Laura B TC Epilouge Summary

Laura B
Chapter Summary:
Making myelin applies to many areas in our life, and not just in developing talents and skills. When receiving an education, we need to ensure that we are getting a balance between deep practice and ignition. Through deep practice, we will be building reliable circuits, paying attention to errors and fixing them, breaking down components, practicing, and repeating steps. Through ignition, we need to place ourselves in an environment that would allow us fall in love with learning. Along with deep practice and ignition, having experienced and knowledgeable teachers is the key to gaining a strong education. This is shown by the example of the wonderful school-systems in Finland. Myelin also relates to having a successful business. A good organization is one where the principles of ignition, deep practice, and master coaching are practiced. Businesses should always be pushing for improvement and offering to help with them, instead of heaping praise on the things that they are already doing well. Building myelin also relates to helping people deal with mental illness. The chapter described a clinic that helped its clients overcome shyness by developing the skill for being outgoing by practicing situations that repeatedly forced them out of their comfort zones. This gradually built the confidence in their abilities as they realized that being social is a skill that can be learned. Building myelin and gaining knowledge throughout a lifetime was also shown that it can decline your chances of getting Alzheimer's disease with aging. To sum up the book, the author talked about the importance of helping your children understand how the brain works and that they ultimately control where life will lead them. Through his studies, he was able to change his family's attitude about failure: to not see it as a setback anymore but a pathway forward. He advised the reader to pay attention to their children, what they are fascinated by and praise them for their efforts. Every person's history is made up in their myelin. What an amazing thing myelin is.
Key Concept: If people understand how myelin works, it will change their whole perspective of effort and failure. Lives will be changed!
Key Terms: cognitive-behavioral therapy, continuous improvement
Making Connections: I need to help other people be aware of myelin and the importance of failure! I myself need to embrace my failures and see them as stepping stones, I also need to understand that if there's a way I want to improve, I can, through consistently getting myself out of my comfort zone and practicing that skill.