Comment by ericmcer

I am trying to stress pushing through these barriers with my kid right now. The second her brain encounters something beyond its current sphere she just shuts down.

I have heard it is the ego protecting itself by rejecting something outright rather than admitting you can't do it. It still happens to me all the time. My favorite technique was one I heard from a college professor. He starts reading while filling a notepad with sloppy notes, once a page is filled he just throws it away. He claimed it was the fastest way to "condition his brain to the problem space". More than the exercise I like the idea that your brain cannot even function in that space until it has been conditioned.