Jim Kwik suffered a brain injury at five and was labeled "the boy with the broken brain" by a teacher at nine. He argues that external labels from adults become internal limits we carry into adulthood, but these learned constraints can be unlearned with conscious effort.
I grew up with learning difficulties. I had my brain injury when I was 5, had a very bad fall when I was in kindergarten, rushed to the hospital. Wow. Before, I was curious and very energized, my parents would say, but then I became very shut down. And my superpower growing up was being invisible. It was shrinking because I didn't want the spotlight. I didn't want to be called on. So I was literally, physiologically, I was always trying to look smaller to protect myself so teachers wouldn't call on me or I wouldn't be bullied or something like that. When I was 9 years old, I was slowing the class down and a teacher pointed to me and said, that's the boy with the broken brain, and that label became my limit. Adults have to be very careful with their external words because they become a child's internal words. Think about what are the labels that we put on ourselves. It's like we're not born— we're born with a blank slate, but through experience, through expectations of other people, through our environment, we learned that we are limited. And the good news is we can unlearn it.
The Library of Minds: Brain Coach: How to Stay Sharp When AI Does the Thinking | Jim Kwik
