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You're listening to The Adventure Guyde. Your guide to achieving a more adventurous life.
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Welcome to The Adventure Guyde. I'm your guy, Grant Thornes. Host and founder of The Adventure Guyde. Each episode, we unpack and break down a topic to inspire, educate, and motivate you to become a more capable explorer, whether that be in your own back garden, or trekking the far flung regions of the world.
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This week's episode is fostering a child's mindset. We're going to cover exactly what I mean by a child's mindset, the benefits of it, a few real world examples and then, finally, a few ways in which we can cultivate this mindset going forwards.
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So, what is a child's mindset and what, specifically, do I mean when I use this term? Now, anyone that's been around young children knows that they are constantly full of wonder, they're open minded, and as a parent, you know, that they're constantly asking questions. "Why? Why? Why?", and this is it. This is exactly why I mean. They're an absolute blank slate, and a sponge of knowledge. And it's because they've got no preconceived ideas, no inbuilt stereotypes or 'programmes' that we run as adults. And it's brilliant, this is the perfect way to learn. Quite often people use the word 'naivety' in quite a negative context. But I think when it comes to this way that naivety is really key to the child's mindset, and what really makes them grow and develop in those first young years. And then on the back of that, is imagination. It's not that they don't know anything, they know quite a lot. But they, they fill gaps in with weird, wild fantasies, which are not only fun to listen to, when they're there kind of talking away in their own little worlds and things. But it's just fascinating. And it's just a much more interesting way of being. And it's this that I really think that us, as adults, should fall back on particularly in times when there's not much going on. Maybe you've been in lockdown for a whole year, maybe just approaching a new topic, and you want to learn and really absorb it. Go back to this child's mindset. A quick Google search that I did before recording this podcast, and I hadn't thought of it this way before. But again, it is a perfect descriptor of what I really want to get at with this term. And as soon as I typed "child's mindset" into Google, good old Google, it immediately came back with a words "growth mindset". And that is what I want to get at. I want this to be a mindset of growth, development, learning. But more than that, going back to the imagination, you know, a mindset of wonder, and fun and entertainment.
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So now I've given you a very, very rough outline of what I mean by the term child's mindset. I want to go on and describe the benefits. And these are the reasons why this is the topic I have chosen for the very first episode of the podcast. I think that these benefits go through into anything else you can learn. And this is the basis of of learning, really. So as I've mentioned, children are a blank canvas. When they come into this world you know, they've not got the experiences and the knowledge that we've gained as adults, they have to build it for themselves. And our duty as adults and parents and carers is to help them develop this knowledge. But ultimately, it's up to them to go out there, experience the world, experience things and create their own models of how to behave and how the world works. And again, as we get to be adults and we have these preconceived notions and routines and things, the mind is some might call it lazy, some might call it very efficient. When you encounter something your mind remembers it. Say a threat, say fire. Good one, go back to caveman, you start with a fire. "Ooh, that looks very fancy". Try and touch it. Funnily enough you get burned. Fire is quite hot. From then on. You don't need to keep touching the fire. To remember that it is hot. You've learned that. That is now one of your experiences and going forward, you know not to touch the fire. And ultimately that makes us more efficient as a species so that we don't have to continually be learning these small things and we can progress and move on to bigger more complex ideas. So there is an efficiency there. However, as we progress through from being caveman and learning that fire is dangerous. Heights, when you fall from them are bad, and even in modern society, you're going to cross the road, hopefully don't need to get hit by a car to learn that that is a very bad thing. Hopefully the people around you have explained to you what happens and you've taken on board their advice, their experiences, and you know, to look both ways now before crossing the road. So that should now be, hopefully, for most of us a fairly automatic thing. So we don't need to consider that and that then becomes routine. I bet most people subconsciously do this now as opposed to consciously do this. And that's good. As a general rule that is very good because you don't want to have to constantly think about every tiny decision. You hear about decision fatigue. And that's why some people and particularly in productivity books, they try and get rid of all these small decisions, you know, wear the same clothes every day, they have the same lunch, you know, to try and make it more efficient. But we're going back to this child mindset and learning and growing and making the world more interesting. If we do revert back to this, back to this blank slate, it forces us to think more, think of every aspect and remove those preconceived notions or even false or incorrect assumptions. And to a degree, even unlearn bad habits. Because if you go back and you look at something with fresh eyes, and try and forget everything you know about it, you forget all your little nuances and things, and you take it as a new experience, not only is a more interesting thing, because you may notice things which you you hadn't either for a long time
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or hadn't ever. And you can start again, you can almost find new joy in activities and routines you've done day in day out for years. An example of this they can give, which will highlight the differences by meaning between the, I want to call an adult mindset and the child's mindset is taking a routine daily task, for example, something like making coffee. Most adults have done it that many times it's on autopilot, coffee grounds, hot water, milk, sugar, if you want it, stir it, drink and get your buzz and that's all is really. The kind of the end result. However, with a child's mindset, would you get a lot more involved in the process, a lot more interested in it. This is quite often described, a lot these days I hear I as being present in the moment. Now a type of almost meditation, if you like, or particularly things, certain tasks like making coffee could be called more connoisseur. But you get more involved. So you might, before you even pour your beans or grounds in your cup you might have a smell of them and get the aroma and kind of what elements can you smell within the coffee, you know, the nuttiness and things like that. You might even weigh out how many beans you need, if you are really particular, you pour the water in. But even then, when you add in the milk, you know, watch the way it swirls before it all kind of turns to one solid colour, and there are a lot more details that people just don't notice when they're going through their routine tasks, because you are on autopilot. But if you just take that bit more time and have a little bit more wonder, you can make even a boring task interesting by seeing what tiny details you can see. And this, maybe not so much in making a coffee but in many tasks actually enhances the learning because you're getting to grips and you're being made more aware of the details and the nuances of the task.
