Greatness is doable Greatness is many many individual Meaning Factcheck Usage

Greatness is doable because it’s just a series of small, achievable wins. It demystifies success and makes it feel accessible, not like some far-off mountain peak reserved for geniuses.

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Table of Contents

• Meaning
• Explanation
• Origin & Factcheck
• Context
• Usage Examples
• FAQ

Meaning

The core message is that greatness isn’t a single, monumental event. It’s the cumulative result of countless small, manageable actions that anyone can execute.

Explanation

Look, we get so hung up on the end goal, the big vision, that it becomes paralyzing. What Angela’s really saying here—and I’ve seen this play out with so many people I’ve worked with—is that you have to stop focusing on “greatness” as this abstract noun. You have to break it down. Think of it like this: a master woodworker isn’t thinking “I will build a perfect cabinet.” They’re focused on making one precise cut. Then another. Then a perfect sanding job. Each of those feats is doable. String enough of them together with passion and perseverance—that’s grit—and the cabinet, the “greatness,” just… appears. It’s an output, not an input.

Quote Summary

Context	Attributes
Original Language	English (3668)
Category	Personal Development (697)
Topics	achievement (34), discipline (252), greatness (3)
Literary Style	motivational (245), simple (291)
Emotion / Mood	calm (491), empowering (174)
Overall Quote Score	82 (297)

Origin & Factcheck

This quote comes directly from Angela Duckworth’s 2016 book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,” which was published in the United States. It’s a central tenet of her research. You sometimes see similar sentiments misattributed to folks like Tony Robbins or other motivational speakers, but the specific phrasing and the underlying psychological framework are Duckworth’s.

Attribution Summary

Context	Attributes
Author	Dr Angela Duckworth (58)
Source Type	Book (4032)
Source/Book Name	Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (58)
Origin Timeperiod	21st Century (1892)
Original Language	English (3668)
Authenticity	Verified (4032)

Where is this quotation located?

Quotation	Greatness is doable. Greatness is many, many individual feats, and each of them is doable
Book Details	Publication Year/Date: 2016; ISBN/Unique Identifier: 978-1501111105; Last edition: Scribner 2016; Number of pages: 352
Where is it?	Chapter 8: Purpose, page 158 (2016 Edition)

Context

In the book, she’s dismantling the myth of innate, overnight talent. She uses this idea to explain how gritty people actually operate. They don’t have a superhuman capacity for work; they just understand that the journey is a marathon made up of a million tiny, manageable sprints. It’s the antidote to feeling overwhelmed.

Usage Examples

This is one of those concepts you can apply anywhere. Seriously.

• For a manager coaching an overwhelmed team: Instead of saying “We need to dominate the market,” you’d say, “Our goal this week is to make 50 perfect customer support calls. Each call is a doable feat. Let’s stack them up.”
• For someone learning a new skill, like coding: The goal isn’t “Become a full-stack developer.” It’s “Today, I will successfully understand and write this one function. That’s my individual feat.”
• For a writer with writer’s block: Don’t think “I have to write a bestselling novel.” Think “My feat for this morning is to write 300 decent words.” That’s it. That’s doable.

To whom it appeals?

Context	Attributes
Theme	Wisdom (1754)
Audiences	athletes (279), creatives (69), leaders (2619), students (3111)
Usage Context/Scenario	career counseling (67), goal-setting sessions (36), leadership programs (172), motivational speeches (345), school assemblies (31)

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FAQ

Question: But what if my “individual feats” still feel too hard?
Answer: Then you haven’t broken it down enough. A feat should feel challenging but absolutely achievable. If “write a chapter” is too big, make the feat “write an outline for the chapter.” Or “write the first paragraph.” Make the unit of work so small that not doing it feels sillier than actually doing it.

Question: Doesn’t this just promote busywork over a grand vision?
Answer: That’s a great question. No, the vision is your compass—it tells you *which* feats to focus on. The feats are your steps. You need both. Without the vision, you’re just checking off random tasks. Without the feats, your vision is just a daydream.

Question: Is this just another way of saying “take it one step at a time”?
Answer: Essentially, yes, but with a crucial psychological twist. “One step at a time” is passive. “Many, many individual feats” is active and agential. It frames each small action as an accomplishment, a *feat*, which builds momentum and a sense of efficacy. The language matters.