She introduces the concept saying, “IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students. Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores. Some of my smartest kids weren’t doing so well. And that got me thinking. The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math, sure, they’re hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram. But these concepts are not impossible, and I was firmly convinced that every one of my students could learn the material if they worked hard and long enough.”

And that was the train of thought that led Angela into research – understanding that education of students would require an understanding of them on both the motivational and psychological standpoints. But the question that lingered was what if doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?  

Her search for the elixir of success saw Angela transform from a teacher into a psychologist – putting her in the frontlines of the mindscapes of both children and young adults. She goes on to tell us, “In different contexts, a characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. It wasn’t social intelligence, good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t IQ. It was grit.  Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Ted Talk corner