Why Telling Kids They're Smart Backfires (Do This Instead)

Most people think a growth mindset is something you decide to have. Ben Bergeron says it's built, not chosen — and the mechanism is simpler than you think. In this clip, Ben draws on Carol Dweck's research to explain exactly how coaches, parents, and leaders build a growth mindset in others: not through speeches or posters on the wall, but through the specific words they use every single day. Two groups of students. Both did well on a test. One group heard "you're so smart." The other heard "you must have worked really hard." What happened next reveals the entire difference between a fixed mindset and a growth one — and why the language we use with people is far more powerful than we realize. The language of the coach becomes the language of the athlete. Start there. Get the full Listener's Guide: https://www.chasingexcellence.email/p... Join the Chase Club: https://chasingexcellence.substack.com/ New to Chasing Excellence? Start here: https://www.chasingexcellence.email/p... --- ABOUT CHASING EXCELLENCE Chasing Excellence is for people who already know that health, happiness, and living with their heart on fire is the good life — but who struggle against the slow drift of modern life anyway. We explore the five factors of health — how we eat, move, think, connect, and rest — and what it takes to crowd out the drift. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.