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I would be surprised if my girls ended up as women without grit. I really would.

Angela Duckworth

Very few people can keep going their whole life doing something and feel like it’s merely personally fascinating.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Do Fascinate Feel Few Going Keep Merely People Person Something Very
Boredom is a very self-conscious emotion by definition. Interest is not. So you can actually be completely absorbed in something and, at certain points in your development, not even realize that you’re into it.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Boredom Conscious Definition Emotion Interest Self
Everybody knows that effort matters. What was revelatory to me was how much it mattered.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Effort Everybody Matter Mattered Much Revelator
I worked hard when I was a consultant. I worked hard when I was in graduate school looking at neuroscience.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Consultant Gratitude Hard Harder Look Neuroscience School Work Worker
If you are a young person who is wanting to develop a passion, you cannot expect anyone else to tell you what that passion would be.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Develop Passion Person Want Young
So when my daughter told me on the second track meet that she was done with it because she discovered she didn’t like competing, I made her finish the season.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Competing Daughter Discover Made Season Second Track Was
And I’ve discovered a strikingly consistent pattern: grit and age go hand in hand. Sixty-somethings tend to be grittier, on average, than fifty-somethings, who are in turn grittier than forty-somethings, and so on.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Age City Discover Gritter Hand Pattern Something Striking
Many, many individuals will report starting to form their lifelong interests around adolescence. Why that is, researchers don’t fully know. But if you can take a trip down memory lane and see what interested you, that’s at least a clue as to where your interest may begin to develop.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Adolescence Around Individual Interest Lifelong Many Report Start
I don’t think that every child in America is going to necessarily aspire to, you know, a four-year degree from a liberal arts college or a certain kind of life. I think that people should learn to be excellent in the thing that they choose to do.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Aspire Country Every Go Know Necessarily Think
It is important to realize that the process of ‘fostering’ a passion takes trial and error. It takes experience; you cannot do it all in your head. And it takes a long time.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Error Foster Important Passion Realize Rocess Trial
I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my genes because I can’t do anything about them.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Anything Genes Lot Spent Them Think
Striving is exhausting. Sometimes I do say things like, ‘I wish I were not quite this driven to be excellent.’ It’s not a comfortable life. It’s not relaxed. I’m not relaxed as a person. I mean, I’m not unhappy. But… it’s the opposite of being comfortable.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Excellent Exhausting Life Quite Say Something Striving Thing Wish
I would be surprised if my girls ended up as women without grit. I really would.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Ended Girl Really Surprise Women Would
If you’re never able to tolerate a little bit of pain and discomfort, you’ll never get better.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Able Better Bit Discomfort never Pain Tolarte
There are no shortcuts to true excellence.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Excellence No Shortcut True
I didn’t tell my kids, ‘You have to play viola, and you have to play piano.’ They chose these things on their own, and I don’t think we have to give kids every choice, but we do have to give them some choice because that autonomy is crucial for fostering passion.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Absorb Actual Complete Kid Piano Play Point Something Viola Well
Psychologists call this the maturity principle. My own life experience fits this principle to a T.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Call Experience Life Maturity Own Principle Pschllogistic
There haven’t been genetic studies on grit, but we often think that challenge is inherited but grit is learned. That’s not what science says. Science says grit comes from both nature and nurture.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Challenge Genetic Girl Inherited Learn Science Studies
Why do some people try, try again, and why do some people not? That’s what I’m after.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

After Again People Some Try
Grittier students are more likely to earn their diplomas; grittier teachers are more effective in the classroom.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Classroom Country Diploma Earn Effective Grittier Likely More People Place Student Teacher
We have found a direct correlation between grit and positive emotions, but the fact that I have no evidence that grit is bad for you doesn’t mean it’s not. It’s always a possibility that in the future researchers will discover a downside to grit.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Bad Between Correlation Direct Emotion Evidence Fact Found Grit Men Positive
You cannot will yourself to be interested in something you’re not interested in. But you can actively discover and deepen your interest.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Actively Deepen Discover Interest Interested Something Yourself
My dad was not super-intentional in his parenting. He was very self-absorbed. I won’t say mean or selfish per se, but very self-absorbed. I think he was just thinking out loud.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Absorbed Dad Intention Parenting Self Super
Nobody gets to be good at something without effort, no matter what your aptitude is.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Aptitude Effort Get Good Matter Nobody Something
Gritty people train at the edge of their comfort zone. They zero in on one narrow aspect of their performance and set a stretch goal to improve it.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Comfort Gritty People Train End Zone
I now have Grit Scale scores from thousands of American adults. My data provide a snapshot of grit across adulthood.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Adult Country Girl Scale Score Thousand
Many things matter other than our measured intelligence, so let’s get to work on them.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Intelligence Many Matter Measure Other Thing Work

I would be surprised if my girls ended up as women without grit. I really would.

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I would be surprised if my girls ended up as women without grit. I really would.

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