Beliefs that Can Help/Hinder Your Pursuit of Knowledge

I wasn’t born smart

There’s this idea in cognitive psychology of the fixed vs. growth mindset. My focus is going to be on the latter, so let me quickly get the former out of the way. Fixed mindset people tend to believe their circumstances can’t change. They think that their learning capabilities can’t be improved and they just have to deal with the hand they are dealt.

Growth mindset people are creative. They think about ways to solve their problems or improve their situation. They tend to be optimistic about their ability to overcome obstacles.

Believing that you aren’t born smart makes you part of the fixed mindset camp, and this entire company, QMP, is an evolution out of the growth mindset. I wasn’t satisfied with my performance in college when I was studying physics. It is my belief that I can develop a way to achieve optimal and efficient learning for even the most challenging subjects and that knowledge is accessible to anyone.

Making mistakes/struggling is bad

Just because you are struggling, does not mean that you are failing. This is a saying from Alex Hormozi, multi millionaire entrepreneur. I would take this a stop further and say that struggle, in the right amount, is good. Some students become demotivated when they make mistakes. The reality is that the mistake itself is actually where the opportunity lies for the most learning! This is assuming you have some sort of feedback mechanism like an explanation of the question you got wrong, a video that covers the concepts involved in the question, or a teacher/tutor who can give specific feedback.

Math and science are boring, weird

Even if you never use math and science throughout your entire life, you owe it to yourself to learn them for three reasons. The first is to avoid being manipulated. Having a deep understanding of math and science can help you navigate fact from fiction in political discourse, business, and technology. The second is to increase your brainpower. As vain as it sounds, studying these subjects will simply exercise your reasoning abilities. Having a great ability to reason through things can help you achieve success in other areas of your life that have nothing to do with math and science. The third reason is to quench your curiosity. It’s quite amazing that we are able to know about distant galaxies. It’s quite amazing how we are able to figure out how to make buildings and bridges and planes. It’s quite amazing how we are able to even contemplate the beginning of our universe, or why water boils when it’s under a flame!

Think BIG

The time for small thinking is over. QMP is about optimizing your learning and achieving your maximum potential. QMP is about unlocking the secrets to hyper-efficient learning.

When I was in high school, I would conceptualize myself as a super human learner. I had a paper filled with quotes that appealed to the same. If you want to copy them, go ahead. Here they are:

“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back up” -Vince Lombardi

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t” -Jack Dempsey

“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it” -George Haas

“Loser quit when they’re tired, winner quit when they have won” -Author unknown

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been” -George Eliot

“The best way is always through” -Robert Frost

“The mind is everything, what you think, you become” -The Buddha

“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you” -Arnold Palmer

“Doubt whom you will; but never yourself” -Christen Nestell Bovee

“Respect yourself and others will respect you” -Confucius

“Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your ears” -Laird Hamilton

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goals” -Thomas Jefferson

“What you think of yourself is more important that what others think of you” -Seneca

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” -Eleanor Roosevelt

“They can because they think they can” -Virgil

“A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they fell they can’t do, I always look at the positive side of what I can do” -Chuck Norris

“Where there is no fear, there is no danger” -Master Po

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” -Ayn Rand

“Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward.” -Victor Kiam

“I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.” -Robert H. Schuller

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” -Thomas Paine

“Wherever you are - be all there.” -Jim Elliot

“If you think you can do it, you can.” -John Burroughs

“You just can't beat the person who never gives up.” -Babe Ruth

“Superhumans are those who just absolutely refuse to be average” -World’s strongest man

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed” -Michael Jordan

“We become what we think about” -Earl Nightingale

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” -Mark Twain

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily” -Zig Ziglar

“Nobody thinks about your mistakes but you, and people only obsess over their own mistakes, so if you don’t think about your mistakes, then it is almost as if they vanish” –Me

“The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength not a lack of knowledge but rather a lack of will” -Vince Lombardi

“Free yourself from the tyrant in your head that says what you can’t do, free your mind” -Me

“Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent” -Eleanor Roosevelt

“ALWAYS think positively, ALWAYS have confidence in yourself, because in the end the prize doesn’t go to the stronger or faster man, but to the man who thinks he can.” - Me

“The only thing that stands between you and your dream is the will to try and the belief that it is actually possible” -Joel Brown

“He who conquers himself, is greater that one who conquers 1,000 men in battle” -The Buddha

“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it, never stress” -Hans Selye

I realize most of quotes apply to sports and are overkill for learning, but keep in mind I had to rely on these quotes for the strength and energy to push myself so hard in high school. I didn't come from a privileged background and only had the grind to compensate for my lack of resources.