Let me tell you about the time I tried to bake sourdough during the pandemic like every other Pinterest parent in America. Three days of feeding a starter named "Dough-Brad Pitt," flour dust covering my Instant Pot like Midwest snow, only to pull out a brick that could\u2019ve doubled as a doorstop. My kid looked at it and deadpanned, \u201cMom, can we just buy bread?\u201d Ouch. But here\u2019s the thing\u2014that lump taught me more about growth mindset than any TED Talk ever could.<\/p>\n
Lesson 1: \u201cYet\u201d is magic fairy dust for your brain<\/strong> The BBQ Sauce Incident (& Why Failure is Secret Data)<\/strong> Everyday Growth Mindset Hacks That Actually Stick<\/strong><\/p>\n The Library Book That Changed Everything (No, Not That One)<\/strong> You\u2019ve Already Done This More Than You Think<\/strong> Here\u2019s my challenge for you: Pick one thing you\u2019ve been avoiding (PTO spreadsheets? Kickboxing? Finally organizing the Tupperware cabinet?) and attack it with \u201cyet\u201d energy this week. Worst case? You\u2019ll get a funny story. Best case? You\u2019ll surprise yourself. Either way, you\u2019re growing\u2014and I\u2019ll be over here cheering you on, probably burning another loaf. (Pro tip: Trader Joe\u2019s frozen garlic naan saves dignity every time.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let me tell you about the time I tried to bake sourdough during the pandemic like every other Pinterest parent in America. Three days of feeding a starter named "Dough-Brad Pitt," flour dust covering my Instant Pot like Midwest snow, only to pull out a brick that could\u2019ve doubled as a doorstop. My kid looked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oreateai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI used to tell my son, \u201cI can\u2019t coach your T-ball team\u2014I don\u2019t know baseball!\u201d until his coach (a former minor league player) said, \u201cYou don\u2019t know baseball yet<\/em>.\u201d That tiny word changed everything. When I botched my first Zoom presentation at work (\u201cWhy is my cat licking the camera?!\u201d), I told my team, \u201cI\u2019m not tech-savvy\u2026 yet.\u201d Six months later, I was the one teaching coworkers how to use breakout rooms without triggering existential crises.<\/p>\n
\nLast Fourth of July, I tried making smoked brisket for 20 people. The meat turned out drier than a tax code manual. But instead of swearing off grilling forever (my husband\u2019s suggestion: \u201cLet\u2019s just order Chick-fil-A\u201d), I asked my Texan neighbor for feedback. Turns out, wrapping the brisket in butcher paper at 160\u00b0F makes all the difference. Now I\u2019m the annoying person who brings their own smoker to potlucks.<\/p>\n\n
\nOur local librarian once handed me The Book of Mistakes<\/em> by Corinna Luyken\u2014a kids\u2019 picture book where blobs become masterpieces. Now, when I spill coffee on client reports (hey, Yeti mugs aren\u2019t foolproof), I channel my inner Bob Ross: \u201cHappy little accidents.\u201d Last month, that coffee stain inspired a new infographic layout my boss actually praised.<\/p>\n
\nRemember learning to drive? That terrifying mix of stalling at stoplights and parallel parking nightmares? But now you can probably merge onto I-95 while sipping Dunkin\u2019 and arguing with Siri. That\u2019s growth mindset in action\u2014you just didn\u2019t call it that while white-knuckling the steering wheel.<\/p>\n