Natural talent
Honestly, it's pretty funny to consider what Duckworth's insights mean about "natural talent." She proves that although the words clearly refer to something that we all understand and have opinions about, it's almost meaningless compared to real work with practice and discipline. It's an imagery that exists in a person's psychology, but Duckworth's studies prove that mostly, this imagery exists as an excuse for why any given person isn't following through on their artistic dreams.
The real path
Although the "natural talent" narrative isn't substantial, most people prefer that narrative to the real narrative of hard work. She elaborates what the actual path is to mastery and genius and success: Setting goals that are attainable, and then pursuing improvement through time by habit. Needless to say, this is not the path that most people want to hear about, but after all—that's why the book is called Grit and not "Easy Soft Stuff."
Passion and suffering
Passion comes from the Latin word for suffering. In this book, that connection stands true because the path of artistic mastery and achievement is the one of suffering in the ways that a person wants least to suffer. It isn't a spontaneous decision to create. It isn't a leap into a fire or something. Instead, the suffering comes in the most annoying ways; by committing to the work even when it isn't fun, even when progress seems unattainable, even when no one believes that it will work.
Achievement and mastery
If a person wants to get to achievement and mastery too quickly, Duckworth explains how they might rush it and short-change the growth that could have happened. This leads to delusion of grandeur. Instead of this, she advocates true patience and hard work, explaining that eventually, mastery will emerge, and then once a person's ability is sufficient, then they can set their minds to great works of art and it will work. That is the true portrait of great achievement, she says, according to her studies.
