Not Likely to Succeed? Time for a Mindshift

I was terrible at school. I really disliked it! I struggled to read in elementary school, I had to work very hard to pass tests throughout my entire life and I was almost held back in school (more than once) because of my grades. As a result of this, I was put in the category of not likely to succeed. Like all of us, I took tests that made me just a number, a percentile, comparing me to ‘everyone else’ so that I could be placed on a scale to determine my academic standing. These test results that compared me with everyone else implanted the idea in my mind that I would probably not make it to college (or at least graduate from college) or be successful in life.

I remember thinking in high school, that my academic standing was representative of where I would fall in society for the rest of my life, and that I would always be a ‘C’ citizen. I got the impression that the people who said I would not succeed thought this as well.  But boy were we wrong…

Luckily, one thing I had (and still have) is grit and determination. I wanted to prove to myself that I would wind up where I wanted to be no matter what others may think! It turns out, I wasn’t interested in ending up at the same place in life as the ‘A’ students, and I am just as successful (if not more than successful, depending on your definition, than some of the ‘A’ students . I was a ‘C’ student, and am proof that just because someone struggles in school does not mean they should give up or give into others opinions about where they will end up in life. Anyone can accomplish amazing things, even in a different academic setting (currently a 4.0 student in a masters program) when you believe in yourself and decide your own definition of success. I am not the only one, A recent article I shared shows some very successful individuals within our society who were also ‘C’ students…

I have recently realized that a lot of other people struggled in school in many of the same ways that I did. While some students were genuinely ‘intelligent’ according to the measured educational system, some knew how to work the system to pass tests but didn’t know the material, some knew the material but were terrible at taking tests. But I have come to realize that we are each ‘intelligent’ in some capacity, but are only tested on one (or a few), ‘intelligence’s’ that happen to be one(s) that we don’t excel at. It is important to note this this is not meant to be used as an excuse to stop trying, quite the opposite. This is saying that we should never stop trying, but in a different, more productive capacity.

There is research that proves that our intelligence (as well as our health, our behaviors, how our body functions and much more) can be changed simply by our perceptions about intelligence, and if we believe in ourselves and the capability to continually learn and grow (Neuronal and Cognitive Plasticity). Of course this is also determined by our actions following our mind-shift. But our level of success is not set or limited by our genetic makeup or our upbringing and neither is it something that is fixed unless we allow our minds to believe this. This means that our destiny is entirely within our control, and we have the capacity to determine our own success. (Crum, A. & Phillips, D., 2015), (Foroughi, C.K, Monfort, S.S., Paczynski, M., McKnight, P.E. & Greenwood, P.M., 2016)

The perception that intelligence is fixed and predetermined, in addition to perceived barriers from past negative educational experience, holds a lot of adults back from continuing their education or even simply exploring opportunities for growth. But, just because we did not fit perfectly inside a box at one point in our lives does not, and should not, limit our options and our potential that we allow ourselves today. My advice is NEVER STOP! Never stop questioning, learning, exploring. It is entirely our choice. But we have to give ourselves the opportunity.

Resources

Crum, A. & Phillips, D. (2015). Self-fulfilling prophesies, placebo effects, and the social-psychological creation of reality. Retrieved from https://mbl.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/crum_phillips_emergingtrends_finaldraft_5.9.14.pdf ]

Foroughi, C.K, Monfort, S.S., Paczynski, M., McKnight, P.E. & Greenwood, P.M. (2016). Placebo effects in cognitive training [Published ahead of print]. Proceedings if the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113(27), 7470-7474. doi:10.1073/pnas.1601243113