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Science16 min read
Hidden Potential
by Adam Grant
The Science of Achieving Greater Things
Published: January 3, 2024
4.5 (510 ratings)
Book Summary
This is a comprehensive summary of “Hidden Potential” by Adam Grant. The book explores the science of achieving greater things.
what’s in it for me? discover a formula that will unlock your full potential.#
Introduction
adam grant.
hidden potential.
the science of achieving greater things.
when it comes to excellence, most people think that outstanding talent is something you're born with.
by the same token, if something isn't hard-wired into your genes, you'll inevitably reach a level of competence that you can't move beyond.
but research has shown that this isn't true.
often, people who demonstrate exceptional talent as adults weren't child prodigies.
in fact, they typically started off fairly average, or worse.
what ultimately distinguished them wasn't innate talent.
it was motivation.
when it comes to reaching your potential, a willingness to learn and re-learn is more important than any natural ability.
better yet, there are certain approaches to learning you can use that will accelerate your development and allow you to reach levels of mastery you never dreamed were possible.
and none of these approaches involve toiling away in a punishing manner.
in this chapter, we'll explore some of these approaches to help you reach your full potential, and provide you with a roadmap for navigating through the inevitable setbacks you'll face on your journey.
ready to take your performance to the stratosphere?
then let's get started.
character: the crucial ingredient#
character – the crucial ingredient in late 1980s tennessee, 79 schools participated in a study to evaluate the impact of class size on learning.
the study involved 11,000 students in different classrooms, ranging from kindergarten through to third grade.
around 30 years later, american economist raj chetty analysed the data collected in this study to determine if any other factors influenced the children's long-term success.
what he found was astonishing.
the now-adults, who were earning considerably more than their previous classmates, weren't the ones whose kindergarten teachers had focused on cognitive skills like literacy and math.
they were the kids whose teachers had encouraged non-academic skills, like being proactive, pro-social, determined and disciplined.
in the long run, kids who felt empowered to ask questions, work well with peers, tackle challenges and stay focused became more professionally successful than those who had had higher cognitive skills at an early age.
this is great news for everyone who wants to reach their full potential.
why?
it essentially supports the idea that excellence comes down to character.
character is your capacity to prioritise what you care about over your instincts, or how you think, feel and behave, especially when you're under pressure.
it allows you to overcome the unhelpful quirks of your personality, the tendency to be impulsive, for instance.
in short, character isn't who you innately are but how you choose to conduct yourself.
better still, it's something you can deliberately cultivate in order to boost your performance and success.
so how do you go about developing character?
one of the most important habits you can adopt is to make mistakes.
yes, that's right, making mistakes is one of the best ways to unleash your potential.
in many cultures, children are conditioned to believe that mistake-making is detrimental.
after all, the number of mistakes you make will determine the grade on your report card.
but this is a huge disservice.
what's far more valuable is getting comfortable with the discomfort and awkwardness of being underprepared with little knowledge.
say you want to learn a new language.
the thought of stumbling your way through a conversation with limited vocabulary makes your stomach turn.
so you decide to study alone until you feel confident enough to test out your new skills in public.
but realistically, you're never going to feel ready.
a much more effective strategy is to throw yourself in the deep end and realise that making a few, or even many, mistakes isn't such a big deal.
embracing discomfort allows for accelerated learning and growth.
developing your character skills is the lifeboat that will carry you through the awkwardness of learning.
and every success, however small, will keep you motivated on your journey to your potential.
be a human sponge#
be a human sponge half a billion years ago, when volcanic eruptions wreaked havoc on earth, 75% of species were wiped out.
among the survivors was the humble sea sponge.
sea sponges feed by filtering nutrients out of the water they draw in through their outer walls and then expelling what they don't need.
they're remarkably resilient.
if they get nibbled on or damaged, they can sometimes regrow their soft bodies.
their incredible ability to adapt to their environment can see them living for over 2,000 years.
