1. Talent Myth
1.1. Francois Galton
1.1.1. Darwin's Half cousin
1.1.2. In a study he published in 1869, Galton concluded that the high achievers were extraordinary in three ways:
1.1.2.1. ABILITY
1.1.2.2. ZEAL
1.1.2.3. CAPACITY TO Work hard
1.2. Darwin
1.2.1. Zeal and hard work are ultimately the most important ingredients of success - Darwin
1.2.2. “For I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and hard work.”
1.3. William James
1.3.1. 19th century Philosopher, psychologist and physician
1.3.2. Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental resources. Men the world over possess amounts of resource, which only exceptional individuals push to their extremes of use.
2. Beast Barracks
2.1. West Point Admission Process
2.1.1. 14000 Apply. 1200 get in
2.1.2. After admission: 1 in 5 drop out in 1st 2 months
2.2. Beast Barracks
2.2.1. 7 week program
2.2.2. Extremely difficult and challenging
2.2.3. 1 in 5 drop out
2.3. Whole Candidate Score
2.3.1. Based on
2.3.1.1. SAT score
2.3.1.2. Fitness Score
2.3.1.3. Leadership Score
2.3.1.4. Academic Ranking
2.3.2. Not a predictor of Who drops out
2.4. Grit Scale
2.4.1. Angela Duckworth and others introduced in 2004 as part of research study
2.4.2. Grit : Defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals
2.4.2.1. Tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles
2.4.3. Found it un-correlated to WCS
2.4.3.1. Talent and Grit are un-correlated
2.4.4. That year 71 students dropped out of Beast and Grit Scale predicted it correctly
2.5. EXERCISE
2.5.1. 1. Look at your current biggest Challenge in Business or any other area of life
2.5.2. 2. What are you attributing your lack of success to?
2.5.3. 3. If Grit was the only difference between success and Failure, how would you approach the situation differently?
2.6. Research Paper
3. Effort Counts Twice
3.1. SKILL = Talent * Effort
3.1.1. Talent is how quickly your skills improve when you apply effort
3.1.2. Even if you have little talent, you can apply effort and develop skill
3.1.2.1. Wilma Rudolph
3.1.2.1.1. At the age of 20
3.1.2.1.2. At the age of 4
3.1.2.2. Growth Mindset - Mindset by Dr Carol Dweck
3.1.3. Copernicus, Farraday
3.1.3.1. IQ = 110
3.1.3.2. Greatest scientists ever
3.2. Achievement = SKILL * Effort
3.2.1. You get achievement when you apply these skills with Effort
3.3. Effort builds skills
3.3.1. And effort multiplied by skills leads to Results
3.4. Achievement = Talent * Effort * Effort
3.5. The world is full of talented people who never achieved anything
3.5.1. “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” - Calvin Coolidge
4. Mundaneness of Greatness
4.1. Great acheivements
4.1.1. Compilation of a lot of small acheivements
4.1.2. Not one great moment
4.2. Greatness is MUNDANE
4.2.1. It is possible for all of us
4.2.2. Many small actions and victories .... each of them is possible for us.
4.2.3. It is not flashy
4.3. It is available to all of us
4.3.1. Neitszche
4.3.1.1. "Our self love and vanity promotes the cult of genius. If we think of genius as something magical, we are not obliged to compare ourselves and find ourselves lacking. To call someone divine means here there is no need to compete." - neitszche
4.3.2. Will Smith
4.3.2.1. "Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, god-like feature that only the special among us will ever taste - you know it's something that truly exists in all of us. It's very simple, this is what I believe and I'm willing to die for it. Period. It's that simple. And that's all I need to know, so from there you do what you need to do."
5. Growing Grit from Inside
5.1. Interest
5.1.1. Follow your heart
5.2. Practice
5.2.1. Deliberate Practice - not just practice. Trying to improve
5.2.1.1. Peak by Anders Ericson
5.3. Purpose
5.3.1. Start with your own interest
5.3.2. Later add Bigger more altruistic goals that will help others
5.4. Hope
5.4.1. Cause of Failure
5.4.1.1. Optimists think
5.4.1.1.1. Cause is Temporary
5.4.1.2. Pessimists think
5.4.1.2.1. Cause is permanent
5.4.1.2.2. I am at effect not cause
5.4.2. Growth Mindset v/s Fixed Mindset
5.4.2.1. Mindset by Carol Dweck
6. Growing Grit from Outside
6.1. Culture Influences Grit
6.1.1. Find a group/community of gritty people and join it
7. What it means to be gritty
7.1. Falling down 7 times and getting up 8 times
7.1.1. Tendency not to abandon tasks when faced with obstacles
7.2. Grit is much more about long term stamina than short term intensity
7.2.1. It is about consistency over time
7.3. Enthusiasm is very common. Endurance is what is rare
7.3.1. Enthusiasm comes and goes
8. Having a consistent long term Vision for extended periods of time
8.1. Big picture Vision stays the same
8.2. The means to achieve it may evolve over time
8.2.1. Lower level goals might change
9. Satisfied being unsatisfied
9.1. The greatest are the most persistent in their pursuit.
9.1.1. Persisting while not seeing the results they want
9.2. They are OK with being unsatisfied for long periods of time as they tirelessly pursue their goals
9.3. They don't settle for anything less
9.3.1. "If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it" - Steve Jobs
9.3.2. If you settle for anything less - it will extinguish your desire for greatness