This One Thought Can Change Your Entire Practice
What 434 Meditators—and New Research—Reveal About What Makes Practice Stick
Picture this:
You sit down to meditate.
You’ve got your timer. Your intention. Your carefully curated “forest stream with frogs” audio.
Then…
Your brain starts planning dinner.
You remember that weird thing you said in 2014.
You itch. In five places.
You open one eye.
Two minutes have passed.
You declare yourself spiritually broken and open Instagram instead.
Here’s the thing: According to new research, it’s not how focused you are that predicts whether you’ll keep meditating.
It’s how focused you believe you can get with practice.
In a recent study surveying 434 meditators, researchers looked at what predicts who ends up practicing the most over a lifetime.
One of the most significant—and changeable—factors?
long-term commitment to the practice.
Not how long you’ve meditated. Not how calm you are to begin with.
The belief that well-being can grow and change.
That emotional resilience isn’t fixed—it’s a skill you can build.
Even when it’s messy.
Even when it’s Day One, again.
Psychologists call it a growth mindset.
And the best part?
You don’t have to be born with it. You can learn it.
And when you do, it doesn’t just help with meditation—
It’s been shown to support mental health for months to come.
So what is growth mindset, really?
Originally coined by Carol Dweck, a growth mindset is the belief that traits like intelligence, emotional regulation, or even your general well-being aren’t set in stone. They’re malleable. Trainable. Shapable. (Yes, even yours.)
It’s the difference between thinking:
“I’m just bad at this.”
versus“I’m still learning.”
And that tiny shift changes everything.
Want to build it? Try this science-backed approach:
Researchers Jessica Schleider, and John Weisz (one of my collaborators at Harvard) developed a short growth mindset intervention that led to significant improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms in teens—effects that lasted up to nine months later.
Here’s a simplified version, tailored for mindfulness, you can try right now:
Ever thought, “Maybe this is just how I am”?
Maybe you’re “the anxious one.”
Or “the scattered one.”
Or the one who “never sticks with anything.”
Here’s the good news—grounded in research:
Personality isn’t carved in stone.
It’s sculpted in clay.
Malleable. Flexible. Changeable.
And knowing that?
It can shift the way you move through the world.
Step 1: Realize Your Brain’s Superpower
Your brain isn’t a statue. It’s more like a garden.
Every thought you plant—every moment you return to the breath, even if it’s for five seconds—shapes its growth.
This capacity for change is called neuroplasticity, and it’s one reason people can get better at things like emotional regulation, focus, and yes—meditation.
Even if you’ve quit before.
Even if your mind wanders.
Even if you forgot yesterday. (Or last month.)
Step 1.5: The Buddhists Knew This, Too
What I love most is that this isn’t just neuroscience.
Meditation is built on the same idea.
In Buddhist teachings, there’s a term in Pali (the language of the earliest Buddhist texts):—aṇicca—that means impermanence.
Not in a depressing “everything falls apart” kind of way,
but in a liberating, quietly hopeful way:
nothing stays stuck.
Not your stress.
Not your habits.
Not even your sense of self.
Which leads us to another word too: anattā—often translated as “non-self.”
It gets misunderstood a lot.
It doesn’t mean you don’t exist.
It means the stories you tell yourself about who you are, like:
I’m the flaky one.
I’m the one who always quits.
I’m not the kind of person who meditates.
Those stories?
They’re not permanent. Not fact. Just stories.
And stories can change.
(Which points to something deeper: we’re not isolated threads. We’re interwoven, interdependent, interheld. But that’s a thread we’ll tug on another time.)
Step 2: See It in Someone Else
When researchers designed this mindset intervention, they didn’t just lecture about change—they shared true stories. Stories of people who messed up, fell short, and kept going. Because we don’t just learn through facts. We learn through seeing ourselves in someone else’s stumble—and their return.
So here are a few stories from readers I’ve included—with permission—because they capture something universal about the winding, imperfect path back to practice.
And if you’ve got a story too?
Drop it in the replies.
You never know who might be scrolling through, looking for a reason not to give up.
Because sometimes the thing that helps someone keep going…
is knowing someone else already did.
Step 3: Find Your Own Proof
Think of a skill you improved—even slightly—over time: cooking, speaking in public, dealing with conflict.
You weren't perfect at first (and let’s face it, you’re still probably not perfect now).
But you kept going. You adapted. You grew.
You already know how to change. This is just another version of that.
Step 4: Flip Your Script
Think about something you’re struggling with right now—maybe you can’t seem to find your rhythm with meditation. Now try saying something like this—in your own words, out loud, if you’re game:
“It’s not that I can’t do it. It’s that I haven’t found what works for me—yet.”
That’s not wishful thinking. It’s a mindset that research links to real change.
Not because it’s magical—
but because it keeps you curious.
Keeps you learning.
Keeps you in it.
And here’s the part we forget:
Growth isn’t about never falling off track.
It’s about getting better at coming back.
It’s not about being good at meditation.
It’s about learning how to return.
That’s what a growth mindset really is.
Not just believing in progress—but in your capacity to begin again.
Step 5: The Letter (Trust Me, It Works)
This is where it gets sticky—in a good way.
Write a short note to a younger version of yourself or to someone you care about. Someone who’s struggling with a habit, or feeling like they’ll never change.
Here’s one example (but make it yours):
“You won’t feel this stuck forever. Growth is slower than we want, but it happens. Especially when you come back after a setback. And you will come back.”
Why does this help? Because the act of encouraging someone helps you internalize the message. Psychologists call this “self-persuasion.” Turns out, it's surprisingly effective.
Want to try it? Drop your note in the comments.
You never know who it might help—yourself included.
Try this sometime this week:
The next time you catch yourself thinking, “I’m not good at this,”
add one word: yet.
Then breathe.
You’re not off track.
You’re laying down new neural paths that bring you back.
Know someone who gave up on meditation because they thought they “just can’t do it”?
Send this their way.
It might change their mind.
Literally.
In progress (like the rest of us),
Eli Susman, PhD
Founder, The Micro Memo
Micropractice.com
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