When Life's Not Working, Don't Try Harder. Change Your Situation Instead. | Angela Duckworth

How the people, places, and things around you can bring out your best. Plus, why willpower is unreliable, why AA works for so many people, and where to put your phone.

Angela Duckworth is the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance and the recently released Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why willpower alone rarely creates lasting behavior change, and why changing your situation is often the better move
• The Gallup study showing where teens keep their phones predicts their grades
• How to identify what's actually within your control versus truly fixed
• Angela's own marriage crisis during the 2008 financial collapse, and what saved it
• Why "trying harder" can sometimes make a bad situation worse, not better
• One reason Alcoholics Anonymous works for so many people in recovery
• How reaching out to strangers for advice can change your entire career path
• Why surrounding yourself with the right peers matters more than we admit

Related Episodes:

• Angela Duckworth's first appearance on our show

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Additional Resources:

• Angela's new book Situated

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