The assumption is to achieve big goals in small steps. The growth mindset is that they can get better <i>at these small steps</i>. e.g. I bet I  can improve at adding!<p>For children, you wouldn't expect them to break down their big overwhelming goals into small subtasks for themselves - you'd do that for them. You wouldn't even mention the big overwhelming goals, or indeed necessarily even have them.<p>Same goes for adults - except we've got to break it down ourselves.