Angela Duckworth

What’s the difference between being introverted and being shy? What are extroverts so cheerful about? And does Angela’s social battery ever run out?

Take the Big Five inventory: freakonomics.com/bigfive

• SOURCES:
  • Susan Cain, author.
  • Will Fleeson, professor of psychology at Wake Forest University.
  • Sigmund Freud, neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis.
  • Adam Grant, professor of management and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Carl Jung, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
  • Donald Kamentz, founder and C.E.O. of Contigo Ed.
  • Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside.
  • Seth Margolis, professor of biological chemistry at Johns Hopkins University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "A Crucial Character Trait for Happiness," by Arthur C. Brooks (The Atlantic, 2023).
  • "Experimental Manipulation of Extraverted and Introverted Behavior and Its Effects on Well-Being," by Seth Margolis and Sonja Lyubomirsky (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2020).
  • "Challenges to Capture the Big Five Personality Traits in Non-WEIRD Populations," by Rachid Laajaj, Karen Macours, Daniel Alejandro Pinzon Hernandez, Omar Arias, Samuel D. Gosling, Jeff Potter, Marta Rubio-Codina, and Renos Vakis (Science Advances, 2019).
  • "Rethinking the Extraverted Sales Ideal: The Ambivert Advantage," by Adam Grant (Psychological Science, 2013).
  • "The Power of Introverts," by Susan Cain (TED Talk, 2012).
  • Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain (2012).
  • "Personality Trait Change in Adulthood," by Brent W. Roberts Daniel Mroczek (Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2008).
  • "Toward a Structure- and Process-Integrated View of Personality: Traits as Density Distributions of States," by William Fleeson (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2001).

• EXTRAS:
  • Big Five Personality Inventory, by No Stupid Questions (2024).
  • “Personality: The Big Five,” series by No Stupid Questions (2024).

Author Angela Duckworth visits Google to discuss her book, "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.” In the book, Angela explores the science of why some people succeed and others fail, and why talent alone doesn’t guarantee success.

Drawing on her own powerful story as the daughter of a scientist who frequently criticized her supposed lack of “genius,” Duckworth describes her early eye-opening stints in teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience, which led to the hypothesis that what really drives success is not “genius” but a unique combination of passion and long-term perseverance.

In “Grit”, she takes readers into the field to visit cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, teachers working in some of the toughest schools, and young finalists in the National Spelling Bee. She also mines fascinating insights from history and shows what can be gleaned from modern experiments in peak performance. Finally, she shares what she’s learned from interviewing dozens of high achievers—from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff to Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll.

“Grit” is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference.

Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

Welcome to The Resilient Learner Podcast!

We help learners of all ages cultivate the adaptable mindsets and skills necessary to carve their own path in their education and careers.

Today's episode is another TRL Book Fair episode - yay! I will be discussing Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. This is definitely a TRL 'foundational text', covering intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation, how to identify the right type of goals for you, and distinguishing between growth and fixed mindsets) using a captivating blend of anecdotal and research perspectives. I definitely recommend this one!

Resources for this episode

https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/psychology/grit/

https://angeladuckworth.com/about-angela/about-character-lab/

https://www.panoramaed.com/blog/setting-goals-woop 

https://millennial-grind.com/30-motivational-quotes-from-grit-by-angela-duckworth/

If you're new to the podcast, The Resilient Learner Podcast may be for you if you relate to any of the following:

• You love to learn and are currently trying to learn something (start a new career/major/school/degree/class) but you're feeling fearful/stuck/unclear about how to proceed.
• You lack clarity about your desires, goals, purpose and don't  know where to begin to figure it all out.
  
• You feel that your education did NOT prepare you to be successful in the ‘real world’ and want to do something about it now.
• You have impostor feelings and self-doubt is eating you alive and limiting your professional opportunities.
  
• You were a high achiever in K-12 and labeled as having ‘a lot of potential’, yet find yourself stuck and dissatisfied with your education and/or career.
  
• You were very good at following paths created for you by authority figures, but feel incapable of creating your own 'life syllabus'.
  

Join The Resilient Learner Community:

https://theresilientlearner.com/community

If you like this episode, please subscribe, share, and leave us a review on iTunes!

Music by Music Unlimited from Pixabay

Angela Duckworth (@angeladuckw) is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, founder of the non-profit Character Lab, co-host of the No Stupid Questions podcast, and author of NYT bestseller Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. [Note: This is a previously broadcast episode from the vault that we felt deserved a fresh pass through your earholes!]

What We Discuss with Angela Duckworth:

• What grit is and how it overrides the myth of innate "talent."
• How to quantify your own level of grit.
• How to grow your grit and achieve what once seemed impossible.
• Why, when you’re a lifelong learner, you’re always going to see in hindsight how you might have done something better in the past — and this is a sign of improvement.
• How to know the difference between a lost cause to abandon and a challenge worthy of pursuit.
• And much more...

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/752

Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!

Miss the conversation we had with Habits Academy’s James Clear? Catch up by listening to episode 108: James Clear | Forming Atomic Habits for Astronomic Results!

Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

In parts one and two of this series, I emphasized that most artists will never find a financially sustainable career until they develop a complete, professionally viable skill set.

…but why invest the time and energy necessary to develop a financially sustainable art career if you don’t love the work?

…or at least like it?

We saw how Mary Blair struggled to pay the bills with her passion for fine art, then settled for a steady paycheck in animation.

…but got bored with the work just a few years later.

If she hadn’t given animation one last chance, by joining Walt Disney’s visual development research trip to Latin America, she might never have discovered the skill set from which she derived creative fulfillment, a steady paycheck and her legendary career.