when it comes to uncovering your hidden potential, you need to channel your inner sea sponge.
absorbing, filtering and adapting while you work toward mastering your chosen skill.
once again, your ability to do this is a choice, one that's completely distinct from your genes or even the opportunities you were born into.
to explore this further, let's consider the journey of one high performer.
melody hobson was the youngest of six children raised by a single mother in chicago.
melody's mum struggled to pay the bills and the family often went without basic utilities.
from a young age, melody fell behind at school.
but melody took her potential into her own hands.
as an adult, the ivy league university graduate is co-ceo of a highly regarded investment firm and one of time's 100 most influential people.
so how did melody reach this level of success, despite her difficult beginning?
first, melody became adept at absorbing.
when she attended lessons, lectures and events, she asked thoughtful questions and took detailed notes.
every interaction was a chance to learn.
second, she learned to filter.
melody understood that working smartly was as important as working hard.
she'd carefully consider opportunities that arose, then filter away the ones that wouldn't serve her.
this allowed melody to make high-quality decisions that propelled her toward her goal.
finally, melody adapted.
once, her mentor pointed out melody's tendency to dominate every room.
while her enthusiasm was admirable, it meant that other people rarely had space.
exercising her strength of character, melody reflected on this feedback and adapted her behaviour accordingly.
she started showing an interest in peers, as well as the experts she encountered.
this helped her develop her pro-social skills and benefit from new collaborations.
embrace imperfection#
embrace imperfection in academic environments, striving for perfection is often what underpins learning.
students know they'll be scored, and those scores will indicate how close they are to perfection.
this encourages students to memorise and regurgitate information rather than understand it.
but perfectionism only serves us when problems are familiar or linear in nature.
in the world outside school and college, life is rarely so straightforward.
in fact, research shows that perfectionists have no advantage when it comes to skills acquisition or mastery.
in fact, they often perform worse than their peers.
what typically trips perfectionists up is their tendency to obsess over inconsequential details.
they also resist situations and tasks outside their comfort zone, which restricts their ability to broaden their skills and experience.
remember, making mistakes is essential for learning, which goes against a perfectionist's perfectionists are extremely self-critical, too.
overwhelmed by shame, they're unable to identify the useful learning opportunities that arise from failure.
this shrinks their comfort zone further, preventing them from reaching their potential.
even if you're not a perfectionist, fear of making mistakes or the discomfort of trying something new can hold you back.
but you can counter this by focusing on specific standards rather than perfection.
say you wanted to be an excellent diver, even though you don't have much natural ability.
you start off mastering a few basic dives.
but as soon as they become more challenging, you grow reluctant, inventing reasons why conditions aren't ideal enough to try.
this is the type of behaviour that makes performance plateau.
to avoid this, you and your coach can create some realistic and specific goals.
diving technique is scored out of 10, so you might aim to achieve a 6 on an easy dive, a 4 on a harder one, and a 0 on a dive that's completely new.
after each attempt, you can consult your coach about something you could do to raise your score, even by just half a point.
this shifts your focus to progress, allowing you to value any improvement, however small.
use low scores to fuel motivation, and remember that the goal is growth, not perfection.
by incrementally raising your standards as your aptitude develops, you'll work toward your full capabilities.
progress through play#
progress through play.
evelyn glennie is a professional percussionist who grew up in rural scotland.
despite experiencing rejection when she first applied to london's royal academy of music, she became the first full-time solo percussionist on a global scale.
she holds three grammy awards and has been knighted by queen elizabeth ii.
evelyn glennie has also been profoundly deaf since childhood.
as a child, glennie demonstrated high levels of sponginess in her approach to learning music, but there was another aspect of evelyn's journey that tapped into her potential.
joy.
evelyn was having so much fun advancing her musical talents that she didn't see practising as a chore.
it felt like play.
despite our tendency to believe that mastery must be hard won, incorporating play into learning yields better results in the long term.
when it comes to mastering a difficult skill, the number of hours you put in matters less than how you spend that time.
