I read an article posted at the MYSJ ( 美语世界 ) forum “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective English Learners”, which is adapted from a book entitled “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. The book was first published in 1989, and it is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey to help people live a more efficient and fruitful life. The seven habits have empowered many people to succeed in both workplaces and personal lives, and they certainly can be applied to English learning as well.
Among the seven habits, habit #4 (Think Win-Win) really makes me think. Thinking win-win means seeing life as a cooperation rather than a competition. To apply such win-win strategy to learn English or live a life, a person must develop an “abundance mentality” or “abundance mindset” – a concept in which a person believes that there are enough resources and success to share with others, in contrast to the “scarcity mindset”, which is based on the idea that, if someone else wins, you lose. Abundance mindset seems against a human’s basic instinct, because we were born with a tendency to view the world as a competitive place and believe in “the survival of the fittest”. But, as a matter of fact, cooperation is an essential driving force of the evolution of species, including the human species, and has been deeply rooted in our thoughts and actions. Without cooperation, Homo sapiens would have gone extinct long ago, like other human species.
It is difficult to have an abundance mindset when one feels insecure and lacks confidence, and he or she would be more likely to feel threatened by the success of others, while abundance mentality can easily arise from having a high self-worth and security. On the MYSJ forum, I have met quite a few people who have this abundance mindset, and they generously share their knowledge and experience with others, give critiques on other people’s English pronunciations or writings. In the mean time, they also learn – a truly win-win situation. I believe strongly that what you give will always come back to you in one way or another, and the best way of learning English or any other things is to teach and share what you know.
