We did not merely study success; we studied the contrast between success and failure, ascent and decline, endurance and collapse, greatness and mediocrity.

It turns out that these differences in certainty have an important impact on sustained attention. Looking across thousands of pieces of content, we found that uncertain emotions encouraged engagement…

Uncertainty led readers to stick around to resolve what they didn’t know.

Employees whose linguistic style was more similar to their coworkers’ were three times more likely to be promoted. They received better performance evaluations and higher bonuses…

Indeed, people with a dissimilar linguistic style weren’t so fortunate. They were four times more likely to be fired…

Adaptability, in turn, helped explain success.

Using similar language seems to pay off at the office, but using different language makes songs more successful. So when is similarity good and when is difference better?

But those two or three words made a big difference. Rather than hurting their motivation, praising the students’ process, or how hard they had worked, encouraged them to keep going.