Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best

Angela Duckworth

What if changing your surroundings could be just as powerful as changing yourself?

From Angela Duckworth, the bestselling author of Grit, comes Situated—a thought-provoking book about the powerful role that situations, environments, relationships, and everyday choices play in shaping who we become and what we achieve.

In Grit, Duckworth explored the importance of passion and perseverance in reaching long-term goals. In Situated, she takes that idea further, showing that determination alone isn't always enough. The environment around you can either make success harder or help bring out your best qualities.

Through extensive research and real-life examples, Duckworth explains how seemingly ordinary factors—such as the people around you, the things within your reach, your workplace, your home, and even your surroundings—can influence your behaviour and decisions.

What You’ll Discover in Situated

• How your behaviour and personality can change depending on the situation you are in—and how to use this to your advantage.
• How to make better choices without depending entirely on willpower.
• Why making the easier or more convenient choice can sometimes be the smartest strategy.
• How your friends, colleagues, mentors, and social circles influence the person you become.
• Practical ways to create conditions that help both you and others perform at your best.
• How successful people deliberately design their surroundings to support their goals.

Duckworth also shares personal experiences, including challenges with burnout and relationships, to demonstrate an important lesson: sometimes the answer isn't to push yourself harder or completely change who you are. Instead, changing the situation around you can make a remarkable difference.

Featuring examples from high achievers such as Taylor Swift, Michael Phelps, and Jerry Seinfeld, Situated explores how the right environment can help people make better use of their natural strengths, persistence, and ambition.

Whether you want to improve your career, habits, relationships, productivity, or personal growth, this book offers a fresh perspective: instead of always trying to change yourself, start by changing the situation around you.

Create an environment that works with you—not against you—and discover what becomes possible when you get situated.