Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Author: Angela Duckworth
"Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another."
"What we say we care about may not correspond with what - deep down - we actually believe to be more valuable."
Great things are accomplished by those "people whose thinking is active in one direction, who employ everything as material, who always zealously observe their own inner life and that of others, who percieve everywhere models and incentives, who never tire of combining together the means available to them" - Nietzsche
"On any long journey, detours are to be expected."
"The four psychological assets of interest, practice, purpose, and hope, are not You have it or you don't commodities. You can learn to discover, develop, and deepen your interests. You can acquire the habit of discipline. You can cultivate a sense of purpose and meaning And you can teach yourself to hope."
"So, interest - the desire to learn new things, to explore the world, to seek novelty, to be on the lookout for change and variety - it's a basic drive" - Paul J. Silvia
"Gritty people do more deliberate practice and experience more flow."
Deliberate practice, basic requirements:
- A clearly defined stretch goal
- Full concentration and effort
- Immediate and informative feedback
- Repetition with reflection and refinement
"How you see your work is more important than your job title"
"Reflecting on how the work you're already doing can make a positive contribution to society." - David S. Yeager
"Thinking about how, in small but meaningful ways, you can change your current work to enhance its connection to your core values." - Amy Wrzesniewski
"Finding inspiration in a purposeful role model." - William Damon
"When you keep searching for ways to change your situation for the better, you stand a chance of finding them."
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"My next suggestion is to practice optimistic self-talk."
"My best guess is that following through our commitments while we grow up both requires grit, and at the same time, builds it."
"The corresponsive principle suggests that the very traits that steer us toward certain life situations are the very same traits that those situations encourage, reinforce, and amplify. In this relationship there is the possibility of virtuous and vicious cycles."
"Whether we realize it or not, the culture in which we live, and with which we identify, powerfully shapes just about every aspect of our being."
"By culture, I don't mean the geographic or political boundaries that devide one people from another as much as the invisible psychological boundaries separating us from them. At its core, a culture is defined by the shared norms and values of a group of people."
If you'd like to explore the book in full:
Grit by Angela Duckworth on Amazon
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