Hidden Potential The Science of Achieving Greater Things

In his book, Hidden Potential, Adam explores the psychology of how we can become the best versions of ourselves.

In his book, Hidden Potential, The Science of Achieving Greater Things, Adam offers a number of strategies that can help us get where we want to go.

Psychologist Adam Grand says there's less separating us from these high achievers than we might think.

Psychologist Adam Grant works at the University of Pennsylvania. His book is called Hidden Potential. The Science of Achieving Greater Things.

I think Hidden Potential clearly needed to be on Hidden Brain.

Nobody's ever asked me that before. And frankly, I think I've taken for granted that growth is just intrinsically enjoyable and motivating.

I think that's people saying, I'm stuck. I feel like my life isn't going anywhere. I feel like I'm squandering my potential. And I just, I think that's a travesty.

character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

Summoning the nerve to face discomfort is a character skill.

I think that what the evidence shows is that people who are actually given the goal to intentionally feel uncomfortable, this is done in some cases, asking people to go on stage to do improv comedy and literally feel awkward on purpose, they end up growing more from that experience because they put themselves in situations that challenge them.

Now, most importantly, buckle up for this, a new book out right now called Hidden Potential, The Science of Achieving Greater Things.

I love it so much that when it comes out, I want to sit down and interview you about it and we'll run the interview in the Revisionist History feed.

I think I've gotten more comfortable realizing, I've gotten so much, I guess, reader feedback and also listener feedback from podcasts.

Like we think again, for example, the idea of valorizing humility as a kind as the kind of cornerstone, the key as the cornerstone of intellectual growth is really interesting and not one.

The lay notion this book is focused on is we have this kind of veneration of innate ability.

I think part of the problem is our country feels too big to invest in everybody.

"Growth is not about the genius you possess--it's about the character you develop."

Growth is not about the genius you possess but about the character you develop.

In Adam's latest book Hidden Potential, he dismantles the myth that you have to be born with innate qualities to accomplish great things.

I think that's true. What happens is a lot of people try something, they struggle at it, and then they think, I'm not good enough at it to put it out there.

And I think there's something really powerful in that to say we should start using our skills before we feel like we've mastered them.

I think that seeking discomfort though is about much more than just confronting unpleasant or unwanted thoughts. It's also putting yourself in situations where you are likely to fail, where you might be judged negatively, where you might even embarrass yourself.

So one of the things that happens when you seek discomfort is you will make a lot of mistakes and I found over time that the people who end up growing the most are the ones who are able to tell the difference between an acceptable mistake and an unacceptable mistake.

They're the people who know how to strike a balance between when I need to strive for excellence and when it's okay to say this is good enough. And I think that's a difficult skill.

His latest is called Hidden Potential, the Science of Achieving Greater Things.

I really wrote this book to try to tackle that problem.

This is a book for anybody who's felt overlooked and underrated.

If natural talent determines where people start, learn character effects how far they go, but character skills aren't always immediately apparent.

potential is not about where you begin, it's about how far you can travel

past experience is a terrible predictor of future performance

we want to know do you have the character skills to overcome adversity

His latest book, Hidden Potential, The Science of Achieving Greater Things is out now.

the nut graph of this book is that achievement is not based on your innate talent and he gives the example of himself being someone who could barely touch his toes to becoming someone who qualified as a junior Olympian as a diver.

It's kind of like Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours, but it's more woo-woo, I think, more scientific and more woo-woo.

I think one of the mistakes that a lot of people make is they assume that if I want to determine what my potential looks like, I've got to either be a genius or I have to be the world's hardest worker. And ideally both. And I don't think that either is actually necessary.

everything has hidden potential. You don't have to be a Wunderkin to accomplish great things.

I'm giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I'm confident you can reach them.

I would expect no less.

Well I mean it's it's in the job description right

It is fascinating and I think about this like is it the problem of the individual athlete so you bring on a narcissist and is that narcissism then contagious or actually is it something much more simple where it's the organization saying by hiring this person and then tolerating that behavior saying hey this is an environment in which narcissism is acceptable right so is it I think this is actually what you see when you know when a team makes an exception and brings on Antonio Brown or brings on you know someone who's been recently arrested or gets in trouble all the time or hasn't worked in every other place they've been you know is it actually that person that is the problem or is it the organization stating its values and principles saying hey you know we've always talked about being a team of culture and doing the right thing etc. And then you know now this guy who just got arrested for domestic violence is cheaper on the market so we're going to go ahead and take advantage of that opportunity.

I've come to think of them as seeking discomfort being a human sponge and becoming an imperfectionist

My job.

In his new book, he investigates how exactly people get better at the things they do.

This one is called Hidden Potential, The Science of Achieving Greater Things.

If our cognitive skills are what separate us from animals, our character skills are what elevate us above machines.

The book is Hidden Potential, the Science of Achieving Greater Things.