Yu Minhong is wrong when he says "persistence is the most important thing". Always maintaining "curiosity" is the most valuable thing for Yezi|Yezi Discovery|Yezi Xinxue Baidu Academy|Yezi Discovery: Discover the interesting psychology in life today Speaking, the inspiration come

Yu Minhong is wrong to say "persistence is the most important thing", it is valuable to always maintain "curiosity"

Yezi | Yezi Discovery | Yezi Xinxue

Baishuyuan | Yezi Discovery: Discover the interesting things in life Psychology

Today’s lecture is inspired by Mr. Yu Minhong, the leader of New Oriental . It is wrong to hear him say that persistence is the key to life, but curiosity is the key to life. I very much agree with his point of view, and will start to talk about Yezi's point of view accordingly. Let's discuss this new formulation that goes against common sense and see if it makes some sense?

In fact, I have long suspected the chicken soup vocabulary of "persistence is the most important thing". A few days ago, I wrote an article specifically to deny that "there is a road to the mountain of books and diligence is the path, there is no limit to the sea of ​​learning and hard work ", which means that there are methods for reading. Studying hard and studying to death is useless. Without further ado, let’s start with today’s topic: “Curiosity”.

Curiosity killed the cat, what the hell is curiosity?

Psychology believes that curiosity is the psychological tendency of an individual to pay attention, operate, and ask questions when encountering novel things or being in new external conditions. If we have to use obscure psychological terms to describe it, it would be: "Curiosity is the inner psychology of animals that instinctively wants to add attributes of something when they are blank about all or part of the attributes of something." That is when animals encounter When encountering unknown things, their instinct is to "want to know" the exact truth. Both animals and people like certain things, and tend to show greater interest in uncertain things because they are afraid of encountering uncertainty. Something that you want to determine as soon as possible whether it is certain. This uncertainty will bring about two completely opposite emotional experiences. One is the longing for a beautiful experience with fantasy. Once the reality exceeds expectations, it will greatly stimulate the secretion of dopamine , and people will be in a A kind of joyful state of life and death; one is the fear of unexpected results and uneasiness in the heart. Once the reality is much lower than expected, it will stimulate the emergency work of amygdala , and fear and loss will follow.

Yu Minhong always remains curious, of course, hoping that dopamine can accompany us and always inspire us to stay young and have a young heart forever.

Curiosity and dopamine go hand in hand. Although the current scientific level is not enough to explain whether curiosity brings dopamine or the secretion of dopamine drives curiosity, the relationship between the two is indeed closely interconnected. As early as 2009, researchers found that increasing the expression of dopamine-interacting proteins in the dentate gyrus could significantly increase the curiosity of animals. This finding once again confirmed that there is a specific relationship between dopamine and curiosity. , but it is not clear in the scientific community how dopamine actually works, and whether curiosity in turn affects dopamine and how it affects dopamine secretion.

Is it wrong to say "persistence is the most important thing"? What's wrong? Only when "persistence" and "curiosity" are blended together can persistence be motivated.

It is said that persistence is the most important thing. Literally speaking, it is really impeccable. So what is wrong with it? Are we being picky? Deliberately looking for trouble? Literally speaking, "persistence" is a status word that expresses a kind of continuous tense. However, when we judge whether a person should persist, it is often an "afterthought" and a "advice" given after the results have been obtained. ”, which gave birth to its inherent logical fallacy. Let’s discuss it based on the example mentioned by Yu Minhong. He said that there was another classmate who was tutoring with him. They tutored for two years in a row, and they managed to persist. They all braved the huge pressure of tutoring to persist in doing one academic thing. Something heavy but with a different meaning. After two years of tutoring, there is still a gap between the results and getting into a good university, especially Yu Minhong’s dream of and of Peking University. The result of the third college entrance examination was even a few points higher than that of Yu Minhong, but his classmates gave up. , unable to hold on.Only Yu Minhong went to Shanghai when he was young and gained a new understanding of the world and a lot of curiosity. Because of this, Yu Minhong was able to persevere and keep fighting for his dream. You may react quickly and ask me: "If Yu Minhong's classmates persisted for another one or two years, wouldn't they have realized their dreams? Doesn't this just show the importance of persistence?" Very good, this is what I want to say to you next. Yes, it is indeed true. Persistence is often correct, and only proper persistence can make any dream take off. But, let me ask you, why didn’t that classmate persist? Let me tell you the reason, that is lack of curiosity. Because he has never left that land since he was a child, he cannot imagine how different the outside world is, and he cannot even look forward to a future that he cannot imagine. The things a person imagines are also based on what he sees in his mind. If you have never seen a brand-new thing, you will not be able to imagine it anyway. This brings up another problem at the same time: vision is more important than knowledge. Regarding vision, I will write a separate article to explain it.

