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Angela Duckworth is a psychologist and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Many of you will remember her TED Talk and first book—Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance—which was a #1 New York Times bestseller.

I just read Angela’s new book—Situated: Find the People and the Places that Bring Out Your Best—and I loved it. In many ways, this book picks up where Grit left off—recognizing that grit, while helpful, is not always sufficient.

I’m very much a striver, and also like many of you, I grew up with the myth of individualism.  So, Angela’s current work—about how much we’re affected by the collective, by our environment, and by our situations—really hit home for me.

Today, she shares the largely optimistic side of this, which is: Becoming more conscious of the ways in which situational elements affect us, ultimately helps us to choose the best situations for us—or to improve the ones we’re in.

Throughout our conversation, Angela shares some pretty funny—and enlightening—psychology findings that help explain why we can be so different across different settings; and why our expectations of ourselves are socially determined. She offers an alternative approach to effortfully pursuing our goals—which does not involve suffering, and is actually more effective. And she shares a few personal stories that I loved.

Situated: Find the People and the Places that Bring Out Your Best

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Angela’s Website

Follow Angela on Instagram

ELISE:

I'm thrilled you have another book. It's obvious that this is the follow-up to grit. And I love, considering what we were talking about before we started recording, that the book is book ended with Victor Frankl, I guess. Not Frankl.

ANGELA:

Yeah. Neither of us are 100% sure, but yes, Victor Frankl.