Key to Effectively Growing and Improving Brain – Persistent

In the ‘Brain Growth’ article, the reality shown is that there is no smart or dumb and these are the common misconceptions. In fact, it is strong and weak when it comes to the brain, as it acts much more like a muscle than some inherent power we are born with. Many researches had been developed but the new research provide evidence to the claim that the brain is a muscle and it can be grown with persistent practice. A research was done on baby animals and lasted into their adult hood, some animals were left in a challenging environment while others were simply left alone. Those who were placed in the more challenging environment had heavier brains and thicker nerve fibers. The other experiment was done on fully grown adult people to see their progress, by learning to juggle. While learning in the beginning brain scans were done and another brain scan was done after these people learned to learned to juggle. The result of the brain scanning showed the changes happened in the motor area of the brain.

Scientists have found that when people learn and practice new ways of doing math problems, it can help growing their brains even without having prior mastery of math. The strategies for strengthening the brain doesn’t just happens by practicing but by challenging your brain with complex math problems without skipping to the easiest ones and this will let you use your brain in a smarter way. On the other hand, with a bad strategy they can often give up easily because they didn’t work enough on problems that stretched their brains and taught them new things. When this happens, they may even say “I’m just not smart at math.”

The key to effectively growing and improving brain is being persistent. Successful people are persistent towards the completion of the task. They analyze a problem, to develop a system, structure, or strategy to tackle a problem. These people know when to switch from one theory or idea to another because they have a systematic approach towards a problem. The section persistent in the article ‘16 Brain habits’, has a lot in common with the strategies mention in the article about ‘brain Growth’. Both emphasize people to be more persistent, focused, and to develop systematic approach of a problem.

Mathematics was my favorite school subject since early childhood, but I wasn’t the brightest one in math. After failing few times in my Mathematic class, I decided to approach my teacher for help to improve my math skills. Looking at my dedication to learn he agreed to tutor me for an hour 5 days a week. While being tutored from him it was almost same as what we learned in class, but he also taught me new techniques to solve Algebra problems. Two weeks into learning my teacher was so confident that I will get straight 100 on my 10 grade board exams and that’s what happened after just a month of practice. This boosted my confidence and I started participating in mathematic competitions but unfortunately, I had to take a huge break of 8 to transition from high school to college. In this particular period of 8 years, I never touched a book nor practiced a simple math problem.

When I moved to USA in 2009 I started working right away providing for myself and family and thinking that with just high I can achieve a lot more. Whereas, reality so nowhere close to my imagination. I felt stuck and unfitted at my work place really wanted to pursue my passion to get in accounting or medical field, but I felt discouraged every time by looking the course requirements. Eventually with enough courage I took college placement test and failed both mathematics and English. This was devastating for me, so dropped the of going back to school. Meanwhile my college going friends offered help and encouraged me to try again. In fall 2017, I reapplied for college as with a little practice I took placement test without expecting good score. But to my expectation I passed the mathematic part of test. Now being in college taking classes towards my degree, I do feel sometime If had believed in myself and practiced a little. I wouldn’t have wasted all these years out of school because in those 8 years I could have achieved my dreams and more. Through what I have experienced I will tell that I know it’s frustrating but that doesn’t mean you’re dumb and I will consistently reinforce strengths and talents.   

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