Adding new section on failing, updating gratitude

[themediocreprogrammer.git] / chapter06.md

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@@ -74,6 +74,18 @@ The approach I'm outlining is designed to help you learn how to learn. The best
 
 Longer-term goals are just goals that have been broken down into shorter-term goals. Focus on the short-term goals and allow yourself to course-correct as needed (and follow a few connections as you desire.)
 
+## Failure and learning
+
+One thing that we are afraid of while learning is failure. We worry that we won't learn the topic quickly or completely. We pick up material that starts off simply but later on becomes very complex, and we struggle to keep up. We try examples and find ourselves needing help in order to complete them. We fail to grasp the material and wonder if we'll ever learn what we're trying to learn.
+
+Failure is a part of learning. If you knew the material you wouldn't be learning.
+
+One of the reasons for practicing learning using containers is because we give ourselves those brief moments of failure and repetition. Repetition is how you get better at whatever you're learning. Failure allows you to course-correct your learning so you can determine how best to approach this the next time you make an attempt.
+
+We often feel that failure is something to be avoided, but while we're learning it is unavoidable. Our learning process requires us to fail in order to get better at what we're learning. That's the whole point of learning: reworking your brain so that it can finally understand the concepts you're trying to learn.
+
+Part of learning is having the right mindset for learning. Instead of feeling like you're constantly failing and struggling to keep up you may want to approach it with a different perspective. Instead of "I can't do this. It's too hard." approach it with a more curious "This is all new to me. This is why I'm practicing learning this." Giving yourself a more positive mindset will help keep you from giving up when you struggle with the material.
+
 ## Dead ends and changing topography
 
 Sometimes we'll find ourselves learning something that's a dead end. We look at our progress and see no real improvement. We don't find the topic as engaging or as exciting as we'd imagined. We realize that what we're learning is an evolutionary dead-end in the realm of programming. What then?