Grit, the secret ingredient to extraordinary achievement, takes center stage in Angela Duckworth’s groundbreaking book. This captivating exploration of passion and perseverance challenges conventional wisdom about talent and success. Duckworth’s insights offer a fresh perspective on what truly drives outstanding performance across various fields.
Dive into this transformative journey to discover how grit can reshape your approach to life’s challenges and unlock your full potential.
Table of Contents
Genres
Psychology, Self Help, Business. Personal Development, Leadership, Education, Parenting, Productivity, Applied Psychology, Psychology Personality Study, Success Self-Help, Motivation, Self-Esteem, Entrepreneurship
“Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” presents Duckworth’s research on the critical role of grit in achieving long-term goals. She defines grit as a combination of passion and perseverance, arguing it’s more crucial than talent or IQ in predicting success. The book explores how grit develops, featuring interviews with high achievers from various fields. Duckworth introduces the concept of “deliberate practice” and its importance in skill development. She discusses the “growth mindset” and its relationship to grit, emphasizing the value of effort over innate ability. The author also examines how grit can be cultivated in educational settings and workplaces, offering practical strategies for parents, teachers, and individuals to foster this trait.
Review
Duckworth’s “Grit” offers a compelling argument for the importance of perseverance and passion in achieving success. The book’s strength lies in its blend of scientific research, real-world examples, and practical advice. Duckworth’s writing style is engaging and accessible, making complex psychological concepts understandable to a general audience.
The author’s personal anecdotes and diverse case studies effectively illustrate her points, from West Point cadets to spelling bee champions. These stories add depth and relatability to the theoretical framework she presents.
However, the book sometimes oversimplifies the path to success, potentially underplaying the role of external factors like socioeconomic background or opportunity. Critics might argue that the emphasis on grit could inadvertently blame individuals for systemic barriers.
Despite these limitations, “Grit” provides valuable insights into personal development and achievement. It challenges readers to rethink their approach to goal-setting and perseverance. The book’s actionable advice on cultivating grit makes it a useful resource for individuals seeking to enhance their long-term success.
Overall, “Grit” is a thought-provoking read that offers a fresh perspective on achievement and personal growth. It’s particularly relevant for educators, parents, and anyone interested in understanding the psychological factors behind success.
What does it mean to be ‘Gritty’?
“Grit is NOT at all about stubbornly pursuing—at all costs and ad infinitum—every single low-level goal on your list. Sure, you should try hard—even a little longer than you might think necessary. But don’t beat your head against the wall attempting to follow through on something that is, merely, a means to a more important end.” – Angela Duckworth
- Gritty people are fixed on high-level pursuits but flexible on low-level goals, like the daily to-do list.
- Gritty people know the ‘Why?’ behind everything they do.
- Gritty live life as a marathon, not a sprint.
- Gritty are stubborn, but not stupid.
- Like a toddler learning to walk, gritty people don’t waste time being ashamed or feeling anxious because they are too busy seeking feedback and improving.
- When a gritty person gets a rejection slip, encounters a setback, or reaches a dead end, they are disappointed, even heartbroken. But not for long.
- Gritty people not only put in more hours than the next person, but they also fill their hours with intense undistracted focus.
- Gritty people embrace boredom and avoid environments of distraction.
How to Grow Your Grit
“Learning to stick to something is a life skill that we all have to develop.” – Angela Duckworth
Interest
“Whatever it is that you want to do, you’ll find in life that if you’re not passionate about what it is you’re working on, you won’t be able to stick with it.” – Jeff Bezos
Angela Duckworth was captivated by the question: “What makes people successful and why?” That question compelled her to get through graduate school. What question will compel you to stay gritty?
“Every gritty person I’ve studied can point to aspects of their work they enjoy less than others, and most have to put up with at least one or two chores they don’t enjoy at all. Nevertheless, they’re captivated by the endeavor as a whole.” – Angela Duckworth
Practice
“You must zero in on your weaknesses, and you must do so over and over again, for hours a day, week after month after year. To be gritty is to resist complacency. “Whatever it takes, I want to improve!” is a refrain of all paragons of grit, no matter their particular interest, and no matter how excellent they already are”. -Angela Duckworth
Love the act of improvement, be better than you were yesterday, and resist complacency. The effort that you apply each day counts twice towards achievement: Effort x Talent = Skill, Skill x Effort = Achievement
Purpose
Angela surveyed over 16,000 American adults and found the following to be true:
“Grittier people are dramatically more motivat-ed than others to seek a meaningful, other-cen-tered life. Higher scores on purpose correlate with higher scores on the Grit Scale.” — Angela Duckworth
The desire to aid in the wellbeing of others is likely to sustain your interest and make you grittier.
How are your efforts benefiting the well-being of other people?
Hope
“Grit depends on a different kind of hope. It rests on the expectation that our own efforts can improve our future.” – Angela Duckworth
Grit requires an enduring belief that your skills are malleable and not set in stone.
Modern science shows that our brains continue to grow well past childhood. Daily experience continuously shapes the adult brain.
Recall a time you developed a skill that initially seemed impossible (i.e. playing an instrument, using a software program, public speaking, etc.), but you managed to successfully learn the skill with sustained effort.
Angela Duckworth, PhD, is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She has advised the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 CEOs. She is also the founder and CEO of Character Lab, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance scientific insights that help kids thrive. She completed her BA in neurobiology at Harvard, her MSc in neuroscience at Oxford, and her PhD in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance is her first book and an instant New York Times bestseller.
Table of Contents
Part I: What grit is and why it matters
Showing up
Distracted by talent
Effort counts twice
How gritty are you?
Grit grows
Part II: Growing grit from the inside out
Interest
Practice
Purpose
Hope
Part III: Growing grit from the outside in
Parenting for grit
The playing fields of grit
A culture of grit
Conclusion.