Research has shown that the state of your mental health has an impact on your physical health; thus, ameliorating mental health problems might improve physical health, extend lifespan, and reduce healthcare costs. Not every tool or practice works for every person. It takes some experimentation to learn which techniques effectively calm your fight-or-flight response and engage your rest-and-digest recovery system. Those who are willing to try might just gain a competitive edge. Mentally strong people are willing to learn new modes of self-development, adapt to our constantly changing world, take responsibility for their improvements and periodic failures, and assume control of their lives. They do not let negative environments or distractions deter them from their goals. The research-based practices here are divided into exercises that address specific obstacles to mental strength (perfectionism, imposter syndrome, pessimism, emotion regulation, and self-awareness of introversion, extroversion, and neurosignature strengths) and proactive strategies to empower your rest-and-digest system (growth mindset, mindfulness, meditation, nature therapy, creative play, and interacting with dogs).

To hone your skills, one needs to observe what “good” looks like, practice, and receive feedback. We recommend setting a communication skills goal before the encounter, and then debriefing how it went, celebrating what you did well, and considering what to do differently next time, as well as what you learned in the process. Practicing skills in conversation roadmaps is incomplete without building of our internal capacities, like curiosity and emotional awareness, which help us foster more authentic connection. Learning new skills is not linear. Be kind to yourself when you’re having a bad day or feeling burnt out. Better communication skills can help they leads to more engaged clinical encounters which provide positive feedback making patient care more rewarding. Also, the roadmaps in this book are a kind of scaffold for learning, intended to provide support until you get your foundation settled. After a while, you may no longer need them. True expertise requires building both skills and capacities, practicing regularly, and caring for oneself in the process.

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.

Chapter 2 opens by asking readers to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of experts of their choice and then to consider overlap between their own strengths and weaknesses and those of these experts. Variation in personalities and styles is useful in public engagement because we meet many different kinds of people in informal learning venues. The chapter thus encourages readers to be themselves as they talk about their science. Genuine passion combines well with any level of expertise. Further, saying "I don’t know" when you reach the edge of your expertise shows your conversational partners that you are honest. A demonstration of counting in different sign languages exemplifies these concepts. This chapter also encourages a growth mindset so that both success and failure during public engagement contribute to improved skills. This chapter’s Closing Worksheet asks readers to choose the topic area that they’ll develop into a demonstration through activities later in the book.

Especially as we age, laughter is good for the soul. For a good, long life have a sense of humor. It can take us through life’s turns and twists. Mastery and grit are important for all ages. Create art. Good for the brain is the endeavor to want to improve. Stay active in your passions. Make modifications. Do what is possible. Keep going. Keep moving! Older people too often lose their confidence. They quit trying. They grow discouraged. They just quit living. The important thing is to keep trying at something you care about. Be willing to work for something and keep at it. It is part of our human nature to want to be able to create something.

One of Florence Nightingale'slegacies was her advocacy for, and establishment of, a formal system of training for nurses. This vocational or apprenticeship model of training rapidly spread, with hospital-based training schools being set up across the country.This chapter introduces you to core elements and considerations in ‘contemporary’ nursing education. We link this to the notion of ‘capability in nursing’ and provide an overview of what you can expect in your degree program, with links to other chapters where these concepts and ideas are explored in more depth. We conclude the chapter with a brief look at some of the resources and strategies that can be used to optimise your learning success.

Growth mindset is defined as the belief that with hard work and effort persons can improve intelligence, talent, and ability. This so-called mindset is associated with persons who have achieved certain versions of success and is, thus, treated as a necessary quality to instill in students. Although appealing, especially in relation to its apparent binary, the notion of growth mindset is underpinned by certain assumptions about selfhood, the operation of systems, and values for being. Features of growth mindset include a commitment to perpetual improvement and added value, a vision of selfhood as in process, orientation to pursue an elusive endpoint, assessments of lack, and responsibilized individualism. These features are foundational to neoliberal selfhood.

As described by Steele (1997, p. 614), stereotype threat is “the social-psychological threat that arises when one is in a situation or doing something for which a negative stereotype about one’s group applies.” This chapter reviews research on how stereotype threat affects students in K–12 settings, including members of underrepresented racial groups and women in quantitative fields such as math and computer science. Because of the potential costs of stereotype threat in terms of individual underperformance and reduced participation in various fields by members of underrepresented groups, it is vital to prevent and reduce stereotype threat in schools settings. Efforts at prevention and reduction may be focused on concerns with belonging, concerns with performance, and management of the cognitive and physiological effects of stereotype threat. Partnership with researchers has been shown to increase both the theoretical fidelity and the effectiveness of school-based interventions.

In Chapter 2: Prepare Yourself, you will prepare yourself for your journey by exploring self-reflective practice and the role of mindfulness. Self-reflection and mindfulness are important skills that are integral to learning. You are given the opportunity to engage in self-reflection throughout the workbook. In this chapter, you will also consider the impact of instructor presence on your adult learners.

In this chapter, you will gain an understanding of resilience in teachers and teaching, coping strategies for sustaining a teaching career, being mindful as a teacher, your wellbeing and ability to flourish and the meaning of a growth mindset.

Win-win thinking at both the national and personal levels