In The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth discusses her research into the characteristics of successful people. She argues that innate talent is less important to success than the willingness to persevere despite difficulty and initial failure. People tend to believe that innate ability is the most important determinant of success and achievement. However, IQ tests and other measures of supposedly natural talent are poor predictors of performance. On the other hand, questionnaires designed to measure perseverance and determination correlate these qualities with success. Hard workers with determination can succeed even in fields like math, which students usually regard as dominated by people with talent or genius. Grit itself is not a fixed characteristic. Rather, it is a trait that can be learned and cultivated. Individuals can build grit by focusing on their own passions and by cutting out activities or goals that distract from more central endeavors… · Overview of the Book · Important People · Key Takeaways · Analysis of Key Takeaways With Instaread, you can get the key takeaways, summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.
28 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 8, 2016
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With Instaread, you can get the summary and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, summarize and analyze it for your convenience.
I don't typically use these summaries but wanted to gather some notes. Are they always this weird? Used samples from outside the book to demonstrate points from the book. Some kind of intellectual property issue? Also drew the completely wrong conclusion from the parenting chapter. Duckworth stated that research had well established that authoritative parenting, rather than authoritarian or permissive parenting, were ideal, not that "either parenting style can build perseverance". That was the strongest chapter in the book so it's strange to get that point wrong.
In this case, grit is used to refer to an individual’s ability to accept a mistake, learn from it and then continue to work towards their goals. The premise of the book is to make the case that innate talent is less important than a willingness to persevere through failures and disappointments. This is of course an obvious point, provided one includes the qualification “for the vast majority of people.” There will always be a wide spectrum of abilities in humans, those with high, outlier skills on the right and those with low, equally outlier skills on the left.
The key takeaways are all high on the obvious scale. They are:
*) Talent is less important than grit for achieving success.
*) The grit scale can quantify grit. It can be used to predict success.
*) To cultivate grit, it is important to identify one’s passions.
*) High achievers improve their skills through difficult, deliberate practice.
*) Gritty people feel they have control over their fate and that hard work can change outcomes.
*) In their parenting, adults should provide love, support, and examples of passion and determination.
*) Children’s extracurricular activities encourage the development of grit.
*) Gritty cultures or communities can create gritty individuals.
The most interesting item in the summary is the mention of a 2010 study of child prodigies. Of 210 child prodigies studied, only six went on to having a comparable level of success as an adult. Of course, a deep dive is necessary to fully evaluate this study. If the child was a true prodigy, then their high level of early achievement simply may have been the best thing that they will ever do. A form of regression to the mean as one moves through life. Nearly all people have a best professional achievement of their life, for prodigies, it just came earlier.
While there are points of interest in the summary, most of them are routine repeats of what has appeared in many other venues. One can see that from the key takeaways, which can be found in many self-help books.
This book was made available for free for review purposes.
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Innate talent is less important than dogged perseverance according to Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. In her study of the characteristics of successful people, Duckworth shows that not only is grit the key to success, but that grit can learned and cultivated.
Summary of Grit by Angela Duckworth from Instaread is a comprehensive analysis of the book, discussing its main themes and the author’s background and writing style. This is a short summary that can be read in about 15 minutes, and it’s great for helping a busy reader shortlist books worth buying.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.
