What’s the secret of success? Doesn’t everyone want to know the answer to that question??? This week, EconTalk host Russ Roberts sat down with Angela Duckworth to discuss her work on Grit, which she defines as a combination of passion and perseverance for challenging, long-term goals.

Can grit be taught? How important is practice to success, and what kind of practice is best? Is there any role left for innate talent in success today? These and other questions spring to mind listening to this fascinating conversation.

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1. How “gritty” are YOU? Take Duckworth’s “grit scale” quiz. (I’m a 3.90 on the scale…) What do you think you could do to increase your grit? What have you done in the past to do so?2. Why do young people seem so prone to overrating the role raw talent plays in success? Is this a lack of grit, or something else? To what extent can children possess grit?

3. Can you practice being an ethical person? What would this look like in practice? To what extent do you think there is “grit” in ethics?

4. What role does luck play in a person’s success (or lack thereof)? How does Duckworth’s view of the role of luck compare to that of Robert Frank? With whom do you agree more, and why?

5. What does Duckworth mean in admitting that her work on grit might be tautological? How much of a possibility do you think this really is?