Tina Seelig
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
So I do an exercise with my students at Stanford.
where I have them describe what is their mental model of failure.
Now, you might say, what does that mean?
Well, I mean, literally, what is it physically like when you fail?
Are you hitting rubber?
Are you hitting concrete?
Is it a black hole?
Is it burning lava?
Is it broken glass?
Is it a trampoline?
And I go around the room and
And it was fascinating.
Everybody had these crazy different mental models, like when I fail, it is a black hole and I will never get out.
Or it's quicksand and I get stuck and I need someone to pull me out.
And you realize that if you have a mental model that failure or disappointment is
is a black hole, you're not going to try anything new, right?
You're going to get stuck and say, I can't take a risk.
I can't, I don't want to be in a black hole.
But those people like your friend who saw it as a trampoline, like, okay, fine.
I just bounced back.