Hidden Potential
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things is a non-fiction book by organizational psychologist Adam Grant. It challenges the traditional obsession with "natural talent" and instead focuses on the framework for how anyone can improve and achieve remarkable things through character development and better systems of learning. The book is structured around three core pillars: 1. Character Skills (More Than Just "Grit") Grant argues that character is often mistaken for personality. While personality is your basic instinct, character is your capacity to prioritize your values over those instincts. Key concepts include: Embracing Discomfort: Seeking out challenges that make you feel awkward or incompetent is the fastest way to grow. Being a "Sponge": Moving beyond just being a hard worker to being someone who actively absorbs and implements feedback. The Imperfectionist: Shifting away from debilitating perfectionism and toward finding the "optimal" level of flawlessness. 2. Structures for Sustaining Motivation The book explores how to avoid burnout and stagnation by changing how we approach practice and "the grind." Harmonious Passion: Balancing intense focus with rest to prevent exhaustion. Deliberate Play: Transforming tedious practice into something engaging. For example, instead of repetitive drills, athletes or musicians might create games that test the same skills but keep the mind fresh.
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What Hacker News says
- Here are the 29 books that I read but I probably read another 100 children books.
• How AI Works: From Sorcery to Science — Ronald T. Kneusel
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values — Robert M. Pirsig
• Martín & Meditations on the South Valley — Jimmy Santiago Baca
• Akira, Vol. 6 — Katsuhiro Otomo
• Akira, Vol. 5 — Katsuhiro Otomo
• Akira, Vol. 4 — Katsuhiro Otomo
• Akira, Vol. 3 — Katsuhiro Otomo
• Slaughterhouse-Five — Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
• Akira, Vol. 2 — Katsuhiro Otomo
• Poems & Prayers — Matthew McConaughey
• Akira, Vol. 1 — Katsuhiro Otomo
• Time’s Arrow — Martin Amis
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter — Stephen Graham Jones
• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly — Anthony Bourdain
• Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism — Sarah Wynn-Williams
• Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever — Joseph Cox
• Source Code: My Beginnings — Bill Gates
• The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon’s Enduring Impact on America — Mark Whitaker
• Good Inside: A Practical Guide to Resilient Parenting Prioritizing Connection Over Correction — Becky Kennedy // I would not recommend this book to anyone.
• Interior Chinatown — Charles Yu
• Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection — John Green
• Dark Matter — Blake Crouch
• Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things — Adam Grant
• Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D — Fabien Sanglard
• Jurassic Park — Michael Crichton
• Killing Commendatore — Haruki Murakami
• James — Percival Everett
• Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre — Max Brooks
• Last Argument of Kings — Joe Abercrombie
- The description sounds like a part 2 or updated approach/angle to Mindset (Carol Dweck), a book that made a changing impact when I first read it, but reading the updated edition years later left me wanting more. I had also read a couple of Adam Grant's earlier books and enjoyed them, will definitely check out Hidden Potential.
- A lot of this is covered and contributes by Adam Grant's "Hidden Potential"
Learned that different learning styles was bunk (visual vs auditory). Also, experts are the worst teachers, they are far removed from being in your shoes and do not provide the empathy or the correct scaffolding to start newcomers down the path of understanding a topic.
The biggest success for pedagogy impact is study groups, and tutoring while or immediately after learning something (the accountability of needing to teach someone bumps.your motivation to understand the nuances, plus the act of teaching helps you remember)
- Thanks for the book mention. Adam Grant also talks about the age-group concept, but leans on it for a different end, in Hidden Potential.
- Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson
Adam Grant - Hidden Potential
- This article was written by Barbara Oakley who also teaches the most popular MOOC in the world and also my favourite MOOC called Learning How To Learn: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn
She also a upcoming book titled 'Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential': https://www.amazon.com/Mindshift-Obstacles-Learning-Discover...
