The Most Important Mindset for Long-term Success

Research shows that praising a child for their intelligence can be detrimental as they face obstacles differently. Instead, praise your child for their effort.

When you believe in innate ability, then you feel you have to prove yourself over and over. Any sort of difficulty creates a desire to give up to keep your "smart" persona intact.

Talent truly matters in two ways:

• As a head start in the race to mastery. Those who are willing to work hard can still pass you by, therefore the saying: "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard."
• In edge cases. For the best of the best, talent matters more. Talent adds that little extra that takes their hard work to the peak of performance.

The key to developing a growth mindset is to "fake it until you make it." It results in small wins, which will lead to real confidence.

Start with focusing on small wins by changing your habits. Make daily "micro quotas" such as 10 minutes of working out a day. Once your habit is established, scale it. Over time, this creates a growth mindset - a passion for learning instead of a need for approval.