Being Well Podcast: Grit with Angela Duckworth

04 Feb Being Well Podcast: Grit with Angela Duckworth

Posted at 17:10h in Podcasts by
Being Well Podcast: Grit with Dr. Angela Duckworth

Last year we explored topics related to grit, like how we can build Agency or Determination. In those episodes, we alluded to the work of Dr. Angela Duckworth, one of the world’s leading researchers on the subject of grit and author of the bestseller Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. And today we have the absolute pleasure of being joined by Dr. Duckworth herself!

Much of our success in life comes down to our ability to identify the things we’re passionate about, pursue them with consistency, and keep going when things get tough. Anyone can be passionate and productive for a few days, or when things are easy. But to keep going day after day when the weather gets rough? That’s when we need grit.

Last year we explored topics related to grit, like how we can build Agency or Determination. In those episodes we alluded to the work of Dr. Angela Duckworth, one of the world’s leading researchers on the subject of grit and author of the bestseller Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.

And today we have the absolute pleasure of being joined by Dr. Duckworth herself!

Outside of being a bestselling author, Dr. Duckworth is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of the non-profit Character Lab. Dr. Duckworth has also given an incredibly popular TED talk on the subject of grit that’s been watched over 20 million times.

On this episode, we talk with Dr. Duckworth about:

  • The balance of passion and perseverance that makes up grit.
  • Other factors that support this key resource.
  • What we can do to develop grit

 

Timestamps:

1:45: What is grit?

2:10: Where did your interest in grit come from?

4:00: How did you find a sense of purpose?

6:45: Is passion or purpose more important?

9:45: Are there other factors that support grit?

11:30: Does grit feel good?

13:15: How much of what makes us gritty is changeable?

16:00: Can grit be found in communities?

18:45: Developing grit.

22:45: How can we find passions?

25:15: Helping children develop passions.

30:30: How has your research been misunderstood or misused?

32:00: How passion and perseverance support one another.

33:40: How has your work changed your life personally?

35:45: Comparison is the thief of joy.

38:45: Three suggestions for teaching children.

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Dr. Ramani Durvasula is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and expert on the impact of toxic narcissism. She is a Professor of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles, and also a Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg.

The focus of Dr. Ramani’s clinical, academic, and consultative work is the etiology and impact of narcissism and high-conflict, entitled, antagonistic personality styles on human relationships, mental health, and societal expectations. She has spoken on these issues to clinicians, educators, and researchers around the world.

She is the author of Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving a Relationship With a Narcissist, and Don't You Know Who I Am? How to Stay Sane in an Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility. Her work has been featured at SxSW, TEDx, and on a wide range of media platforms including Red Table Talk, the Today Show, Oxygen, Investigation Discovery, and Bravo, and she is a featured expert on the digital media mental health platform MedCircle. Dr. Durvasula’s research on personality disorders has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and she is a Consulting Editor of the scientific journal Behavioral Medicine.

Dr. Stephen Porges is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He is a former president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and has been president of the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, and Cognitive Sciences, which represents approximately twenty-thousand biobehavioral scientists. He’s led a number of other organizations and received a wide variety of professional awards.

In 1994 he proposed the Polyvagal Theory, a theory that links the evolution of the mammalian autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of physiological states in the expression of behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The theory is leading to innovative treatments based on insights into the mechanisms mediating symptoms observed in several behavioral, psychiatric, and physical disorders, and has had a major impact on the field of psychology.

Dr. Porges has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers across a wide array of disciplines. He’s also the author of several books including The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation.

Dr. Bruce Perry is the Principal of the Neurosequential Network, Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy, and a Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago and the School of Allied Health at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. From 1993 to 2001 he was the Thomas S. Trammell Research Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and chief of psychiatry at Texas Children's Hospital.

He’s one of the world’s leading experts on the impact of trauma in childhood, and his work on the impact of abuse, neglect, and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs, and policy across the world. His work has been instrumental in describing how traumatic events in childhood change the biology of the brain.

Dr. Perry's most recent book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, was released earlier this year. Dr. Perry is also the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children, and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. Additionally, he’s authored more than 300 journal articles and book chapters and has been the recipient of a variety of professional awards.

Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith is a child clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma and issues of race. She earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard and then received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She performed postdoctoral work at the University of California San Francisco/San Francisco General Hospital. She has combined her love of teaching and advocacy by serving as a professor and by directing mental health programs for children experiencing trauma, homelessness, or foster care.

Dr. Briscoe-Smith is also a senior fellow of Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and is both a professor and the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Wright Institute. She provides consultation and training to nonprofits and schools on how to support trauma-informed practices and cultural accountability.

Sharon Salzberg is a world-renowned teacher and New York Times bestselling author. She is widely considered one of the most influential individuals in bringing mindfulness practices to the West, and co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts alongside Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Sharon has been a student of Dipa Ma, Anagarika Munindra, and Sayadaw U Pandita alongside other masters.

Sharon has authored 10 books, and is the host of the fantastic Metta Hour podcast. She was a contributing editor of Oprah’s O Magazine, had her work featured in Time and on NPR, and contributed to panels alongside the Dalai Lama.

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