Summary

At the beginning of this chapter, Duckworth produces a graph in which she connects the idea that most people make between talent and achievement. She notes that this bias affects political commentators, who stated that Bill Clinton was a natural politician, while Hillary Clinton had to work hard at the role. The implicit conclusion was that Hillary would never be equal to Bill. Next, the author cites a study of competitive swimmers by sociologist of Dan Chambliss entitled "The Mundanity of Excellence." In the study, he found that excellent performance is a combination of small skills that become habit and then become a whole in combination. There is nothing special in any one of the activities but in the way they come together. Dan believes that if people cannot explain greatness, they cite some invisible thing called talent. Instead...