GRIT

The idea of "grit" is something I mention sometimes and I thought it might be an idea to clear up (roughly) what I mean by this.

On a basic level, I think of grit as the ability to just get started doing something which you know you have to do to work towards a greater goal. This would generally be something that you might not otherwise "want" to do. For a lot of people it may be working out, studying or any number of things. For me this past week, it has been making a post here on my blog.

I think this basic description of grit gives a good idea, however I think its a bit more nuanced.

Angela Duckworth is a psychologist who has studied the idea of grit and its role in success, which she has found to be significant. She describes grit as a a combination of PASSION and PERSEVERANCE. This makes up the title on her book on the subject which is definitely on my list of books to read.

What this means though is that to develop this characteristic of grit, you need to understand where you are going and why (passion/direction) and then have the ability to push yourself to get there (perseverance/determination).

She explains that to achieve success, while talent will play a role, effort and grit will be a far greater predictor of this achievement across various domains from school children to CEO's

The positive side to this is that grit is something that we can improve over time

The first thing you need to find something that interests you. One way you can do this is by trying new things. Then you will practice this thing and anything which contributes to you being successful in what you're interested in. The more practice you do, the better you will be at something resulting in you having greater "passion" for that thing. This is an idea that Cal Newport discusses

Angela says that in addition to having this continuous improvement mindset, it needs to be understood that our current ability it not fixed and that by working on our craft, whatever that may be, we can always be moving towards achieving our greater purpose.

Those are just some thoughts I had after looking into the topic a little bit more in depth. I am definitely going to have to get around to reading Angela Duckworth’s book “Grit” so I will likely revisit this topic then.

For now I hope this helped you and thanks for reading!