I am not creative, I am a slow learner, I cannot write fiction, I have two left feet are nothing but mental blocks that prevent us from marching ahead and learning something new in life. Learning anything new in life is more about overcoming mental blocks than learning a skill. I have often heard people especially women talk “I am not gadget freak, I can only receive and make calls on my mobile, I cannot do more than that or I can’t understand anything related to finance”

If a person can learn how to operate a computer, learn programming why can’t that person figure out how to operate a black berry/handicam or understand balance sheet.

We often observe that children are quick learners. (This is again a mental block that adults are not quick learners). Give them a digicam, iPod or even an iphone, within minutes they will tell you how it functions and explain some of the features even known to its owner. It is nothing to do with their super mental ability or the new generation kids, it is just that they don't hestitate to learn by experimenting and don’t have pre conceived notions about themselves where as adults develop their own imaginary mental blocks and categorize themselves into gadget savvy or non gadget savvy people.

‘I can’t concentrate for long’ is again a mental block. It is more because you are not used to concentrating for long. One can learn to concentrate with practice. Girls are not good in Math or boys can’t keep their room clean too are nothing but mental blocks.

Much of the mental block can be overcome with knowledge and exposure. Categorizing people into quick and slow learners is generally not correct. The slow learners may not be slow learners in the true sense but slow because of their short attention span or/and lack of basic knowledge. How can one understand a panel discussion on stock market if one is not familiar with some of the terms or even understand the basics of stock market? It is also possible that you are more interested in watching some other channel or you are just not making an effort to understand.

Unknowingly we tend to perpetuate these mental blocks in ourselves as well as in others around us.