"If you believe intelligence is a fixed quantity, then every educational and professional encounter becomes a easier of how much you have."

"With a learning goal, students don't have to fell that they're already good at something in order to hang in and keep trying. After all, their goal is to learn, not to prove they're smart."

"The experiment suggests that flow, the deep sense of engagement that Motivation 3.0 calls for, isn't a nicety. It's a necessity. We need it to survive. It is the oxygen of the soul."


I didn't really have questions but I do have a long response to this, because I found these lines particularly interesting. Alright, I'll be honest, I was just going to skim through this but I remember Rachel saying to read all you can before college so… I read it. These lines popped out to me the most because I have always been asking myself how to define "smart".

All my life, people called me smart for reasons I didn't really understand. I felt like I knew the knowledge, but knowing was all that was required of me, it wasn't so much of an improvement for me. As my life went on, I developed wonder throughout everything I did. When it came to drawing, I often said, "I wonder how this'll look," or "I want to learn how to use this technique".

Something I know that I do just to, as they say, "barely pass" is read books, by far. I honestly hate reading. I don't know why, but the tediousness and the lack of visuals don't help me very much. Either way, with books that don't catch my interest right away are sort of.. put to the side to me. I know what I need to and that's all. It's like, I remember the scenes that will be on the test and I know what it means, but it's not something that I would actively apply anywhere else.

I think that's why I struggled with history so much. It was because I didn't really see the choices or the cause and effect that happened. There were tons of things that happened, but my goal was just to learn the facts. Even that didn't work, just because I was too unmotivated to memorize the facts.

Last thing I want to add is that oxygen to the soul.. was very comical to me. Not in the, "Oh that's ridiculous way" but in the, "Wow, that is actually a really good way to compare and measure it". It made me think that suppose I am unmotivated. The symptoms are just that! I feel lethargic, agitated, can't sleep, etc. When I am motivated to do things, it does feel really good to have that drive to accomplish things. When I don't have it, which could last from hours to months, it feels terrible. I feel lazy, pretty much.