Sprint 4 - Cultural

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity describes the brain's ability to change or 're-wire' throughout a person's life. This means that we can learn anything we want - new cognitive but also physical skills, we also have the possibility to change a bad habit into a good one or to choose feeling in a different way. This is possible, because the brain behaves like a muscle you can build up. It just needs effort and hard training.

How Neuroplasticity works is that by learning a new task or choosing a different emotion, we start carving a new road in our brain. If we keep travelling that road ( by practicing our new skills ) our brain begins to use this pathway more and this new way of thinking, feeling or doing becomes second nature. The old pathway gets used less and less and weakens. It is important to know that this is not limited by age. However, the older people get, the more effort it takes to learn something new.

Studies have shown, that just by being aware of this concept, people can benefit from increased, faster, and more effective learning, which shows that knowing and understanding about Neuroplasticity can be a very powerful tool to motivate people to learn. It enhances memory and cognitive abilities, which are required in everyone's work and personal lives.

Knowing, that our brain is able to learn almost everything, can also help boost people's confidence.

And lastly, Neuroplasticity can help patients to recover from brain events like strokes or brain injuries and it can treat conditions like learning disorders, anxiety and depression.

In order to gain these benefits, we have to work hard, practice frequently and never stop challenging our brains.

When I was working through the EDA prep-curriculum and came across the typing and shortcuts part, I noticed that my typing speed is really bad, because I was only typing with two fingers and constantly staring at my keyboard. So I started to practice typing with 10 fingers with the help of some great online platforms. Since I started, I practiced every day between 10 - 30 mins. No matter how busy my days are, I dedicate at least 10 minutes for some typing excercises. My typing has already improved significantly.
Repetition is key to strengthen the wires in our brains. I am pretty sure that, if I keep practicing every day, typing with 10 fingers will soon just subconsciously happen in my brain without having to think about the locations of certain keys on my keyboard anymore.

Learning will always be part of my life, especially with being a Web Developer. The Tech industry is constantly changing and businesses have to adapt, employees need to learn new technologies, languages, etc. all the time. I think this is really exciting and I am looking forward to it, but I am aware that it can be tiring at times as well.

Learning new skills and repetition obviously are the key ways to increase the brain's Neuroplasticity. But there are also other less obvious ways out there to improve our brain functionality. Mindfulness for example. Being fully present and aware of what we are doing can eliminate limitations such as stress and overthinking and allows us to controll our attention and stabilise our minds. Mindfulness can be practiced through meditation or yoga, for example.

Our brains also need to rest and 'digest' or implement the new skills. Sleeping, therefore, is a very important factor for Neuroplasticity.

A few other ways are reading, fasting, brain training games or playing a musical instrument.

Growth Mindset

People with a growth mindset believe, that skills and intelligence can be grown and developed and people who are good at something are good because they built that ability, and people who are not good, just haven't done the work. Contrary to the growth mindset is the fixed mindset which is the belief that skills and intelligence are set and individuals either have them or not and that they are not in control of their abilities.

→ Growth mindset: Skills are built. We can learn and grow.
→ Fixed mindset: Skills are born. We can't learn and grow.

In a growth mindset people believe, that their most basic abilities can be developed through effort, dedication, hard work and persistence. Everyone can get smarter if they work on it. Effort is seen as a useful tool that leads to growth, challenges are embraced and perceived as opportunities, mistakes are used to learn and feedback is appreciated and implemented to improve.

Having a growth mindset is relevant because it is the key to success and confidence. It can help people to overcome challenges and develop neccessary skills to perist in life.

It took me several years to understand, that I am actually able to become web developer or programmer myself if I just start learning the skills and practice every day. For many years I believed, that programming is reserved for 'tech nerds', e.g. people who can build their computers from scratch, people who play games all night, people who can hack other's computers etc. I know, this was a terribly stereotyped thinking, but my fixed mindset just wouldn't allow me, to even have a look into programming. I am not quite sure what exactly changed inside me to look at this with a more growth mindset ( it might be my move to New Zealand ) but I am glad that I managed to turn the corner.

I will try to continue thinking with a growth mindset in my learning journey but also in my personal life. Keeping my mind clear by practicing mindfulness is a great start for me, especially to get rid of overthinking things. I have planned to celebrate even the smallest achievement, try out new things and growing my confidence by proving to myself that I am capable of more than I think I am. I will continue to practice these new skills to embed them in my brain. I will try to not worry about failures too much ( this is a hard one, phew), not being scared of challenges and asking people for feedback.