You've made some excellent points here:
- What do people do when no one is looking? Just watching what a person does (at work) at a time when no one is watching can tell you a lot about an individual; it can tell you whether that person is self-motivated or not, level of discipline, focus, a good candidate for telework, and much more.
- Learning to learn rather than learning for the feeling of accomplishment/winning. Somehow over time, learning became "uncool" and we really need to change this connotation, especially among children. We need to re-introduce continuous learning, being "nerdy" as a "very cool" trait. This is the only way America will be able to compete globally with other countries who've made education their top priority.
- It matters who we're around. Isn't this why parents always want to know who their kids are hanging out with? It makes a difference even for adults.
Thank You.

Totally agree. It's a simple function of direction. Even if you're content to be something else - someone who runs something - it's much easier to plan a route to get there when you know where you are right now.

I wish just one of the people who told me to follow my passion over the years challenged me to consider my passion; why it means so much to me, how I pursue it, and what aspects of it could be adapted to other areas.

I see it as the difference between work-life balance (with it's inherent conflict) and work-life-parallel, where one's passion is easily adapted into higher performance in multiple areas.

Fair enough.
Inspiring analysis.My personal take away : 1.think about what you do when nobody is looking.
Personal stories are always making me comfortable with the speaker's speech.(idem for trainers.or coach)

2.Tiger Mom example about learning vs achievement.
Thanks.