I define talent as the rate at which you get better at something when you try. To be very talented means you get better faster and more easily than other people or other things that you try.
ANGELA DUCKWORTHThere are going to be peaks and valleys. You don’t want to let kids quit during a valley.
More Angela Duckworth Quotes
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The words that we use I think are symbolic of the values that we hold.
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Negative feelings are typical of learning, and you shouldn’t feel like you’re stupid when you’re frustrated doing something. You might say to yourself, ‘I can’t do this,’ but you should say, ‘That’s great.’ That means you really have the potential to learn something there.
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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.
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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.
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What we reliably find is that people’s perseverance scores are actually higher than their passion scores, and I think it really does get to the fact that working hard is hard, but maybe finding your passion is even more difficult.
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Longitudinal studies following thousands of people across time have shown that most people only begin to gravitate toward certain vocational interests, and away from others, around middle school.
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There is a fluency and an ease with which true mastery and expertise always expresses itself, whether it be in writing, whether it be in a mathematical proof, whether it be in a dance that you see on stage, really in every domain. But I think the question is, you know, where does that fluency and mastery come from?
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When people think of the word ‘drive,’ they often think you have it or you don’t, and that’s where we’re wrong.
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Nobody gets to be good at something without effort, no matter what your aptitude is.
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Many things matter other than our measured intelligence, so let’s get to work on them.
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I do think that whatever ambition I may have had natively was amplified by my father’s clear valuing of it. I knew that was what my dad really cared about.
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I was a good novice teacher, but I did the things that were obvious.
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If you’re never able to tolerate a little bit of pain and discomfort, you’ll never get better.
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Grit may carry risk because it’s about putting all your eggs in one basket, to some extent.
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Most people who are really, enduringly interested in something eventually find that it’s important, too – and important to other people.
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