Hidden Potential

Growth is the idea not titles or accolades

Skills of character: getting better at getting better

• character is the ability to prioritize your values over your instincts

• how you show up on the hard days

• specifically proactivity, discipline and determination

• get comfortable getting uncomfortable

  • abandon tried and true methods

  • go into the ring before you're ready

  • commit to failing more times than most people try

  • brave enough to be uncomfortable

  • might be best to try your least comfortable and other learning styles (writing, looking, doing, speaking)

    • writing is a tool to learn and think

  • learn techniques that aren't comfortable

  • not about the right method for you, but the right method for the task

  • seek discomfort as a measure of success. If you feel awkward and uncomfortable it means its working

  • exposure therapy, either gradual or all at once

• absorptive capacity

  • be proactive (seek out information)
  • curb your ego (consider things that are offensive to your or make you look bad)

• ask for advice over feedback

  • what's the one thing I could do better?

• it's important to know the toleration of errors and imperfections is good.

  • perfectionism is the enemy of knowing trade offs that can be made in your favor
  • perfectionism bad because, get people really caught up on tiny unimportant details, and really focus on what they're good at rather than what need to be done because they're afraid to fail
  • set hard goals, not perfection as goals. Perfection as goals often manifests as stopping and restarting until every aspect feels right but you kinda need to dimple through on new things to get better.
  • need to contextualize from how past you would feel about now you

• people tend to remember you peaks not your troughs

• minimum lovable product

  • do sentiment analysis, look for trends in critiques

• judging committee

  • bring together 5 - 7 people, of insiders and outsiders you know and like
  • judge 1 - 10, then also how can I get closer to 10.
  • aspirational 9, goal or 8

Structures for motivation

• something that's emotionally upsetting -> stop unwanted flashbacks by...

  • Tetris?
  • assigned to play Tetris after flashbacks

• common elements of scaffolding

  • reach out to others
  • unique solution to problem
  • pivotal point in time
  • temporary

Transforming the daily grind

• scaffolding that transforms the daily grind into something fun

• not I should practice but I want to practice

• deliberate play, introduce novelty and variety into practice

  • ways you learn
  • Tools you use
  • goals you set
  • people with whom you interact

• the people with the most discipline use the least of it. Rather they choose to change their situation instead.

  • marshmallow test, scaffolding

    • cover eye, sit on hands,

  • curry, ever drill is a game

    • get to 21 points in 10 minutes but between every shot you have to sprint to the mid court line and back

  • compete against past self, aiming to get better

• all great athletes love the process

• even deliberate play shouldn't be done all day every day

• you can over practice

• take breaks and vacations for creativity Getting unstuck

• platue is not final but might mean needing to backup and take a new path

• difficult to accept that you need to go back and suck for a while. Trial and Error

• people don't bc fear

• need a compass not a road Guides

• usually a few, not just 1

• make their implicit knowledge explicit

  • pin, key turning points, cross roads
  • skills Sought out, advice they took or ignored, changes they made
  • they won't all apply to you

• have fun but challenging side hustles and side projects Defying gravity

• treat barriers as challenges not threats

• collective scaffolding creation

• learning by teaching

• coach effect, coach others rather than seek out help, reflect on advice you've given to others

• other people's expectations become self fulfilling prophecies both to the positive and negative

  • being doubted by experts is demoralizing
  • being doubted by amateurs can be motivating

• having a partner or people counting on you is helpful motivation Systems of opportunity, opening doors and windows

• increased odds of patent / inventing

  • parents income (opportunity for risk)
  • zip code, surrounded by like minded individuals Every child gets ahead

• believing in the potential of all students

  • practices, values and underlying assumptions
  • US is a winner takes all, talent which shows early kinda situation
  • Finland, int has many forms, every child has potential, creates.edu equity

• let's stay together

  • same teacher multiple years in a row. Teachers move up

  • social and emotional support,

  • knowing your students and better being able to support them and make suggestions

  • an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

    • personalized support

  • leaders who are knowledgeable about the work

  • reading is an enabler for being able to learn things - children seeing us read - Talking about books - reading to them - need to be able to choose what you learn and share it Unearthing collective intelligence in teams

• best teams have the most team players

• not the best team but the best glue

• spend time

  • exchanging ideas
  • coach one another
  • Learn together

• knowing results depend on everyone's input (collective outcome)

• narcissistic ball hogs more likely to lead despite being less competent

• introvert leaders handle proactive teams better, extrovert leaders handle reactive teams better

• brain writing

  • generate ideas separately
  • anonymous sharing
  • everyone evaluates on their own
  • then go together to refine better

• balanced participation (hard with people who like talking)

• traditional ladders are stupid - your manager has 100% of power over you

  • might say no to your ideas because it's a threat to their ego or image, question motives or reasoning, risk and uncertainty

• lattice instead of ladder

  • idea is multiple leaders who are willing to lift you up Diamonds in the ruff

• if you select by trade standards, you miss out on people who overcame adversity

• peter principle, promotion to incompetence

• degree of difficulty matters, overcoming hardship in your personal life / circumstances

• how well people react to adversity,

  • quotas bad -> outsiders and themselves question competence
  • blind auditions are bad -> doesn't account for being self taught

• your interview process should support your interviewee like an employee, with lots of leeway and compassion

  • most people have anxiety and trad process only encourage that

• becomes not representative of actual performance

• make them comfortable, give them a do over, treat the like an Allie no the enemy, do a problem together Dreams

• studies show, dreaming bigger leads to bigger outcomes

• Imposter syndrome is "I don't know what I'm doing, it's only a matter of time until they figure it out"

• growth mindset is "I don't know what I'm doing yet, it's only a matter of time until I figure it out" Epilogue

• paradox of imposter syndrome, you don't believe in yourself when others do but you do trusted yourself about that notion over other people

• sign in hidden potential, you might be underestimating yourself

• living your values not reaching your goals

• no higher value than better tomorrow than today