Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Outliers, Galton concluded, are remarkable in three ways: they demonstrate unusual “ability” in combination with exceptional “zeal” and “the capacity for hard labor.”

learn to tell the difference between low-level goals that should be abandoned quickly and higherlevel goals that demand more tenacity.

The link between cognitive behavioral therapy and learned helplessness led to the development of “resilience training.”

“There is no more miserable human being,” observed William James, than the one for whom “the beginning of every bit of work” must be decided anew each day.54

My best guess is that following through on our commitments while we grow up both requires grit and, at the same time, builds it.

Language is one way to cultivate hope.

For Csikszentmihalyi, the signature experience of experts is flow, a state of complete concentration “that leads to a feeling of spontaneity.”31 Flow is performing at high levels of challenge and yet feeling “effortless,” like “you don’t have to think about it, you’re just doing it.”

My third suggestion for getting the most out of deliberate practice is to change the way you experience it.

One of the major discoveries of parenting research is that what matters more than the messages parents aim to deliver are the messages their children receive.24