Life is hard.
Let me just try to scratch my way forward.
I'm Angela Duckworth.
I'm Steven Dubner, and you're listening to no stupid questions.
Today on the show.
Is enthusiasm the real secret to success?
I'm hearing zest, I'm hearing flow.
I feel like I'm tasting a wine.
Now there are hints of oak.
Angela, I have a question that's both a problem and a solution.
A puzzle wrapped in enigma, covered with mystery.
So I've been preparing for a golf competition that's coming up in California.
There is a thing in golf called a pro am, which is attached to a professional tournament the day or two or three days before it.
There is a competition where one pro will play with a few amateurs, and the one I'm playing in is a little bit different.
It's a collegiate challenge where there are college players.
So there will be a foursome with the best college player from a given program, a pro that they'll be matched up with, and then two alumni of that institution.
I'm playing as an alum with a Columbia golfer and another Columbia alum and a pro, and my performance matters almost zero unless we win, which would give some scholarship money to the college.
The chances of winning are very slim.
But I.
I wanna do well.