Sometimes A Step Down Is A Step Forward
“As Agassi worked to adapt to Gilbert’s coaching, he took a step down and went on an “epic losing streak,” sliding out of the world rankings. At the 1994 U.S. Open, for the first time in his pro career, Agassi was unseeded… Agassi wins in straight sets… The first unseeded player in 28 years to […]
Persistence: Get Great By Continuing To Do Something
On Resilience, And Getting Over Choking And Long Dry Spells
Focus: On Committing To Something 100%
On Making The Most Of Missteps
Six Stories Of Persisting When All Signs Point To No
“[Marie Curie] tutored the family’s children during the day, and in the evenings, she read and studied subjects like physics and mathematics, driven by the faint hope she’d one day get the chance to do the work that she wanted to do.”
Persistence: Becoming Great Comes From Spending Time On The Job
““Wow. There’s no sign that you have any talent for radio. Like there’s not even a hint that you’re ever going to be any good.” Not only was she right, Glass said, but he revisited other episodes from his archives and was struck by how, even 15 years into his career, he still wasn’t very […]
Stories Of Persistence And Outlasting One’s Opponent
“When asked about the secret to his success, Jerry Seinfeld quoted what the swimmer Katie Ledecky said after winning 4 gold medals at the Rio Olympics: “The secret is there is no secret.” “There’s nothing you have to know,” Seinfeld elaborated. “You just have to work.” You just have to have staying power. You just have […]
Five Stories Of People Who Played To Their Strengths
“Over time, LeFauve came to think that her creativity and her anxiety were hitched to the same sled—that her ability to write inventive stories was tied to the way her mind could also spin worries into overwhelming, catastrophic narratives… Instead of making cataclysmic stories all the time, LeFauve learned to redirect her natural energy in […]
How Peer Norms Affect People — Some Extraordinary Examples
“Then one day at school, Jim [Henson] was holding one of his puppets when a teacher said to him, “You [are] wasting your time with those puppets.” Jim began to think that she might be right… Not long after he chucked the dream of being a puppeteer, Jim “wandered over to Europe” without a plan. […]