1 - You Can Do It

Summary

When Roger Bannister finally broke the seemingly insurmountable four-minute mile running barrier in 1954, other runners finally believed they could do it too. The next year, thirty-seven runners eclipsed four minutes for the mile. Belief matters. Successful runners and successful scholars share growth mindsets dictating that they are personably responsible for successes and failures and that both success and failure can show you the way. The growth minded recognize that talent is not born, it’s made. Made of passion and hard-earned skills. Growth mindsets fit with the findings of psychologist Benjamin Bloom who studied top American performers in various domains and concluded: What these talented people have accomplished, almost anyone can accomplish if conditions are right. The right conditions are not always obvious though. Although some productive scholars were reared in rich academic environments that fast-passed them into professorial roles, others hailed from poor working-class families, piloted by drug store clerks or crop farmers, or from environments biased against women and minorities. Still they succeeded because they believed they could. Even when success seemed far away or impossible, they followed their bliss and took the leap toward becoming productive and impactful scholars.