I have for myself. It would be easy to be jealous, to make excuses, and to begrudge him his achievements. What good does that response do? It’s better to think, “Wow, he has shown me that it is possible! With a little more work, I think I can get there, too.” Being grateful that the boundary has shifted is so much more enlarging than wishing it would shrink around our “competitors.”

The learning mindset reflects on what it has received from history and from the direct influence of others. Fueled by the gratitude this summons, it faces its days with a get-to perspective. As a result, the individual and those around her find thermals that allow all of us to soar.

Now, let’s go find someone to thank!

Curiosity gets a bad rap. First there’s that whole feline demise thing, and then there’s that literary, trouble-making monkey who required regular rescuing by the man in banana-colored headwear.

These are unfortunate portraits, because curiosity is constructive. Growing individuals and organizations reap the benefits of curiosity by embracing mystery, asking questions, and pursuing . . . → Read More: Cultivate a Learning Mindset: Curiosity]]>

Curiosity gets a bad rap. First there’s that whole feline demise thing, and then there’s that literary, trouble-making monkey who required regular rescuing by the man in banana-colored headwear.

These are unfortunate portraits, because curiosity is constructive. Growing individuals and organizations reap the benefits of curiosity by embracing mystery, asking questions, and pursuing answers.

Curiosity embraces mystery. Responses to the unknown range from paralyzing apprehension to headlong attack. These extreme reactions share a general outcome: defeat.

Fear prevents action and promotes further decay. In “20 Things Boys Can Do to Become Men,” basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar¹ cautions young people against such a response, advising, “Fight your fear of the unknown.” He supports this suggestion with a bit of research:

“There was a Yale study in which researchers examined the brains of people as they were presented with proof that an opinion they held was wrong. MRIs showed that when those people immediately rejected the new evidence, their brains released an addictive chemical that made them feel good. In that way our own bodies are actually encouraging our ignorance and fear. Fight that impulse. Becoming a man means growing, learning, and understanding—not cowering under a blanket with a handful of comforting notions.”

The opposite extreme is also damaging. Mindless attack creates chaos and unintended consequences. Being proactive requires being strategic, not reckless.

A balanced response is to embrace mystery, to welcome it, to wonder at what is not known and wander through what is.

The BBC series Sherlock is a contemporary take on the classic Sherlock Holmes tales (and not to be confused with CBS’s attempt at the same thing, Elementary.) In a scene from the second season, Sherlock is seen interviewing potential clients, most of whom lack a dilemma worth his remarkable thinking and observation skills. He seeks a true mystery, for only a genuine enigma sparks questions. Unlike most of us, the updated-yet-classic detective sees questions, not as a threat, but as an invitation to pursue answers. A learning mindset allows mystery to motivate, even excite, the thoughtful and courageous action of asking questions.

Curiosity asks questions. The simple act of questioning empowers profitable pursuits. The mind does not like unanswered questions. Questions are to the brain as fasting is to the stomach. A question, seriously considered, fires up the psyche like an empty stomach kindles hunger pangs; answers simply must be found! The phrase, “Feed your brain,” is an apt slogan for the state of a questioning mind.

Questioning is, itself, powerful. A few years ago, a study found that phrasing goals as “I wonder…” statements increased the likelihood of success when compared with statements of confidence. In other words, the findings suggest that saying to a high school cross country runner, “I wonder if you can complete this race in under 20 minutes,” is more effective than saying, “I know you can finish this race in under 20 minutes.” Why? Because “I wonder…” translates the challenge into a question. The runner wonders, “Can I finish this race in under 20 minutes?” The brain, with its dislike of unanswered questions, does its part as the response is literally pursued across the race course. The finish line reveals the answer, but the pursuit is powered, in part, by a mental push. A question has been raised that must be answered! Questions are how we discover current limits, find ways to push past them, and establish new starting points for ourselves and our organizations.

Mystery, when welcomed and not feared, sparks questions. Questions, seriously considered, prompt pursuit of answers.

Curiosity pursues answers. This step often comes naturally but still requires action—intentional, determined action.

While the brain does not appreciate unanswered questions, the senses crave stimulation, making attention fragile. Questions often go unanswered, not because they are not worthy questions with valuable answers, but because we are easily distracted by the tyranny of the urgent. Smart phones, with their beeping calendar reminders, instant messages, and social media updates, drive noses to touch screens rather than grindstones. (Note: I write this as a smart phone owner.) As Maria Konnikova explains, “…our minds are made to wander. That is their resting state. Anything more requires an act of conscious will.”²

Pursuing answers requires tenacity. Answers are frequently complex, unfolding like intricate spider webs with multiple knowledge strands radiating out from what seems like a simple question.

Recently I began asking myself, “How can I improve my running form so that I run with fewer injuries and greater efficiency?” I thought the answer would be straightforward. Maybe I need to change how my foot lands with each step, or, perhaps, I need to move my arms in slightly different ways. Simple, right? Just make this or that change and—Voila!—I’ll have the running form of American marathoner Ryan Hall. Two months later and with the help of a couple experts, I’m still finding pieces to the puzzle. It would be easy to get distracted or defeated. The spider web is not single-strand architecture, and neither are most answers. But quitting now, or asking different questions, means I run like I always have. The status quo wins; no change, no improvement, no advancing of my limits.

The learning mindset, recognizing the value answers possess, pursues answers until beneficial growth occurs. Action short of such answers is wasted. Sometimes solutions are obvious and uncomplicated, but when they aren’t, the learning mindset focuses its activity and perseveres.

What does curiosity “in action” look like? The trait’s most observable element is the asking of questions. Do you, or does your organization, regularly ask questions about your ideas and/or practices? Are you, or is your organization, motivated to raise questions and to seek answers? Or, do you, or does your organization, only ask questions when prompted by an outside source or agency (e.g., an accreditation team visiting, or about to visit, your school)? Not everything has to be questioned simultaneously, but if it’s been a while since any idea or practice has been examined, do you, or your organization, dive in, ask questions, and pursue answers? Are you, or your organization, riding the status quo downhill, or pursuing higher levels of quality and effectiveness?

Let’s banish cat corpses and meddling monkeys, and replace those portraits with mirrors. Let’s challenge ourselves and our organizations to improve curiosity’s image by being its representatives. Let’s nurture our learning mindsets.

Next in the series: gratitude.

References

1. Abdul-Jabbar, K. 20 Things Boys Can Do to Become Men. http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/kareem-how-to-become-a-man
2. Konnikova, M., Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes (New York: Penguin, 2013), 68.