It's more motivating to praise effort rather than achievement

Praising intelligence alone actually harms motivation and performance, but when their effort is praised, people become more motivated to try their best. — 123rf.com

Many moons ago I was in a karate class, and while my younger self was interested in learning to fight, it was the teacher’s life lessons that have stuck with me.

The first time I met this teacher, I mistook him for maintenance staff of the centre we trained in. A stocky Irishman with rugged hands the size of shovels, he didn’t fit the image in my mind of a karate instructor.