You know the ages of your kids, the name of your spouse?

I have kids.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, do super driven people miss out on some of life's greatest joys?

Are we not eating enough ice cream cones and feeling the sand between toes?

All those things just make me cringe a little bit, I have to say.

Also, what is the difference between an art and a craft with acclaimed chef and writer Gabrielle Hamilton?

This is a freaking delicious roast chicken.

So, S, lately, I have been thinking about the dark side of grit,

and in particular, how being goal directed in the extreme can be a bad thing.

If you are spending a large proportion of your 168 hours per week,

pursuing goals, you may be spending fewer hours, savoring the present moment, being mindful. So these

strivers who are rushing around getting stuff done are maybe less happy, maybe they're just missing out.

Right.

I mean, let me ask you this.

In a given day, what percentage of time that you're awake?

Do you think you are having goal-directed thoughts

versus the percentage of time where you have no goal in mind. You're just maybe like eating a

really good piece of brisket. Huh, that's interesting. So at the risk of shortchanging

your brisket, I'm going to say between 90 and 95. I am going to go with the same ballpark answer.

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