The first time I watched an adult brain update

Before I taught neuroscience, I taught French to diplomats and government officials.

Many of them expressed to me doubts about their ability to learn.. They would say things like

‘I’m not good at languages’, or ‘I’ll never sound natural.’

Or ‘Maybe my brain is too old to do this anymore.

 

We also discovered that learning vocabulary was one thing.

But creating the sounds and rhythms of another language required training systems my students hadn’t really thought of before..

Their mouths had spent decades moving in familiar ways.

Their ears had learned to notice certain differences between sounds (and without knowing it, their brain was blurring out others.)

To speak French naturally, they had to hear very subtle new distinctions and teach their muscles to move in new ways.

At first, it felt so awkward, and there were times they thought they would never get it.

And then suddenly, they would make a sound they had never made before- one that sounded much more naturally french..

A greeting or introduction suddenly flowed so much more easily.

Someone would hear themselves pronounce something they had never been able to pronounce before.

These were tiny, micro-moments. And they matter so much.

Because they gave their brain (and motivational systems) small pieces of evidence..

Each tiny win updated the brain’s algorithm, its predictive machinery from:

‘I’m not good at ___” to:

Maybe I can learn this.

Maybe the discomfort I feel is part of my brain learning something new.

 

I wasn’t teaching neuroscience at the time.

But I was watching adult neuroplasticity happen in front of me.

And I was learning something that has shaped my work ever since:

What we believe about our capacity to change affects how we meet the experiences that change us.

If we believe effort means I’m not good at this, we might avoid the exact experience that will give us one of those micro-victories.

If we believe awkwardness means i look like an idiot, we might stop before our brain has had enough practice to update its architecture.

But…   if we can interpret those same sensations as signs that we are building something new...

... we might just stay with the process a little longer.

This is why mindset is so important for us to understand. And It’s so much more than just ‘positive thinking’.

It is part of the predictive architecture we use to interpret those difficult moments, effort, awkwardness, fumbling, stress, mistakes, and what feels possible for us.

The adults I taught often thought they just ‘didn’t have what it takes’ to learn and update a lifetime of what their brains were used to doing.

But what that experience showed us, including me..

Is that with support, repeated practice, and a person who believes in our ability to learn..

We can open ourselves to the tiny, incremental signs that our brains are updating.

That is still how I think about transformation today.

In an upcoming article, we’ll explore how Mindset affects Emotional Intelligence.

Sometimes one small experience of doing what we thought we couldn’t do plants a seed that can help us reshape our future.

Wishing you small moments that expand what feels possible,

Stefanie