That's All There Is To It

"You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward." - Conrad Hall

We all have our ideas as to what particular types of actions display character. Different world views, and different things that impress us. I’ve heard a lot of those particular ideas that I disagree with. Things like “you only live once,” and “just believe in yourself,’ make me want to barf. But if there’s one character building, build your life around principle that has been taught to me that I like, it’s growth mindset. The idea is, I’m not there yet, but I’m going to keep working. How can I adjust my thinking to focus on actually working to get there instead of complaining? The idea is applied most frequently to children who think they can’t do it because they’ve never done it, and therefore they won’t even try. I see that attitude all the time, and it’s true that growth mindset is a way to turn that around.

But here’s another way growth mindset should apply, but seldom does. What about the people who already seem to be there, who are so talented that they are just revered by everyone around them? Here’s an example: Kevin Durrant. The NBA playoffs are underway, and the Golden State Warriors, per usual, huge favorites. They won game one against the Los Angeles Clippers with ease, and then, at home, allowed the Clippers to come back from THIRTY-ONE points down. The best team in the playoffs and two-time defending NBA champions had given up the biggest playoff comeback in NBA history.

They interviewed Warriors star Kevin Durrant about the game and his getting locked up by the Clippers D. His response? “You all know who I am. I’m Kevin Durrant I can do whatever I want, I don’t have to shoot, I will do what I do. You all know who I am (not a direct quotation).” What I heard was, I am perfect, I don’t need to learn from this bad game. I hate athletes who are proud and cocky. You can be talented, but the minute you take it for granted and start acting like you are better than everyone else, I don’t care how good you think you are, I don’t like you.

But it’s kind of funny how quickly we condemn the cockiness in others and how much we allow it in ourselves. We are all inclined to think that we are masters in most everything we attempt and that we are better than everyone else. The more we have handed to us, the better we think we are as people. Studies have actually been done on this. People who can afford nicer cars are actually much less likely to stop for a pedestrian than people who own a less fashionable ride. Here in America, there’s differing economic structure, but it’s differing among the top. We’re pretty much all living in abundance, and we think we are pretty great.

But how much better would we be if our mindset was, no matter how great we are, to keep getting better. If we accepted a position as a student. I love how this quote concisely addresses that. If you are farther than anyone has ever been, if you are that good at whatever you do, you just keep moving forward. Is that your mindset? It goes with our theme this year: are you content with where you are at or do you want to do more and keep going? It applies to the stars, but it also applies to people on our level. The middle class. In our jobs, at our school, are you happy with where you are? I know that people are doing great things, but you are still a student. You are still learning. Don’t you love that? We have so much left to learn, no matter what stage of life we find ourselves in. So keep going. You are NEVER done. Keep moving forward. That’s all there is to it.