Books: "Situated" By Angela Duckworth

 

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

By Angela Duckworth

Scribner; hardcover, 352 pages; $30.00

Angela Duckworth, PhD, is a psychologist, a MacArthur Fellow, and the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Her first book was Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, and it was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and had sold over five million copies worldwide.

Duckworth's new book is Situated, and it reveals the hidden power of situations and how you can shape them to bring out your best. There is enormous influence from the objects that are within arm's reach, your peers and mentors, even your zip code, all part of the awareness you need to succeed.

"I am a psychologist and professor who researches motivation and achievement, and I began my career studying remarkably successful individuals," Duckworth writes. "After a decade of study, I took a six-month sabbatical and did my very best to tell their stories. My first book, Grit, summed up everything I'd learned about passion and perseverance for long-term goals -a common denominator of world-class performers, no matter their area of specialization.

"Now another decade has passed, and in that time, I've turned my attention from the psychological profiles of high achievers to a difference common denominator - the strikingly similar features of their situations. In other words, my curiosity has taken me from what goes on inside the minds of high achievers to everything and everyone around them.

"What I've learned is that situations wield enormous influence - and yet, strangely, we're largely oblivious to their power. Mind over matter, we say. You can't control the situation, but you can control how you react to it. It's true that what we do is influenced by what we think - but it's equally true that what we think is, in turn, influenced by where we are. Like it or not, our every thought and action is profoundly shaped by our peers and mentors, by our culture, and even by the objects in our personal space."

There are four essential elements of successful situations, and Duckworth illustrates how top performers like Jerry Seinfeld, Taylor Swift, and Michael Phelps create situations that make it easier for them to excel. With an endearing honesty, she illustrates how her own struggles with burnout and marriage, and how the key was to change herself, but the situation, and it made all the difference.

Duckworth looks into why your personality changes, sometimes in a very dramatic way, from one situation to another, and how that shift can be handled; the secret to taking on temptation without willpower; why taking the less effortful path can feel like cheating, even though it often can solve a stubborn problem; how the company you keep influences the person you become; and the most effective ways you can help others succeed.

The word Duckworth uses to describe seeking change is courage, how the perception is looking in the mirror is about asking what's wrong with themselves, it also can be what is wrong with the situation around us. There are also exercises she presents that can combine the multiple thoughts that go into seeking change, making it a worthwhile read.