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MINI EPISODE: Grit = Passion + Perseverance | Angela Duckworth's TED Talk | Discussion & Summary

Episode Summary
In this mini episode, Vanessa and Yanet step away from the big, complex books for a lighter but no less meaningful conversation — built around Angela Duckworth's classic 2013 TED Talk on grit. Yanet found the talk right as she headed back to school in her late 30s, and it named something she'd been living: grit as passion plus perseverance, a better predictor of success than IQ or raw talent. The hosts trade the story of how "Grit got me through it" ended up on Yanet's graduation cap, dig into how grit actually gets built, and trace the idea back to the research that came before it.

In This Episode

• A first for the show: stepping into TED Talk territory with a six-minute talk that hits above its weight
• The equation: grit = passion + perseverance — and why it can outweigh IQ or physical ability
• "Grit got me through it": Yanet going back to school near 40, the dining-table-turned-library, and the graduating class that called her Grit
• The hosts' origin story: passion plus perseverance as the bond between them — and why "she doesn't know how to fail" is the highest compliment
• How you build grit: a growth mindset, tying perseverance to purpose, normalizing setbacks as part of the process — and balancing it all with rest
• Marathons, not sprints: grit as effort sustained over the long haul
• The research beneath the buzzword: the Big Five (OCEAN) and how conscientiousness — discipline applied over time — is grit in a different package
• Lost in translation: is grit ganas? Yanet takes on the challenge of carrying the idea into Spanish
• A teaser: the hosts promise to come back for a deeper dive into Duckworth's work

Watch the Talk

Angela Duckworth's "Grit" TED Talk (2013):

https://youtu.be/H14bBuluwB8?si=hI1hmS4WqT9cxgP0

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