harmonious passion is a term that psychologists use to describe a state in which practice is motivated by the joy of learning rather than an obsession with the outcome.
when you experience harmonious passion, you take the pressure off yourself.
this makes it easier for you to access flow, that state where you're completely immersed in what you're doing.
this state is ideal for learning.
so how do you tap into harmonious passion?
the answer is through deliberate play.
deliberate play is the midpoint between consciously practising a skill and free play.
at this intersection, developing new skills becomes fun and satisfying.
deliberate play gives you the freedom to mix things up, or adapt, and generate energy while maintaining a structure that supports learning.
for glenny, this means switching instruments to avoid getting bored, playing pieces back to front as a challenge, and taking breaks to stay fresh.
the quality of her practice, not the number of hours, is what counts.
research has shown that this approach leads to better outcomes across many different fields and industries.
for example, medical students who use improv comedy become better at diagnostics.
deliberate and play in workplace training leads to swifter acquisition of new skills, and salespeople who use role play are more likely to exceed their targets.
deliberate play can add fun to the more tedious aspects of learning, or the ones you struggle with and tend to avoid.
these areas need particular attention if you want to tap into your potential, so stop bullying yourself towards excellence and have some fun instead.
flip your thinking about stagnation#
flip your thinking about stagnation.
when we first start learning something new, we often make big leaps forward.
but as we move toward mastery, the gains become smaller and more incremental, so much so that we often don't even notice them.
when this happens, bam, we think we've hit a wall.
but what's actually happened is that we've run out of momentum.
research by cognitive scientists wayne grain and john linstead has revealed something fascinating and heartening about progress.
they found that when stagnation occurs while mastering a skill, there's always a period of decline before performance improves again.
so when you hit that wall, it's completely normal to backtrack a little.
by doing so, you fuel momentum to propel yourself beyond where you left off.
when you think about it, this makes sense, because the way to get out of feeling stuck or stagnant is to abandon your current plans and try a new strategy.
and trying something unfamiliar is always going to impact your performance for the worse initially, but it gives you the chance to seek out new methods, mentors or techniques that will serve you better in the long run.
let's say that the star player on a basketball team is injured.
the team's performance will naturally suffer while they're sidelined, but when the player returns, the team will play better than ever.
this is because while the star was away, the rest of the team could rethink their strategies and draw on their strengths in new ways, laying the foundation for greater success.
so now you know the truth about plateauing and stagnating.
it indicates that it's time to mix things up and change your approach or direction.
but how do you go about doing that?
seeking out new information is a good first step.
that source of information might be a book, an online lecture or an expert in your field.
for example, if you're an oil painter whose work is always frustratingly clumpy, you might connect with a senior artist who knows the best solvents to thin out paint.
ideally, seek out two or three mentors who can guide you in overcoming the challenge that's halted your progress.
different people have different strengths, weaknesses and expertise, so having a range of mentors to seek advice from works best.
it's important that you don't unquestioningly follow their instructions, however.
tap into your inner sponge and absorb, filter and adapt, tailoring the information you've gleaned to suit your purposes.
remember there are many different routes to the same destination.
be a brave explorer and follow new trails to mastery.
final summary#
Conclusion
in this chapter to hidden potential by adam grant, you've learned that it's your attitude and approach that matter more than your innate gifts when it comes to mastering skills.
the good news is there's a formula you can use to uncover your potential and reach levels of excellence you never thought possible.
first, focus on developing your character to support your learning.
this will allow you to overcome fear of failure and any weaknesses that might trip you up.
second, embrace your inner sea sponge by proactively absorbing, filtering and adapting as you go.
add to that the habit of play and you'll be able to tap into states of flow which will shift you out of stagnation and into opportunities to pivot and grow.
ok, that's it for this chapter.
thank you so much for listening.
and if you can, please take the time to leave us a rating or a comment, we always appreciate your feedback.
and we'll see you in the next chapter.
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