So there is nothing wrong with persistence in itself. Any persistence needs to be driven by curiosity, otherwise it will become water without a source and a tree without roots. How can persistence be continued? At this point, I want to tell you a truth in time: curiosity is one of the intrinsic motivations for individual learning, it is also the motivation for individuals to seek knowledge, and it is the source of creativity and innovation.

How to stimulate the curiosity deep inside? How can we see the world with curiosity, and how can curiosity drive you and me toward our dreams?

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." ("I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.") Albert Einstein This famous saying is enough to illustrate the human nature Curious nature, even the nature of all thinking individuals. Einstein believed that the reason for his success was his feverish curiosity.

Human curiosity is actually obvious enough in human babies. Once a baby discovers something new, he will touch it with his hands and stuff it into his mouth. This has a term in psychology called "exploration reflex." In early childhood, curiosity will become more obvious and intense, and they will express their curiosity about the world around them through their senses, movements, and language (crying is also a language). Obviously, it can be seen that curiosity is an internal motivation that is mainly stimulated and awakened by new things in the outside world. The curiosity of human babies initially comes from instinct and does not require excessive cultivation. However, when they reach adulthood, the curiosity of each individual will become different. Some people are still full of curiosity and are interested in everything, while some people are interested in everything. Things are uninteresting. Therefore, it is particularly important to recognize curiosity and continue to stimulate the curiosity deep in the heart, instead of letting curiosity fend for itself. Wouldn't that mean that you have let go of your own happiness?

If human beings only passively accept the drive of curiosity, then the world will not be able to move forward without innovation and creation. Therefore, how to stimulate the potential curiosity in the heart and how to move toward dreams with curiosity has become particularly important. The following points are Yezi’s views, I hope they will inspire you.

First, improve your knowledge and broaden your horizons. Don't be satisfied with the happiness of a frog at the bottom of a well, but take the initiative to elevate yourself and try your best to lead yourself as high as possible. This is what is meant by being well-informed and looking far. Because Yu Minhong went to Shanghai, his experience was immediately different, his horizons were suddenly broadened, and his inner world was suddenly enlarged. I remember that when I was young, it was because I often went to the county town with my father for meetings. The first time I stayed in a hotel (guest house) was new, and the first time I saw people coming and going on the third floor of the hotel, I was curious. The first time I went there When I went to a wealthy family and saw that my peers had their own boudoirs, everything turned upside down in my young mind.Later, I persisted in tutoring for three years and finally got admitted to a nationally renowned key university in Beijing. It was exactly the same as Yu Minhong’s experience. This cannot but be said to be how important it is to broaden one’s horizons since childhood. After graduating from college, I have been to dozens of countries, including almost all developed countries. I once drove a car to more than a dozen countries in Europe, and also traveled all the way across the vast land of America. Not to mention anything else, at least I have greatly enriched my horizons. Through my trip to Europe, I saw the beautiful church art, witnessed the glory of the ancient Greece period, felt the classical beauty of medieval Europe, and experienced the Thousand-year-old castles, the private garden of Monet's home, the romantic Prometheus, and the Alps covered with snow all year round... these are all just in books and textbooks I've heard it before, but it can only be so real if you go there and experience it. Therefore, you should always think of broadening your horizons and don't be a frog in the well.

Second, discover the extraordinary from the ordinary. observes interesting things from ordinary life, and even makes boring things interesting. Originally, interesting and boring things are defined by people themselves, and whether it is interesting or not is people's subjective consciousness. For example, if you learn to brush your teeth from the moment you wake up in the morning, you can change to a better-looking toothbrush and try a different color every time you change your toothbrush. You can also try different toothpaste brands, different materials, and different colors. Give it a try, and you can change it back if you don't like it, but at least it will increase your curiosity. The same goes for the way you go to work. You can try different means of transportation. Even if you take the bus every day, you can often change your Walkman to a different one, or even bring an umbrella of different colors. When you get to the office, you can tidy up your workstation frequently, change the furnishings every once in a while, and add a green plant. The way you greet your family when you go home can be changed every day, the dishes you cook can be different every day, and even the dishes used to serve the dishes can be changed. When it comes to weekends, you can also change things every weekend to make yourself full of expectations. If you climb a mountain this week, it would also be good to take your family to a show next week. In short, whether life is dull or full of surprises depends entirely on you. There is a saying that "blandness is true." I don't agree with it. Blandness is plainness. Living the plainness in a colorful way is called wisdom.

Third, be full of awe of the unknown. Our curiosity about the unknown should be the same as our desire for things. It is said that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit because "curiosity killed the cat", but that's how humans came to be, isn't it?

