Humans are very rarely aware of their beliefs, why they have them, how to change them, and how they impact our own lives.

There’s a paper that has seemed to fly under the radar, at least amongst my peer group. The lead author is Angela Duckworth, and the topic is human achievement. Basically, the researchers were inspired by Newtonian classical mechanics, suggesting that distance traveled acts as a metaphor for human achievement.

Athletes of all sports rely on an individual coach or a team of coaches to help prepare them for different levels of competition. The ability to perform with, or as, the best in sport can require decades of preparation, all guided by those with a finely developed expertise. Although straightforward, it is not as simple as pairing up the most talented to create the best outcome. Athletes and coaches bring different personality profiles, life experiences, preferences, and needs to the relationship. The interaction of these differences can create a long lasting, productive relationship or it can create a large amount of difficulty, friction, and resentment.

Have you ever been told that you should be happier about your accomplishments or that you tried, and that’s what matters? I’m sure we are all nodding in agreement. This sentiment is generally accompanied by a hollow narrative, similar to the feeling of practicing what you are bad at (i.e., math problems, abstract thinking) and trying to convince yourself that you should be enjoying it