Barbara Oakley

When I was in middle school, I used to walk to my grandma’s house for lunch. As I was walking, I would try to recall key ideas that I’d just learned in the class, as if rewatching an interesting film. This technique helped me tremendously to excel in my studies.

Your brain has a lot of neurons in it. Billions, roughly the same number as the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Neurons are the building blocks of your brain. They’re small. Really small. Ten neurons are only as wide as a human hair! But they can be long—longer than your arm.

. You’ve got billions of neurons—and your brain is growing new neurons all the time. More than that, you can make billions and billions of connections between neurons!
The fact that trails in your brain can change and grow is called neuroplasticity. (It’s pronounced “new-row-plas-TI-sity.”) This fancy word just means that your neurons are like clay you can mold. That is, your neurons can change. This is why you can change!