No matter what your current ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.
In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.
What did you learn today? What mistake did you make that taught you something? What did you try hard at today?
The best thing parents can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.
Effort is one of those things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it.
Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is, but they don’t tell you where a student could end up.
Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?
Failure is information-we label it failure, but it’s more like, ‘This didn’t work, I’m a problem solver, and I’ll try something else.’
For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value.
The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn.
Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Plus allies in learning.
It is not always people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.
You have to work hardest for the things you love most.
Becoming is better than being.
We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.
Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.
What did you try hard at today?
Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. Keep on going.
You’re in charge of your mind. You can help it grow by using it in the right way.
Teaching is a wonderful way to learn.