The Habit of Mind You Have Been Waiting For…

1. The Habit of Mind You Have Been Waiting For… Persistence

2. Once Upon a Time…. There was a farmer who had grown corn all his life, and he decided to grow something new. The plant he chose was bamboo. His neighbors thought he was crazy.

3. The Farmer…. Now he carefully planted it in the ground and watered and tended to the soil every day. He did this for an entire year. At the end of the year, he had a healthy crop of … nothing. His neighbors thought he was not so smart.

4. The Farmer…. In fact, they teased him while they were harvesting their corn. He didn’t even have a leaf or a twig to show for his patient efforts.

5. The Farmer…. Still, he persisted. Before he knew it, another year had passed. As his neighbors were once again reaping their corn, he could finally point to… nothing. After two years, nothing had grown. Not one twig, not one leaf.

6. The Farmer… His neighbors thought he was stubborn. Teasing him wasn’t fun anymore, but they said unkind things about him using their Level 1 voices. Still, the farmer paid no mind. His focus was entirely on his field. Another year passed, and finally at the end of it he had a field of…

7. The Farmer… Do you even need to ask at this point? After three years, nothing had grown. Still, the farmer continued to water and care for his soil every day. He did not forget about it; he did not change his mind and plant something else. He patiently tended the soil. He did this for a fourth year.

8. The Farmer… This is what happened:

9. The Farmer…. There was nothing - after four years of constant watering and care. His wife told him to give up and plant corn. His neighbors didn’t even talk to him anymore. Yet he continued to care for it. This was year number 5.

10. The Farmer…. One day, during year number five, he came out to see tiny shoots of green coming from the soil. He shouted for joy, and ran and got his wife. She took one look at the field and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. Five years and this is it?”

11. The Farmer…. As the days wore on, however, the growth took off. The plants began to grow 12 inches a day! At the end of year five, he had a forest of bamboo. It just grew overnight! Or did it?

12. The Very Successful and Persistent Farmer…. What no one could see during those years of watering, tending, and waiting, was the root system. In that period the roots were growing deep enough to produce wide, stable growth - to a virtually indestructible plant.

13. PERSISTENCE Persevering in task through completion… Stick to it! Remaining focused. Not giving up. Looking for ways to reach your goal when stuck.

14. What is this trait? Persistence is the ability to maintain actionregardless of your feelings. You press on even when you feel like quitting.

15. Here is another little story. It’s about a writer named Malcolm Gladwell and his magic number: 10,000

16. 10,000 is a Magic Number According to Mr. Gladwell, who studied many wildly successful people, you need at least 10,000 hours of concentrated practice to achieve mastery at something.

17. 10,000 is a Magic Number Many people he studied were thought to have a special, unexplainable talent and genius. The public believed that these successful people had an easy, overnight success – or that they were lucky and specially talented. But that was wrong. What he discovered was that each had devoted an enormous amount of time and energy to mastery They all had 10,000 hours or more of concentrated practice to achieve mastery at their skill.

18. WHO ARE THEY? Read the information provided and guess the persistent person or people that it is describing.

19. The Beatles …were first described as “unimpressive” when they left Liverpool for Hamburg Germany. After two years they had played several sets a day – that added up to nearly10,000hours onstage. When they returned to England, their sets were polished, tight and they became an “overnight” success.

20. Bill Gates More than a decade before the personal computer was a reality (or user friendly), he was spending his summers and weekends (during graveyard hours) writing computer code “for fun” on one of the University of Washington’s computers. By the time he left college, he had put roughly 10,000 hours into writing code.

21. Michael Jordan Kicked off his varsity basketball team, he went to his room and cried. His mom told him to go back and discipline himself. He began to leave the house before sunrise every morning to go practice. Over the years, his discipline and practice became legendary – and by the time he signed for the NBA, he had a well established devotion to persistence – as well as more than 10,000 hours of practice.

22. Stop and Think Consider some other people that you believe are wildly talented and successful. Do you think they were successful overnight? Do you think they were just talented and lucky? How would that change if you found out they had put in 10,000 hours of hard practice? Share as your teacher directs you.

23. Mindset A psychiatrist named Carol Dweck learned that a lot of how people persist has to do with their “mindset,” or what they believe about success. Do you believe that … • people are born with all the talent they’re going to have? • when people succeed it’s because they have lots of talent and good luck? • when you fail, it’s because of other people or circumstances?

24. Mindset If you answered yes to these questions, you have what is known as a “fixed mindset.” It is difficult for people with fixed mindsets to persist, because they don’t see the point to it. They give up easily.

25. Mindset Do you believe that… intelligence and talent and ability are things that you can develop in yourself there are no limits to your ability to succeed – as long as you work hard and practice persistence?

26. Mindset If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you have what is known as a “growth mindset.” People with growth mindsets are prepared for hard work, and they absolutely believe that their future success is a reality - if they practice hard work and persistence. They experience failures and setbacks and frustration, but they don’t give up easily.

27. CONSIDER & SHARE • What are some talents you have cultivated, and how have you cultivated them? What did it take? What did you do when things became difficult? • What are some of the talents you have missed out on cultivating? • If you changed your mind to a “growth mindset”, what are some things you could accomplish?

28. A final word about talented and successful people: “None of [these people] thought they were special, born with the right to win. They were people who worked hard, who learned how to keep their focus under pressure, and who stretched beyond their abilities when they had to.” Carol Dweck, Mindset, p.97