Mastery, flow, growth, stagnation.

Reading Montessori books for summer class homework. Reading Peak by Anders Ericsson. Thinking about teaching, and mastery, and flow. Montessori noticed that children, when introduced to what amounts to the process of flow, and of practice that leads to mastery, tend to normalize themselves behaviorally, as well as advancing in their physical and mental skills to levels much higher than traditionally thought of as normal, per age group.

It's more complicated than that, she went into the particular kinds of activities that lead to this, per developmental stage, and noticed the different stages that children go through, as they get to this place, and how to lead them through those stages.

But in any case, its striking how well connected her understanding is with the most cutting edge discoveries of how we learn best and how we behave when we are in a state of "just right" difficulty. I suppose this is more on the side of Ericsson, the development of mastery, in terms of growing, but the part that is pleasurable is the feeling of growth and discovery. Of, "I couldn't do that, but I kept working at it, and now I can!" There is also the idea of flow, but that seems to be more specialized. That is when someone is already in a state of high skill, and putting those skills to the test, being challenged, but able to overcome those challenges. The fruits of the prior experiences of pushing oneself outside of the known and comfortable, and thus growing.

So many of us have stopped growing. It is the true disease that must be fought with age: complacency and decay. Reading a new book on something may be interesting, but if the ideas are not put into practice, we have not actually grown. Just acquired a bit more information. It is very easy to get to a state of good enough in your life, and then just coast. There's nothing saying you are deeply inferior, so there is no immediate discomfort pushing you on to further growth, and so you, I, we, stagnate. Perhaps that is good enough. For most things at least. We don't care enough about everything to become masters of it all. But there are probably some things that we love and would enjoy continuing to grow in. Dreams we have. Ways we'd like to contribute. Hobbies we'd like to get better at. Spiritual pursuits.

Ericsson makes it clear that we are not cursed to mediocracy. The choice is ours. What we need is the knowledge that gives us the choice, and the decision to put that knowledge to use, which is a sacrifice of comfort, because to grow is to be working outside your comfort zone, it is to work hard, and with focus, awareness, and humility. It is to work in ways that are effective, rather than comfortable or natural. Some people have learned how to work this way naturally. But all of us can learn how to work this way, and thus reap the rewards. Continued growth. The experience of flow.

Children want this. To feel competent. Humans want this. The sense of getting better at something we're working on. Achieving our goals. Being able to create or perform at high levels. A sense of some control over your life, over the outcomes. The confidence that you can achieve what you set out to do. The idea of it is intoxicating, the promise of it alluring. The reality slow and challenging and mundane to the point that many start the journey and turn back. However, some turn back because they think they are not making progress, can't make progress. And that reason at least no longer needs to daunt us. We can know that if we are practicing in x way, we will be getting better. It doesn't make it easy or fast, but it is real.