When students become disillusioned because others are ahead of them or complain that they don’t understand something, a word that Carol Dweck champions using with them is “yet.” When I ask adults to visually represent an idea, I often hear them say, “I am terrible at drawing.” I tell them, “You mean you have not learned to draw well yet.” This may seem like a small linguistic change, but it is an important one. It moves the focus from the perceived personal lack to the process of learning.
