Gritty people do more deliberate practice and experience more flow. - Angela Duckworth

"With everything perfect," Nietzsche wrote, "we do not ask how it came to be." Instead, "we rejoice in the present fact as though it came out of the ground by magic."

People assume you have to have some special talent to do mathematics," Sylvia has said. "They think you're either born with it, or you're not. But Rhonda and I keep saying, 'You actually develop the ability to do mathematics. Don't give up!

Outward Bound — so named for the moment a ship leaves harbor for the open seas — has been that challenging outdoor situations develop "tenacity in pursuit" and "undefeatable spirit." In fact, across dozens of studies, the program has been shown to increase independence, confidence, assertiveness, and the belief that what happens in life is largely under your control. What's more, these benefits tend to increase, rather than diminish, in the six months following participation in the program.