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> Also gifted child here, but grew up with parents who drilled into me that "effort matters, you might not be the best, but with effort you can be better than who you were yesterday and that is a worthy endeavor"

Can confirm that getting lauded for effort encouraged doing hard things and pushing the limits of my abilities, rather than focusing on things that came easily.



Being lauded for effort when you didn't put in any effort doesn't help though, just makes you think grownups are dumb.


Being lauded for effort you did put in can be quite effective, as confirmed both by numerous studies and by the personal experiences of myriad people.




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