TRUE GRIT = sustained passion + perseverance

• "putting the hardest kind of work in"
• put in hours of deliberate practice

Studying Cox's findings, Duckworth isolated two qualities that she thought might be a better predictor of outstanding achievement:

• The tendency not to abandon tasks from mere changeability. Not seeking something because of novelty. Not "looking for a change."
• The tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles. Perseverance, tenacity, doggedness.

Foer identified four principles that he saw the experts using to remain alert and to keep learning:

• Experts tend to operate outside their comfort zone and study themselves failing.
• Experts will try to walk in the shoes of someone who's more competent than them.
• Experts crave and thrive on immediate and constant feedback.
• Experts treat what they do like a science. They collect data, they analyze data, they create theories, and they test them.

Performance component (Steve Jobs, Clinton) :

• zest, grit, self-control, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism and curiosity

Moral component (Martin Luther King, Gandhi):

• fairness, generosity, integrity

Cognitive behavioral therapy, or C.B.T., involves using the conscious mind to understand and overcome unconscious fears and self-destructive habits, using techniques like “self-talk” — putting an immediate crisis in perspective by reminding yourself of the larger context

Talk bet Charles Darwin & Galton: Galton: Hereditary Genius = hardwork + passion/zeal + intellect Darwin: "I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, zeal and hardwork; and I still think this is an eminently important difference."