...there are no shortcuts to excellence. Developing real expertise, figuring out really hard problems, it all takes time — longer than most people im… - Angela Duckworth

In our family, we live by the Hard Thing Rule. It has three parts. The first is that everyone — including Mom and Dad — has to do a hard thing. A hard thing is something that requires daily deliberate practice. I've told my kids that psychological research is my hard thing, but I also practice yoga. Dad tries to get better and better at being a real estate developer; he does the same with running. My oldest daughter, Amanda, has chosen playing the piano as her hard thing. She did ballet for years, but later quit. So did Lucy.

There's an old Japanese saying: Fall seven, rise eight.

It's a start. Let's continue, in the next chapter, to see how grit can and does change. And, then, in the rest of the book, let's learn how to accelerate that growth.