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“There is really only one liberal study that deserves the name – because it makes a person free – and that is the pursuit of wisdom.” – Seneca

A student today told me he only wanted to reach the minimums in a discipline I teach with other colleagues on Programming. I heard this after reading the sentence by Seneca above while waiting for these students who wanted to review the part of the exam I scored. I was sad.

Photo by Kyle Glenn at unsplash

Photo by Kyle Glenn at unsplash

Seneca had ” no respect for any study whatsoever if its end is the making of money”, which is what free men were doing at the time with liberal studies. I think this the mindset behind statements like my student’s. – ”I only want to reach the minimums.” We may not like what we learn, but in life, to succeed we have to do a lot of things we don’t like.

“A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” – Jack Dempsey

When we nurture a learning mind, we don’t aspire for minimums but overcome the maximum resistance which deviates our potential from what it is capable of reaching. A resilient mindset thrives when learning is hard because it envisions the possibilities opened when we reach the finish line. It doesn’t expect someone moves the finish line closer to us because we only need the minimums.

Those who seek the minimums, think too little of themselves.

Those who recognize they fail have a better chance to learn from their mistakes and succeed.

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan