I haven't spiraled yet, and I'm pretty old.

Just make it a few more years and you'll be good.

I'm just running out the clock now.

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, is it immoral to slack off at work when others are depending on you to do a good job?

I had a tiny bit of authority as an umpire of a minor Little League game, and I exploited it for my own benefit.

Also, how valuable is it to have a personal mission statement?

That sounds like a marketing scam.

I can sell you one, and it comes with a set of steak knives.

Angela Duckworth, I have what may be a truly stupid question, but this is the one place I'm allowed to ask it.

That's right.

So here it goes.

Do you believe, as I do, that incompetence is often a form of dishonesty?

And I can spell out further what I mean by that if you'd like.

I have a first intuition, which is no.

But why don't you elaborate a little bit?

Yeah.

Okay.

So I realize it's a murky question.

But what I'm suggesting is this.

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