Sometimes effort and hard work gets a bad reputation. We are prone to thinking that if we have to work hard at a particular task or activity, we’re not ‘good’ at the activity. We assume that effortless mastery is the ideal situation.

However, mastery of whatever we love in life tends to come from investing lots of effort over time. The happiest people find joy in the effort of working towards something.

Try to pay attention to everything that’s happening with your child. Notice the things that you can see they’re working hard at. This will help them to see effort as a positive thing and help them to invest in the process (not just the outcome!).