I thought he summarized it accurately in the last paragraph.<p>"So rework, reference, release. Flow through the landscape of your own strengths and weaknesses. Count to 10,000 rework hours as you walk. If you aren’t seeing accelerating external results by hour 3300, stop and introspect. That is the calculus of grit. It’s the exponential human psychology you need for exponential times. Ignore everything else."<p>It took a lot of wording to get there though. :-)<p>He seems to be very good at summarizing many pop-theorists (Gladwell & Friedman) and synthesizing an interesting core idea. My interpretation is, "It takes time to get to the limit of well defined fields, but if it doesn't get easier over time, you're on the wrong path." This rings true. Not everyone that takes an introductory CS course finds it easy, but if the third or fourth one is still awful instead of exciting, perhaps it's time to find a new major. Same with music. Or Literature. The great ones put in the time, but it gets easier. (& Perhaps that's why they can succeed!)