I Believe

What we believe in will affect our actions, and when we take actions, we may see results.  When we see results, it reinforces our beliefs, and we will work harder, and we may see even better results.  Hence, the first step is to believe.

When a child believes that he is not intelligent, he will lose interest in his studies.  His results will drop, and he will be convinced that he is not intelligent.  And he further dislikes studying, and his results drop even further.  But when a child believes he can do it, he will start doing, and he sees the outcome, which in turn strengthens his beliefs and he will strive even harder.

Hence, to help someone, what we can do is to motivate them to start doing something small.  Let small successes build their confidence and belief, and hopefully, they will spiral up on their own after that. 

However, there are other factors in life that may affect the progress of our actions, some of which are within our control, and some not.  We will have to mitigate the effects of these negative factors.