December 5, 2020

GRIT Part 1: The Power of Passion and Perseverance with Angela Duckworth | The James Altucher Show

Check out The James Altucher Show Episode Page & Show Notes

You will get criticized no matter what you do, so develop a thick skin
When giving a contrarian opinion, use stories to help overcome cognitive dissonance
Mastery is acquired over thousands of hours of deliberate practice
Make gratitude a habit, think of 3 things to be grateful for every morning
“There are different ways to look at something and there different things to look at” – Angela Duckworth
- Be aware of where your attention goes and how you interpret reality
Grit is having stamina, passion, and perseverance for long-term goals
Passion is a game of duration rather than intensity. Finding and growing into your passion is a gradual process
- Ask yourself, why did you begin doing something in the first place, what sparked your attraction?

Angela Duckworth (@angeladuckw) is an American academic, psychologist and author of Grit
- Check out her website
Host: James Altucher (@jaltucher)

You will always be criticized no matter your opinions or your work, so listen to good arguments and develop a thick skin for other criticisms
Criticisms usually trigger a cognitive dissonance reaction;, this is especially true of opinions that go against what you believe to be true
- For instance, opinions like don’t go to college, voting is meaningless, don’t buy a house

You can deliver your message without being tone-deaf and without changing your beliefs
- To that end, use stories to help people overcome cognitive dissonance
- Keep in mind, stories are dangerously useful, people may get carried away and believe things that are not true
The timing of your message matters, people will evaluate what you say in addition to when you say it
- This reflects where people think the conversation ought to be
Remember, “The more you stick out like a nail, the more likely you are to get hammered” – James Altucher

In Peak, author Anders Ericsson argues that expertise is acquired over thousands of hours of deliberate practice, rather than a talent one is born with
- Think of hours of practice as assembling chunks of domain expertise. While a talent is a shortcut to the first few hundred chunks, a grandmaster has 100K chunks
Most things in human nature are continua, not categories
- People fall on different parts on the spectrum of talent and they learn at different rates

Grit is having stamina, passion and perseverance for long-term goals
Passion is a game of duration rather than intensity
- Passionate people spend a lifetime consistently honing their craft
It’s a romanticized idea that finding your passion is a sudden abundant realization
- In reality, it’s a gradual process and many grow into their calling
- Ask yourself, why did you begin doing something in the first place, what sparked your attraction?

Everybody has got a different baseline for happiness and you can always shift your positional set point in an enduring way, no matter your genes or previous experience
- In effect, intentionally making yourself happier
Make gratitude a habit, think of 3 things to be grateful for every morning
- Happy people frame negative events in positive light
“There are different ways to look at something and there different things to look at” – Angela Duckworth
- Be aware of where your attention goes and how you interpret reality

Restaurants are going out of business because of extended shutdowns and regulations, even more with winter coming
- This has a crippling effect on taxes and tourism revenues that pay for all the services in New York city
1 in 4 New Yorkers haven’t paid rent since March and people are leaving their apartments in a mass exodus
- Put simply, nobody keeps 10 months in cash saved up for rent

Repetitive advertisements and exposure prime you for purchasing something
Cities have different cultures, some can embody a culture of grit more than others
A house isn’t an asset; it’s a consumption good
- People park their capital in houses, but it doesn’t generate income like an actual asset is supposed to