Angela Duckworth

Success is a word that will be defined differently depending on who you ask, but achieving “success” in one way or another is a common framework through which we define our worth. And while achieving success may appear like the basic product of hours worked plus passion and determination, we secretly rely on external factors like people, places, and environments to truly achieve our goals.

Situations have more effect on us than we realize, and by curating our company, living spaces, and the situations we engage in everyday, success often starts to come quicker than we imagine. This is the concept that bestselling author Angela Duckworth explores in her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places that Bring Out Your Best. In her previous work, Grit, Duckworth showed that a common denominator of successful individuals is the combination of passion and perseverance. In Situated, she builds on this idea, this time looking outwards at the environmental factors that support us in reaching our goals.

Duckworth’s in-depth research reveals the enormous influence wielded by the objects within arm’s reach, including peers, mentors, and even your zip code.