The opposite is what the prevailing theory was for a long time, according to the article. People often believe that they're better off than someone else because they worked harder. That's not always the case. About the fear quote, I was actually focusing on the last part. Sometimes, when I'm feeling fearful, I'm afraid my brain will freeze. But as he says, there are things that don't require a lot of brain power, quite a few things, I think. This might sound like a silly question, but I'm serious. How do you force yourself not to expect success? If you're taking an exam, how do you not expect it to go well?Perhaps that's something that can't be translated from Polish all that well, but just because you are working hard it does not mean that someone else didn't.
Duckworth, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with a MacArthur Fellowship under her belt (largely due to her grit-related findings), has become an in-demand public speaker and a preacher of meritocratic ascension: she espouses the idea that success is about effort and anyone, no matter where they’re from, can get to the top. It’s a theory tailor-made for the middle and upper classes: ‘We’re here because we tried; you’re there because you didn’t.’