How to Master Growth Mindset to Improve Performance | Dr. David Yeager

Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. David Yeager. Dr. David Yeager is a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the world's leading researchers into mindsets, in particular growth mindset, which is a mindset that enables people of all ages to improve their abilities at essentially anything. He is also a world expert into the "stress is performance-enhancing" mindset, which is a mindset that allows people to cognitively reframe stress, and that when combined with growth mindset can lead to dramatic improvements in performance in cognitive and physical endeavors. Dr. Yeager is also the author of an important and extremely useful new book entitled Ten to Twenty-Five: The Science of Motivating Young People. The book is scheduled for release this summer, that is the summer of 2024. And we provided a link to the book in the show note captions. During today's discussion, Dr. Yeager explains to us exactly what growth mindset is through the lens of the research into growth mindset, and he explains also how to apply growth mindset in our lives. He also shares the research from his and other laboratories on the "stress can be performance-enhancing" mindset and how that can be combined with growth mindset to achieve the maximum results. So while I assume that most people have heard of growth mindset, today's discussion will allow you to really apply it in your life, not just from the perspective of you, the person trying to learn, but also for teachers and coaches. In fact, Dr. Yeager shares not just the optimal learning environments for us as individuals, but also between individuals and in the classroom, in families, in sports teams, and in groups of all sizes and kinds. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost-to-consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is AeroPress. AeroPress is like a French press, but a French press that always brews the perfect cup of coffee, meaning no bitterness and excellent taste. AeroPress achieves this because it uses a very short contact time between the hot water and the coffee, and that short contact time also means that you can brew an excellent cup of coffee very quickly. The whole thing takes only about three minutes. I started using an AeroPress over 10 years ago, and I learned about it from a guy named Alan Adler, who's a former Stanford engineer who's also an inventor. He developed things like the Aerobie Frisbee. In any event, I'm a big fan of Adler inventions, and when I heard he developed a coffee maker, the AeroPress, I tried it, and I found that indeed it makes the best possible tasting cup of coffee. It's also extremely small and portable. So I started using it in the laboratory, when I travel on the road, and also at home. And I'm not alone in my love of the AeroPress coffee maker. With over 55,000 five-star reviews, AeroPress is the best-reviewed coffee press in the world. If you'd like to try AeroPress, you can go to aeropress.com/huberman to get 20% off. AeroPress currently ships in the USA, Canada, and to over 60 other countries around the world. Again, that's aeropress.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by ROKA. ROKA makes eyeglasses and sunglasses that are of the absolute highest quality. Now, I've spent a lifetime working on the biology of the visual system, and I can tell you that your visual system has to contend with an enormous number of different challenges in order for you to be able to see clearly. ROKA understands this and has developed their eyeglasses and sunglasses so that regardless of the conditions you're in, you always see with the utmost clarity. ROKA eyeglasses and sunglasses were initially designed for use in sport, in particular things like running and cycling. Now as a consequence, ROKA frames are extremely lightweight, so much so that most of the time you don't even remember that they're on your face. They're also designed so that they don't slip off if you get sweaty. Now even though they were initially designed for performance in sport, they now have many different frames and styles, all of which can be used in sport but also when out to dinner, at work, essentially any time and in any setting. If you'd like to try ROKA glasses, you can go to ROKA, that's roka.com, and enter the code Huberman to get 20% off. Again, that's roka.com and enter the code Huberman to get 20% off. And now for my discussion with Dr. David Yeager. Dr. David Yeager, welcome.