In first grade, I told my mom, “I’m stupid” after struggling with reading. The school had shifted from a phonics-based approach in kindergarten to sight-reading, and it did not work for me. My teacher wasn’t exactly encouraging, and I ended up at what I viewed as the “dumb kids’ table.” That experience left me believing that I can’t learn to read and left scars around reading and writing for years.

My mom decided to pull me and my brother out of public school and homeschool us, which was pretty counterculture at the time in California. That decision changed my life. She wasn’t focused on academic excellence—she cared about building good character, strong critical thinking, communication, and most importantly, learning how to learn. She encouraged us to dive into what interested us and figure things out on our own, which was pretty wild considering the internet was barely a thing back then.

I loved computers. I broke them, crashed them, fixed them—over and over again. I helped set up our family network, got us playing multiplayer games, and as soon as HTML became a thing, I was building websites. It wasn’t about formal instruction—it was about figuring it out as I went. And that, more than anything, shaped my future.

That experience taught me that learning how to learn is the most valuable skill you can develop. Instead of mastering just one tool or technique, it’s about having the flexibility to adapt, grow, and apply what you’ve learned in new ways. It’s less about what you know right now, and more about your ability to pick up new things as the world changes.

This is where having a growth mindset comes in. When you believe that your abilities aren’t fixed and you can always improve, learning becomes a process—not a one-time task. It frees you from needing to know everything upfront and opens you up to new opportunities. Being able to unlearn outdated methods and relearn new ways of doing things is just as important.

Mentorship helps speed up this process. A mentor doesn’t just give you answers—they help you see how to find those answers on your own. They guide you in how to learn, and that’s where the real growth happens. It’s not just about solving problems today, but building the skill to keep learning and growing for years to come.