A scientific analysis shows that curiosity is a better predictor of academic performance than intelligence. At the same time, studies have shown that curiosity has unique benefits in enhancing the long-term consolidation of learning and memory. The root of all this is actually our brain, our brain’s dopamine. Dopamine secreted by the brain is particularly fond of "reward prediction errors". When the possibility greatly exceeds what we expected, it is an unexpected surprise. This is the brain power generated by curiosity. In fact, this happens every moment, but we don’t feel it well. For example, most companies will issue year-end bonuses at the end of the year, maybe two, maybe 20, maybe 100. Everything is possible. If you leave your job near the end of the year, nothing is possible. . Also, Yu Minhong’s old classmate has been tutoring for two years. If you learn to dream about the beauty of college, although it is unknown, you can fantasize wildly. Who can’t dream about it? This is also the importance of daydreaming, so sometimes people can learn a little bit of Ah Q’s spirit, and maybe the future will be better. Don’t be afraid of having dreams, but what if the dreams come true?

Fourth, read and watch the news every day, and develop the habit of studying and supplementing spiritual food every day. This society is changing very fast, and it cannot be overstated to say that it is changing with each passing day. If we don’t learn, we will be thousands of miles behind. Yezi believes that reading is the best practice and the cheapest way to improve yourself.We don’t say “there is a house of gold in a book” or “there is a beauty like jade in a book”. Books are indeed the ladder of human progress. Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles has always been the highest pursuit of the ancients. Reading is also our modern people’s pursuit. There is no other way to always learn and always be new.

Fifth, keep the child's innocence, ask "why" more, and don't define everything in the world. There is no absolute immutable thing in the world. This time and that time, it was difficult to make water in the sea, thirty years in the east of the river and thirty years in the west. This world is magical, all humans are magical, all species are magical, even if it is as small as a spider, when you magnify it a thousand times to see its internal structure, you will be shocked. Not to mention us humans. Therefore, when we encounter things, we often ask why, and our curiosity will always stay in our hearts. We will have a steady stream of motivation to learn new things, and we will never lack the motivation to make progress.

Sixth, fundamentally improve your own cognition. This is different from broadening your horizons. Vision comes from the impact and change of the soul from the outside world, while the improvement of cognition is the improvement of the inner dimension and a qualitative leap. I wrote an article two days ago about how to read. Buffett reads 500 books a year, Bill Gates reads 50 books a year, Son Masayoshi reads 4,000 books in two years. Let’s not delve into whether they have read these books. We only need to know what they want in such a high position. Why are they still so thirsty for knowledge? There is only one reason, and that is driven by curiosity. Curiosity has nothing to do with how much money you have, nor is it causally related to your status. The reason is that there is no end to curiosity. The root cause is that the dopamine secreted by our brains is also endless. Just like the sun rises again every day, our curiosity and our desires will be resurrected with full blood. However, don’t be too happy too early. There are also people whose curiosity is suddenly interrupted. Unfortunately, these people have problems with dopamine and other neurotransmitters in the brain, and their secretion plummets. These people are often diagnosed with depression. Patient , this will be discussed in a separate article.

Let’s get back to the subject, let’s go back to why those celebrities maintain such strong reading power? The reason is curiosity, and the reason is dopamine. Specifically speaking, it is like this. We humans naturally like those things that are certain, and we are naturally full of desire to understand those uncertain things. However, once we understand clearly, it becomes certain. Once it is certain, we lose curiosity and dopamine stops. secreted. But dopamine is not secreted automatically every day. It is only secreted when new things appear that can attract our brain's attention, and they must be things that exceed expectations. At the same time, we humans also have an instinct, that is, once we understand and recognize a certain knowledge or skill, we will no longer pay too much attention to it, we will no longer be curious, and we will even continue to deny our previous knowledge because we have learned new knowledge. The old knowledge may be outdated, or it may simply be that the understanding is wrong. People who have read 1,000 books are like standing on 1,000 giants. Their level is naturally much higher, and at the same time they are constantly touching the boundaries of their own past. , constantly moving towards new cognition. Therefore, the more you read, the clearer and smarter your cognition will be. The more books you need to read and the more knowledge you need to understand, the more questions you will have to deal with, and you will eventually reach a point where you can no longer understand it through reading. In this way, the inner curiosity will never end, and the heart will always be filled with curiosity.

Yezi said:

Now I maintain the habit of writing a long article every day. No matter how late it is, I have to finish the article I decided to write that day. Moreover, the articles I want to write next will pop up one after another, even while driving. Ideas for good articles would pop up on my way home. To be honest, I enjoy this state very much. My heart flow is full and moist every day, fulfilling and satisfying. In this case, I didn’t need to push myself to persist. Everything was automatic and spontaneous. I was accompanied by curiosity every moment of every day.

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