The power of believing that you can improve | Carol Dweck | TED

as a non english speaker, i really appreciate this lady for talking slowly and elegantly! thank you madame!

This makes so much sense.  When I was a kid, I got tons of praise for having natural ability, but none for effort.  So I ended up being lazy, just counting on my giftedness to get me through life easily.  By the time I got to high school, I noticed that all of the "less intelligent" kids were outperforming me by a mile, and I got it into my head that maybe I wasn't as smart as I thought I was.  Now, looking back, I realize that I really could have been somebody if I'd just put in as much effort as everyone else.

I've been told by friends, family and teachers my whole life that i am clever, smart, talented. It always felt good being told this but at 21 years old, I have yet to taste the fruits of my so called intelligence and talent. I grew up lazy. Now I have to teach myself the self discipline that I always avoided due to my self belief of being clever was enough to carry me through my teenage years. In adulthood, you must put in the work to succeed. So that's what I am doing. I have no rewards, no praise, no encouragement. Its just me forcing myself to put the effort in daily. Raw self discipline. Some days I succeed, some days I dont. I keep going cos my long term goals require me to work and study now to secure my future.

English is not my native language, so her speed was very good for me: easy to understand and catch.

When my pupils say, "I don't get it" or, "I can't do it" I have always finished their sentences with "...yet!"

As someone that's lazy and was always praised for intelligence and talent, this hits hard...

This is gold. I just realise whenever I fail a subject with "not passed" or "failed", my motivation for studying decreases tremendously. I feel like I have no talent in the subject or the subject is "just not for me". If only all schools choose to use "Not yet" and let people keep learning and attempting tests and exams for more, I believe people would be more motivated in improving themselves.

I couldn’t help but tear up at this video. I was going through my childhood journals a few days back and I was saddened to see that all I ever cared about was marks in school. Nothing was enough. If I secured 89%, I was sad because it wasn’t a 90 or a 95. If I got the 2nd rank in class, I would sulk because it was not 1st. The people around me would tell me how my real intelligence would be judged during my board exams, entrance exams for college and I started basing my entire identity on the same. A single failure used to make me feel like I was destined to be doomed. I started dreading failures even before starting my work— so much so that I would get panic attacks before exams when I was a mere high school student. I am in college right now and I still have these bouts of extreme anxiety but I will remember henceforth that every apparent hurdle is purely an opportunity for growth.

I was raised as a kid who always aim for A but turned out I was not intelligent enough to do that. So eventually, my parents gave up and I also gave up. I lazed off in elementary school and junior high and got average results which I don't care of. But in high school, I (barely) got into a very difficult school and in an environment with intellectual kids, I felt like a real loser. I'm not good at studying, at sport, or even making friends, and those around me are so great at everything, so I isolated myself from the class. It finally hit me at the end of first year, I was told I could be expelled because my grade was too bad. Then I thought, if I were going to be expelled, I'm going out of here with my head held high. And so I worked hard, harder than I ever did in my life. I was saved that year, from a fairly well done math test. After that, I realized that all my failures before were not because of my brain, it was because I didn't know what "try hard" was. In the next two year, I try to put in as much effort as possible, in making friends, in studying, in things I've never tried before. And today, I am at my third year of high school, with fairly high grade, I'm more sociable and more happy with my school days, and best of all I'm no longer afraid of failure or a lost, because I now know that's what makes me stronger :)

It took me 28 years to figure this out, so much time wasted but I am catching up now.

Oh my goodness! The richness in this, I am currently a student for a Software Engineer Course and its fully funded and to my surprise in my head everything to do with engineering one must know maths and science, when I read more into the course and in depth I later found it, man i can do this as I have grew my love for IT and everything technical and practical to it. Thank you Professor Dweck!

Glad I grew up playing sports. Coaches really instill the importance of practice and following plays, teaching you that the only way to win is to get with the program especially when the team is relying on you.

Why the government doesn't apply the rule to write "Not yet" instead of "fail"??? I really believe in the lecturer!!

Fucking school didn't teach me any of this. I hate how they spend all this money trying to make you have good grades and the teachers say "I want you to succeed" but they don't teach you fundamentals of learning. If you're reading this: I want you to read (or look into the summary of) a book called: The Talent Code. This talk has its foundations in what the book discusses about how the brain learns and how skills develop. Simply amazing.

I was praised for my intelligence and not my efforts by my parents and that made me rude and rely on only my intelligence and my sis who was not as intelligent as me was scolded and rebuked. And that cot me a lots even till now. African mentality needs to be oriented with growth mindset and not waste the lives of upcoming children anymore. I am so glad I came in contact with your channel Prof Carol Dweck. Thank you ALX for choosing this particular video

I am watching this right now for my college psych class. Carols "growth mindset" changed my life. I went from not knowing how to get good grades , and feeling hopeless to making straight As in college. Thank you, ma'am!

Most of us focused on how slow she speaks, without focusing on the content of what she says. A great presentation and a new way of education . Thumbs up👍

That awkward moment when x1.25 speed seems normal xD

I'm 31 years old, taking an MBA with my passion and hesitation. From kids' experiments, I raise me up with any obstacles to achieve my completely new challenge goals in business. That's an amazing talk. Thanks Professor Dweck

i wish i was born in an environment where my efforts are acknowledge than with that of what i've achieved. now i'm grateful for all these videos similar to this one that would give me this advice of having a growth mindset which would lead me to success.