Brian Johnson presents a short spoken-video (Heroic +1) focused on the trait of "extreme doggedness" from Sam Walker's book on elite captains. He explains that top captains (e.g., Yogi Berra) show a peculiar perseverance that lets them transcend natural limitations, links this to Carol Dweck's growth mindset (love of learning, valuing effort, seeking challenges), and to Angela Duckworth's concept of grit and her achievement equation (talent × effort = skill; skill × effort = achievement). Johnson shares a parenting anecdote: his son Emerson won his chess division in San Antonio at age 10 (a $150 prize) and restates Duckworth's equation, with Emerson adding a line that achievement × effort = mastery. He briefly recommends Josh Waitzkin's The Art of Learning.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. The last couple ones we've been hanging out with Sam Walker and learning more about his historically great teams and the qualities of the captains that led them. As you may recall, the seven qualities of heroically elite captains include extreme doggedness, aggressive play, a willingness to do thankless jobs in the shadows, a low key practical and democratic communication style. They motivate others with passionate non verbal displays, they have strong convictions and the courage to stand apart, and they have ironclad emotional control. You crushed those qualities as the captain of all the teams you lead yesterday. Awesome. Today I want to chat about that first quality extreme doggedness. Let's get to work. Sam tells us, and I quote, it should come as no surprise that Yogi Berra was or any athlete who makes it to the highest level of sports was unusually determined. But the brand of perseverance Bera and the other Tier one captain showed is peculiar even among the elite. He continues by saying the main point of difference is that their natural ability seemed to bear no relation to the size of their accomplishments. Something enabled them to set aside their limitations and tune out the skepticism from their critics. And but what was it? What allows some people to press on until they achieve mastery? Now that is from the first chapter of part two in the book featuring the first trait of elite captains. The chapter is called they Just Keep Coming Doggedness and its Ancillary Benefits. So Yogi Berra was the captain of the New York Yankees team that made the list of all time greats. Sam gives us a snapshot of his career and tells us just how bad he was at the beginning of his career and just how hard he worked to become great. And you know how Sam answers the question he posed about what allows some people to press on until they achieve mastery. He tells us about Carol Dweck. As you know, if you've been following along, I'm a huge fan of Dweck and her research on the growth mindset. As I have mentioned many times, her two books have shaped my parenting philosophy more than any other. In mindset, check out those notes. Dweck tells us the passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it even or especially when it's not going well is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives. Well, in self theories, check out those notes too. She tells us the hallmark of successful individuals is that they love learning, they seek challenges, they value effort, and they persist in the face of obstacles. If you were a fly on the wall of the Johnson House, you'd hear Alexander and I constantly chatting about these ideas. With Emerson and Eleanor, I remember Dweck emphasizing the importance of relentlessly and exclusively praising effortless rather than talent and modeling a love and challenge for your kids. She encourages us to literally rub our hands together when facing a challenge and say, I love challenges. So that's what I've done over and over and over again. Then there's Angela Duckworth. No discussion of extreme doggedness in pursuit of mastery would be complete without discussing her ideas on how to cultivate grit. Again, as we've discussed countless times, her definition of grit is intense passion. A deep, intrinsic, sustained love for what you do matched with intense perseverance. A deep, relentless drive to show up and do your best. You put those two things together and give yourself enough time, and voila, you have a very good shot at mastery. Which leads us to another one of the key things I strive to bring to my parenting. I talk about it in a plus one called effort counts Thrice. We've talked about it more than once. The abridged take. Duckworth created an equation for achievement. She tells us that talent, which she defines as the speed with which you can acquire skill, matters, but effort counts twice. Here's the equation. You start with talent. Then you times that by effort, and that creates skill. Then you take that skill, multiply it by more effort to produce achievement. Now, I taught that equation to Emerson, and I quizzed him on that and all the other stuff we chat about all the time. After he won his division of the San Antonio City Chess Championships and officially became a professional chess player with $150 prize check at 10 years old. Let's go. I turned on my iPhone camera to record a video of him sharing Duckworth's equation. You could watch it linked in this one. And after a couple of takes, he nailed it. Only he added an extra line. He started by saying that talent times effort equals skill. Then he said that skill times more effort equals achievement. Then he added a line about the fact that achievement times more effort equals mastery. And that's today's plus one. You want to achieve mastery in your life. Me too. Let's remember, effort counts. Fail thrice. Here's to the extreme doggedness that forges greatness. Let's have fun giving the world all we've got today. Little PS Here, Josh Waitzkin comes to mind as well. Josh was a young chess prodigy. He's featured in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. Have you ever seen that? That's him as a little kid. His story. So he wrote a book called the Art of Learning. Check out the notes. One of my favorite books. In that book, he tells us. One thing I have learned as a competitor is that there is a clear distinction between what it takes to be decent, what it takes to be good, what it takes to be great, and what it takes to be among the best.
