Summer To-Do List #2

We spend a lot of time - both here on our blog and in our classrooms - talking about "habits of mind." What are "habits of mind?" Usually we mean things like study skills, confidence, persistence, determination. When asked how you develop these skills, we recommend trying something you find really difficult, and sticking to it. And keep sticking to it.

Most of us like to find things that we're good at and develop those skills until we're even more fabulous, which is great. It's how you become exceptional at something. But if this was a talent you were really good at to begin with, then becoming great, even if it's a lot of hard work, might not be the type of activity we're talking about. Try something you suck at. Seriously.

If you're not very musical, or lack hand-eye coordination, try learning to play the piano. If you're not athletic, take up tennis. Lack the human translator gene? Learn to speak Italian. Or German. Or Vietnamese. 

Here's the difficult part. Keep trying. Even if you know you're not good, even if the people in your family cover their ears whenever you get close to the piano, even if the other tennis players laugh, just keep going. Because you might never good at these hobbies, and that's okay. The point here is to work on getting better, and knowing that sometimes better is good enough.

Even when you're doing something that you have a natural gift for, eventually you're going to hit a point where it's not as easy, where you have to dig down deep. When you've spent time trying to improve a skill that doesn't come easily, you've built up the muscles in your brain that will help you work through when something gets tough.

So that's your second assignment for this summer - find something you stink at. And go be stinky at it. If people laugh at you, tell them you're developing a smell.