We're back with what I'm reading. The last entry I did about a book was May of 2023, and in completely honesty...that was the last time I read a full book. The book today I started reading in December of 2024, with the intent of finishing it in January and then reading a book a month. I missed by 11 days (I finished the book on February 11), but I am still within reason of hitting my 12 book goal for 2025. The last time I read 12 books in a year would be never, so that would be great.
Today's book is "Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things" by Adam Grant. The book is split in 3 sections - 1) Skills of Character, 2) Structures for Motivation, and 3) Systems of Opportunity. Each section has 3 chapters in it, make 9 chapters total plus a Prologue and Epilogue that you will want to read.
Every chapter is based on a lesson, or idea, about overcoming a roadblock to your unlock your "hidden potential." The first chapter starts with talking about how learning can be awkward but you must embrace that awkwardness. The other chapters in the first part are about becoming a sponge to learning, and seeing that masterpieces can also be flawed.
The second part of the book is about using motivation to work towards success. In this section, Grant talks about not only practicing but infusing passion into your practice time to make it more meaningful. The second chapter in this section talks about how the path to success is not always a straight line, and that going backwards (or sideways even) may be needed to achieve success. This section closes out with a chapter about picking yourself up by the bootstaps, and having people there to help with this when needed.
The third section of the book is about finding opportunities that allow us to unlock our potential and the potential of those around us. This section starts by taking a look at schools in Finland, which at one point ranked top of the world. The second chapter in this section is about collective teams to make the most of what everyone brings to the table. This chapter is especially good as it talks about a rescue mission to save miners that were trapped in a colapsed mine, and how the teams used some unorithodoxed ideas to save them faster than expected. The last chapter of this section talks about a system of structuring job applications, and interviews, in a way to bring out the best in people and remove nervousness.
I would HIGHLY recommend "Hidden Potential" to everyone. I definitely would recommend it to teachers. There are ideas of how to engage students in different ways to bring out their maximum capabilities. I enjoyed this book, and got so much out of it, that I am thinking about getting copies to use with my student leadership. I think this is absolutely worth the read and will probably read it again at some point.
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