This sounds a lot like the message from the book "MindSet" by Carol Dweck. Her premise is people have a "fixed" mindset or a "growth" mindset. (I'm not sure

This sounds a lot like the message from the book "MindSet" by Carol Dweck. Her premise is people have a "fixed" mindset or a "growth" mindset. (I'm not sure of the terms; the book isn't here with me.) The main difference is the growth mindset sees everything as a learning opportunity (like Adams talking about putting the manure in a garden and hoping the cows come back) whereas the fixed mindset sees everything as a test of ones abilities.