gopnik | accomplishment v achievement

"What typically emerges from looking at kids, gifted and ordinary, is that, from the kids' point of view, accomplishment, that is, the private sense of mastery, the hard thing suddenly made easy, counts for far more in their inner lives than does the achievement - the competition won, the reward secured. The mystery of mastery, felt in the child's mind or muscles is more compelling than the concreteness of achievement, the trophy pressed in her hands." Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, Jan 29, 2018