Many years ago it was believed that the brain stopped growing at about the age of 25. But recent studies show that the brain continues to grow and make new connections throughout life. The ability for the brain to create and strengthen new pathways is called neuroplasticity.
We learn something new by making a connection between something we already know and something just beyond our knowledge. It could also be between two things we already know, but haven’t yet made an association. By doing something new, different, unexpected, novel, and interesting, we cause the neurons in our brains to make new connections…and we learn!
It turns out we don’t learn a lot from doing something we’re already familiar with. We also don’t learn when something is so far out of our current understanding that we can’t make the cognitive leap. It needs to be just beyond our current understanding.
So, how do we find things that are just beyond our current understanding, but still within reasonable reach? One good way is to make mistakes! When we make mistakes, we are stretching our brains! (As long as these are NEW mistakes! If you find yourself making the same mistakes over and over, it might be a sign of laziness!)
This is why it is so important to step back and notice when you make a mistake. There is almost always something important to learn from it. A new way of looking at a problem. A new tool to solve a problem. A new way to prevent this kind of problem. Understanding a problem at a deeper level.
Don’t waste your mistakes! Learn from them. Grow your brain at least a little bit every day!
What is something you have learned this week?