In her research on success and achievement, psychologist Carol Dweck delineates two mindsets that we can embody: the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.
Where do our mindsets come from? Mainly from teachers, parents, and coaches. For example, we receive messages about success from our parents. Parents think they can hand kids permanent confidence by praising their brains and talents. The problem is it doesn't work. It makes children doubt themselves as soon as anything is hard or anything goes wrong. Instead, let us teach our children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.
The goal is to love learning. To eventually learn and think for ourselves. Thoughts create. So to change the conditions of our life, we need to change our thinking---change our awareness and attitude.