Wanting his children to be successful, billionaire Jeff Bezos suggests a simple habit

(Dan Tri) - Billionaire Jeff Bezos - founder of technology company Amazon - said there is one thing he often teaches his children. Education experts also completely agree with the billionaire on this.

Jeff Bezos is the 4th richest American billionaire in the world with a fortune of 236 billion USD. Mr. Bezos pays great attention to protecting the information of his 4 children. The media and the world public know very little about the billionaire's children.

Still, Jeff Bezos is willing to openly share how he raised his children, aiming to maximize their potential for success.

Bezos once emphasized something that he considered very important in the process of raising children, parents need to understand clearly and need to help their children understand this early. Mr. Bezos has said many times about "don't praise your children for being talented, praise them for their efforts".

Jeff Bezos is the 4th richest American billionaire in the world with a fortune of 236 billion USD (Photo: Inc).

He shared: “We should only be proud of our own choices, not our innate talents. This is especially important for the development of adolescents, parents should understand clearly to help their children understand this issue.

It is easy for a young person to be proud of his or her natural abilities, such as being good at sports , or being very intelligent, or being very good at math. It is not wrong, they should be happy that they have talents, but they should not be proud of those things. Each person should only feel proud of how they use those natural gifts.

The billionaire asked: If you are smart, will you continue to study hard? If you are good at sports, will you practice hard to reach a higher level? Do you really try?

“The best people are those who combine natural talent with persistent effort. The effort to reach higher goals comes from individual choices. How we make choices in life is what we should feel proud of when we look back on our lives,” billionaire Jeff Bezos concluded.

Billionaire Bezos’ advice is very similar to the research of American psychology professor Carol Dweck, a lecturer at Stanford University (USA). Ms. Dweck is the one who introduced the concept of “growth mindset”, as opposed to “fixed mindset”.

The focus of many of Ms. Dweck's studies is that parents should not praise their children for being good, but for their efforts.

The problem is that many parents do the opposite. They praise their children for their innate talents, but fail to recognize and praise their efforts.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos with his ex-wife and 4 children (Photo: Inc).

Many parents easily say things like: “You study so well!”, “Your drawing is so beautiful!”, “I am so proud of your performance today!”... But in reality, this is not the ideal way to praise. Parents need to praise properly, and should focus on how hard their children have tried, not just on how they have achieved results.

Some ways of praising that can help foster a “growth mindset” in children are: “I see that you have spent a lot of time and effort on this painting, it is really beautiful”; “Today you tried your best to perform, your performance was great”; “I am very proud of your hard work and perseverance in studying, this result is completely deserved for you”...

Through research, Carol Dweck discovered that praising children for their talents and abilities, instead of acknowledging their efforts, can make them afraid of making mistakes and failing. From there, children develop a “fixed mindset”, afraid of challenges, for fear of losing their perfect image.

According to Dweck, observing how parents praise their children when they are 1-3 years old can even help her predict their thinking and progressive spirit within the next 5 years.

In fact, many adults have grown up with a “fixed mindset” because their parents did not understand the importance of recognizing effort. However, it is never too late to proactively build a growth mindset, a progressive mindset for yourself. Every day is the first day of the life ahead, this is true not only for children, but also for adults.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/muon-con-thanh-cong-ty-phu-jeff-bezos-mach-nho-mot-thoi-quen-don-gian-20250710102439611.htm