I don’t mind losing as long as I see improvement or I feel I’ve done as well as I possibly could.

We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.

Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is, but they don't tell you where a student could end up.

Wow, that's a really good score. You must have worked really hard.

...when people already know they're deficient, they have nothing to lose by trying.

The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn.

You have to work hardest for the things you love most.