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When people tell me I can’t do something, I have a visceral reflex to say, ‘Yes, I can.’

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
It’s also stamina in your direction, stamina in your interests. If you are working on different things but all of them very hard, you’re not really going to get anywhere. You’ll never become an expert.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Anyone Different Expert Hard Interest Stamina Them Thing Work
During all my undergrad years and in high school, I was involved in tutoring and public service. At Harvard, I spent over 35 hours a week doing service. I was a Big Sister, I worked for the homeless, the elderly; it was the epicenter of my focus.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

College Country During High Involve Public School Service Titoting Undergrad Year
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
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
$Angela Duckworth Quote - I ended up doubling the math time that a conventional school would have. But I don’t think any of these things were path-breaking or unusual.$

I ended up doubling the math time that a conventional school would have. But I don’t think any of these things were path-breaking or unusual.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

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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
Grit, in a word, is stamina. But it’s not just stamina in your effort.
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Effort Grit Just Stamina World
You know, the things that I want my own daughters to develop – the idea that we’re going to get there through rewards and punishments seems completely at odds with the idea of character itself.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

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To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about building it.
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Grit and self-control are related, but they’re not the same thing.
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Control Grit Relate Same Self Thing
When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching. I went to teach seventh graders math in the New York City public schools.
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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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Across Follow Longitudinal Middle People Thousand School Shown Study Time
I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my genes because I can’t do anything about them.
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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.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

Age City Discover Gritter Hand Pattern Something Striking
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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Drive People Think Word Wrong
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
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.
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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.
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Error Foster Important Passion Realize Rocess Trial
People’s lives really do turn out differently. And it certainly can’t be explained by how intelligent you remember them being when they were sitting next to you in organic chemistry class.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

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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

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The words that we use I think are symbolic of the values that we hold.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

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Substituting nuance for novelty is what experts do, and that is why they are never bored.
ANGELA DUCKWORTH

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There’s something about taking the path of least resistance that makes a lot of sense. But at the same time, we have to figure out which things in life are worth struggling through.
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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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Ambition Amplified Clear Father Natively Think Value Whatever
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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Facial Feel Feeling Frustrate Learn Like Negative Something Stupid Typical
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

When people tell me I can’t do something, I have a visceral reflex to say, ‘Yes, I can.’

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When people tell me I can’t do something, I have a visceral reflex to say, ‘Yes, I can.’

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Popular Authors

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