Today, in part three, I’ll share how and why I wasted a lot of time pursuing a career I never loved and three steps you can take to avoid the same mistake…

Are you a problem solver or an opportunity seeker? Why is it so hard to find a good leader these days? And could you be Angela’s next boss?

This week’s conversation is with Angela Duckworth, the founder and CEO of Character Lab, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance scientific insights that help children thrive. 

She is also the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative, and faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics.

A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela has advised the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs.

Angela completed her undergraduate degree in Advanced Studies Neurobiology at Harvard, graduating magna cum laude. With the support of a Marshall Scholarship, she completed an MSc with Distinction in Neuroscience from Oxford University. She completed her PhD in Psychology as a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

We all know Angela from her book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,” the #1 New York Times best seller, which was the impetus for our first Finding Mastery conversation back in 2016… that’s Episode 029 if you’re looking for it.

I wanted to have Angela back on to discuss her new research on character, and how character development can be actioned to benefit others (and oneself). 

As Angela says, the term “character” is used far too vaguely most of the time. She shares the 3 dimensions of character – and – ways to train them.

She is incredibly grounded in the scientific evidence on how character strengths like self-control, curiosity, and gratitude are critically important to social and emotional well-being, physical health, and achievement.

Angela is amazing. Her work is a gift to us all. This conversation, and our friendship for that matter, is a breath of fresh air - life-giving and life-lifting.

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To pursue a career as a professional artist is to expect a lot from your job.

…more, it seems, than most people expect from their own.

Professional artists and those who aspire to the same status expect the work to be both financially sustainable and creatively fulfilling.

Some people seem satisfied, simply, to find a day job they don’t hate and compensate for any lack of creativity with hobbies.

…and others view their vocation as a tolerable compromise that buys time for the art they place at the center of their lives.

Regardless of which takes priority, it often seems that we have to choose: Art or a steady paycheck.

But why would it have to be one or the other?

Why couldn’t our work be both financially sustainable and creatively fulfilling?

Are we asking too much?

Is it even realistic to imagine?

In this first lesson of a course titled You’re A Better Artist Than You Think, we’ll introduce a crucial question that could save your art career (even if you don’t have one yet) and rethink a common belief that often prevents artists from becoming professionals.

But, as with every lesson throughout the course, we’ll begin by looking to history for answers. (History always has answers.)

Today we’ll hear the “origin story” of Mary Blair, a mid-century Disney artist whose “renown in the company,” writes historian Nathalia Holt, “was second only to Walt’s.”

In her life and work (which is on display throughout this post) we’ll find a more vivid picture of what it means to make a living from one’s creative passion, what often blocks many of us from a similar experience and how this fundamental shift in the way we think about the art vs. money conundrum can affect the quality of our work, whether we find it fulfilling, our sense of self, of belonging, of motivation and inspiration.

Angela Duckworth is the Character Lab Founder and CEO and a University of Pennsylvania Professor of Psychology. Angela studies the character traits and habits which predict success. She has studied West Point cadets, National Spelling Bee finalists, teachers, sales people and students to determine who is successful and why. A few characteristics emerged as significant predictors of success. Angela shares what the character traits for success are and how we can nurture them.

Dr. Angela Duckworth wrote a great book about Grit. This episode will explain her research and let you in on the secret to success!
It is more in your control than you realize.

Take the Grit Quiz

Buy the book, Grit The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Find my podcast
Email me: ccoufal@cynthiacoufalcoaching.com
Text me: 785-380-2064
More information

Angela Duckworth is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the Founder and CEO of Character Lab, a not-for-profit whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development. She’s also the author of Grit, a New York Timesbestseller that examines why some people succeed and others fail, and why talent is hardly a guarantor of success. Angela and Shane discuss whether human behavior is constant or circumstantial, the mindsets that help us succeed in life, developing our passion, and personal rules for success.

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Also, what's better: to learn new skills or go deep on what you're good at?

Jordan (@JordanHarbinger) and Jason (@jpdef) are back to banter every week and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday on The Jordan Harbinger Show!

If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now, let's dive in!

On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss:

• Our episode with Vanessa Van Edwards should have video by the time you hear this. Sorry for the delay!
• Andrew Warner is hiring a second in command to run Mixergy, his Silicon Valley-based podcast business. Are you someone who can't stop thinking of podcast marketing ideas? Think you'd be good at recruiting top guests? To apply, go to AndrewWarner.com/hiring
• The roommate switch? It can't be done.
• How might an obliger (Gretchen Rubin, episode 18) self-motivate to learn a new language?
• How do you take notes like a pro -- and put them to good use afterward?
• Remember: anything "free" comes with a price.
• What chakras are to blame for someone's lack of personal responsibility?
• What can you do to tactfully reintroduce yourself to the world when you've effectively been away due to health issues, personal misfortunes, and downright bad luck?
• How can a teacher really inspire an underprivileged 11 to 13-year-old to excel?
• Recommendation of the Week: Wild Wild Country
• Giveaway winners: Kelvin S. and Nikki F.
• Quick shoutouts to Andrew McDougal and James Jordan!
• Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com!
• Connect with Jordan on Twitter at @JordanHarbinger and Instagram at @jordanharbinger, and check out Jason's (@jpdef) other show: Grumpy Old Geeks. You can also find him on Instagram at JPD.

Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! 

Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider leaving your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Full show notes and resources can be found here.

In this special episode, Jennifer visits the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business to talk with Professor Angela Duckworth, the author of the best-selling book, Grit.

The conversation ranges from how to define success, some thoughts on the entertainment industry, and how to deal with the highs and lows of life.

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