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Another example which quite perfectly highlights this child's mindset because it did come from my own two kids. My partner and I were taking the two little ones out on a walk, get them out of the house, bit of exercise, fresh air, burn off some energy, we all know they need to do that. And this is the walk that we must have done hundreds of times it's probably no more than a kilometre. And the furthest part of the walk is maybe 400 metres from the house. And we were doing it going around picking up sticks. I mean, that in itself, kids love picking up steaks they are absolutely fascinating. Each one has its own intricacies. However, we were doing this walk and one of the roads we walked down is a tree lined road. Trees on both sides. I have driven past them, walked past them, I drive past and most days. I couldn't say how many trees there are. I can't really tell you much about them. And just I know it's a tree lined road. But yet the kids not only were they fascinated by the sticks falling from the trees, but they looked in such detail at these trees that my youngest, four years old. She's all, "Look, look daddy! Look mummy! Look daddy! Look at these ladybirds!". So I wondered what on earth she was talking about. It's the middle of winter, I have not seen the Ladybirds for months. So I wandered over and had a look at what she was pointing at. And yeah, the trees were absolutely covered and she had just seen this small group of Ladybirds. So one big red one and then five or six little, tiny baby ladybirds. And then we took a second look and it was amazing. But the more we looked and the more we had this interest and this intrigue. The trees were absolutely covered in these tiny ladybirds. There must have been thousands of them. I mean, I'm no expert on the on the lifecycle of ladybirds, I have often wondered where they go in winter. Turns out that they just go into the cracks of trees, on all the back, and all the indentations. That's where they were, in these little groups all huddled together. And, like I say every tree was covered. And from that point, we couldn't not see them on every tree. And ever since I walked down there, I always have a little look at these ladybirds. And even just that small act. That small bit of observation, from a four year old, makes that walk now, all the more interesting and even on a jog I sometimes have a quick pause. A quick look at ladybirds now just to you know, see how the doing really. And it just makes it that little bit more interesting. And it shows how you can do something day in, day out, but if we just have that little change in perspective, that little bit of open mindedness, a little slowing down for a second, and yet it can open up all sorts of things to keep you entertained, that you can follow up. I mean, for example, with with the kids in the current time of home schooling and lockdown. We could look into that now that they're now interested in ladybirds. And we can talk about the lifecycle of them and ecosystems, and there's all sorts of offshoots, that we can go from such a small thing.
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And it's because of this, that I wanted to start the whole podcast off with this cultivating a child's mindset. Because with just this one thing alone, it goes across absolutely everything else. And even what I've been, what I hope to teach you in the in the forthcoming episodes, or anything in your life, really just if you go back to this, I feel it's a way that you can learn so much more, have a lot more interest. I mean, even if you've got a boring task, that you need to get through, try dig really into the details, and potentially it might just be a lot more interesting, you might lose yourself down the rabbit hole. And if I'm being honest, it is this losing yourself, which is really the reason why I have started the whole podcast off with 'a child's mindset'. You know, people locked down, they have been locked down for the past year certainly in the UK. And looking at things in this different manner, is a way of making mini adventures that you can have anywhere and everywhere. Like I've already mentioned, just a simple walk, which I appreciate is, you know, leaving the house and doing something slightly different maybe for some people, but it was so much more interesting and engaging because we were made more aware because, funnily enough, my daughter, a child had looked in a little bit more detail than we tend to in our everyday lives. So if you approach any journey, any task with this, I believe is almost a key to turning anything into an everyday adventure. Alternatively, like I say, it may just make a boring task that little bit more interesting and a little bit more bearable.
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So just to finish up with, how can we cultivate it? I've kind of covered most of that through the stories so far. But the big one for me is just slow down. Take that little bit more time. I want to say observe more. But really, I mean, use all your senses going back to the coffee. How does it smell? You know, maybe you're doing something with your hands? How does it, how does it feel? Again, I workout quite a lot, sometimes if I'm really getting into a workout, you know, I notice the knurling on the barbell. And even that, just getting really involved with the activity and the task. And then anything that does get your attention, even if it is just that moment, just take that extra little pause, just take it in a little bit more, is there any more information you can gain? And then after the event is there anything you can follow up? Anything you can research and improve that learning and and get more from it? But particularly, I think it would be most advantageous to consider this growth, this child's mindset, when you're approaching anything new, or any study, anything you need to learn, or anything you really need to improve on because it just gives you that broader appreciation and lets you see the nuances and the details. And let's be honest, there's no better learners than children. They are absolute sponges. And there has to be something in that, you know, I honestly think it is the way they approach things, they ask questions, they learn and if we can take a little bit from that, who knows, maybe we can learn a little bit from them.
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So that's it. Thank you for listening to the adventure guide. I hope you got something from this episode, even if it is just a new perspective going forward. If you enjoy today's episode please don't forget to subscribe and while you're there, if you could leave a rating and review it goes a long way to promoting the show. More importantly, if you know anyone who could benefit from today's episode, please share the show. Alternatively, you can support with a small donation at buymeacoffee.com/adventureguyde. Now get out there and make your adventure happen.
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The Adventure Guyde - Your guide to achieving a more adventurous life!