Myths of Grit and Passion
“I’ve come to call this heroic individualism: an ongoing game of one-upmanship, against both yourself and others, paired with the limiting belief that measurable achievement is the only arbiter of success. Even if you do a good job hiding it on the outside, with heroic individualism you chronically feel like you never quite reach the finish line th... See more
Brad Stulberg • The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds--Not Crushes--Your Soul
In the place of the traditional notion of the self-made man—a construct that is gendered in its basic formation, patriarchal in its assumptions of how individuals come into being, and self-congratulatory in its tone—the belabored self presents itself as overworked both as the subject and as the object of its own efforts at self-improvement.
Micki McGee • Self-Help, Inc.: Makeover Culture in American Life
Like Ahmed, she found that traits like curiosity were essential. But she found that they also needed high emotional resilience to pursue their interests in the face of external expectations. “Because we live in a society that tells us to specialise, and these are people who didn’t do that – they forged their own path.” Many people may lack the nece... See more
bbc • Why Some People Are Impossibly Talented
the achievement of children – and adults – is dependent on their levels of ‘grit’ – a combination of self-control, focus and ability to recover well from failure or disappointment.
Ian Leslie • Curious
When we deem our social destiny entirely self-directed and our personal lives self-made, we lose any sense of participating in a collective myth larger than ourselves.
William Strauss • The Fourth Turning
When the social and psychological discourse on Quarterlife development emphasizes only external markers of achievement—college, job, marriage, house, children, financial safety—and not the fundamental process of becoming oneself, a great deal is lost. Lives are reduced to the ups and downs of successes and failures. But the search for oneself is a
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