In this video, I talk about how a fixed mindset can make learning a new language way harder than it needs to be—based on my own experience learning Italian. A fixed mindset is basically believing your abilities are set: you’re either “good at languages” or you’re not, and there’s no real room to improve. And honestly, I personally suffer from this. It holds me back, because every time I make a mistake I get embarrassed and my brain tries to use it as “proof” that I’ll never learn Italian and I should just give up. What I’m working on (and still struggling with) is shifting into more of a growth mindset—because mistakes are literally the method. If you’re afraid to mess up, you avoid speaking, and if you avoid speaking, you never improve. To help myself, I started using a mantra when I spiral into self-doubt: “I’m not there yet, but I’m making the effort to get there.” It brings me back to the idea that small actions add up, even when I don’t see progress right away. And if you think you’re bad at languages (or anything), you might just not be letting yourself be bad enough to get good.