Average performers believe their errors were caused by factors outside their control: My opponent got lucky; the task was too hard; I just don’t have the natural ability for this. Top performers, by contrast, believe they are responsible for their errors. Note that this is not just a difference of personality or attitude. Recall that the best performers have set highly specific, technique-based goals and strategies for themselves; they have thought through exactly how they intend to achieve what they want. So when something doesn’t work, they can relate the failure to specific elements of their performance that may have misfired.
More here – Farnham Street
The full blog was interesting. As a teacher whose profession is supposedly improving childrens’ performance, I could not see some of those things in my practice or my peers, whom I am fortunate enough to be able to observe.
I do hear a lot of the child is… the family should…the department doesn’t…but it is rare to see a teacher have such a specific plan for engaging with a child that when it doesn’t work, they can point to s specific and explicit part of the strategy and say, I will do that bit differently next time. The same applies to myself in more areas than just teaching, unsurprisingly enough.
Tye
Wow, for a Buddhist/Yoga type guy this is mind-blowing stuff.
thanks for sharing.
Cheers
Bruce