If you care about what you’re doing, it’s harder to let your goals fall by the wayside. If you deeply love how it makes you feel, you’ll find yourself pursuing that feeling over and over again. Nevertheless, it isn’t just passion and devotion that foster success. It takes hard work, determination, and a persistent tenacity. In short: you’ve got to have grit.
This is explored in Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, who is well versed in facilitating success. She is not only the founder of The Character Lab and a non-profit summer school but also a professor of psychology, a renowned consultant, and a recipient of a MacArthur genius grant. In Grit she illustrates the relationship between talent and effort, positing that in order for someone to reach their goals they have to push themselves and push hard, never resting on their laurels or shying away from challenges and innovation. A particularly interesting part of the book is self-evaluation on what Duckworth calls the “Grit Scale,” which was developed to predict a subject’s success in the military. However, can the scale be applied to your business efforts? What about life goals? Your home life? The answer to all of these queries: definitely.
Here is a summary from Amazon:
“In this instant New York Times bestseller, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed—be it parents, students, educators, athletes, or business people—that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls ‘grit.’
Among Grit’s most valuable insights:
*Why any effort you make ultimately counts twice toward your goal
*How grit can be learned, regardless of I.Q. or circumstances
*How lifelong interest is triggered
*How much of optimal practice is suffering and how much ecstasy
*Which is better for your child—a warm embrace or high standards
*The magic of the Hard Thing Rule
Winningly personal, insightful, and even life-changing, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference.”
