Grit is an old-fashioned word we don’t use much anymore. Back in the day, if we referred to someone as “gritty” it meant they had moxie or were plucky – but those words aren’t popular anymore either. Angela Duckworth’s 2018 book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance defines grit as ‘ferocious determination’; the powerful combination of determination and direction. She posits that this trait is sorely lacking in the US today.
Duckworth’s book sparked a national debate, particularly among educators, who pushed back. Their argument – Duckworth’s research didn’t take into account the structural and systemic issues many students face. The debate is not the purpose of this short piece – I think it’s important to endeavor to teach students (when possible) how to be ‘grittier’ as it will likely be very helpful in their career (and their life) – but always remember, some people have larger obstacles to overcome than others.
But I digress. Here’s the pithiest summary of Duckworth’s findings about ‘grittiness’ and why it’s an important personality trait to cultivate. Duckworth’s overall premise is that the best guarantor of success is not inborn talent (i.e., IQ) but rather the blending of resilience with single-mindedness. Keeping this in mind, she encourages people to have ONE top level goal, a compass that guides and gives the individual meaning and direction. Once you’ve determined your top level goal it’s then important to avoid anything keeping you from achieving your purpose. So, if you have a goal you are wanting to achieve try the following:
1. Find a Passion: very likely you’ll have to experiment (a lot) to discover, develop and then deepen your passion (we tend to forget this) – keep the stakes low and simply take the next step.
2. Practice: persevere – devote yourself to something and strive to do better. It takes 10,000 hours to become the master of something so make the commitment. Strive for improvement and ask others to give you feedback. It’s so important for people to praise others for their effort and learning versus natural talent – this is best done with a balance of support and encouraging people to reach ever higher.
3. Remain Hopeful: keeping going even when it’s hard and you have doubt. Do your best to keep a growth mindset, practice optimistic self-talk and remember that perseverance often triumphs over adversity. The Bible puts it this way: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4, NIV).
There’s good news for those of us who may no longer identify as ‘spring chickens’. Grit (which is most closely aligned with the important personality trait Conscientiousness) is something we develop more capacity for as we age. Regardless, grit is easy to write about and hard to acquire… but then again, nothing worth having comes without effort (and getting a little gritty).
I’m putting several resources below in case you want to do a deeper dive into a couple of the areas this post touched on.
• Duckworth’s 6:00 TED Talk (viewed 31M+): https://www.ted.com/…/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the…
• A Christian take on Grit: Bianca Olthoff: Grit Don’t Quit: Developing Resilience and Faith When Giving Up Isn’t an Option
• Grit gets at the question of motivation (intrinsic motivation to be exact). If you’re interested in this topic, check out Edward Deci and Richard Ryan’s Self-Determination theory (developed right here at the University of Rochester).
• Conscientiousness is one of the “Big 5” Personality Traits. Much research indicates that these 5 traits (which produce the acronym OCEAN) are the key to understanding how you think, feel, and behave. Here’s one article to get you started: http://exploresel.gse.harvard.edu/frameworks/7