In her research, Ms. Duckworth seeks to answer the question, "Who is successful here and why?" She studies various groups of people in different contexts and concludes, "In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success." But before she reveals that one significant predictor of success, she lists various characteristics that are NOT good predictors of success. What are they? Are you surprised? Why or why not?

In her research, Mr. Duckworth wanted to discover who are the people that tend to become successful. She tells us that schools often measure IQ, but that this is not the only measure that we should be using to measure success. Instead, she argues that the main characteristic that successful people have is grit.

However, before mentioning thus, she talks about characteristics that do not make you successful. These include social intelligence, good looks, physical health and IQ. I am surprised that these are not characteristics that determine success, mainly because these are qualities that schools and parents often encourage their children to have.