Got Grit?

Have you ever considered seriously what it takes to be successful?

Angela Lee Duckworth is a psychologist that studied different people in various settings to see what made them successful. On one of her studies she went to West Point to try to predict which cadets would make it through the program and which would drop out. She found that those who succeeded had the most grit. Duckworth defines grit as “passion and perseverance for long term goals”. Grit is not giving up when faced with challenges. It is working on your goal every day.

How do you build grit? Here are a few characteristics of people with grit:

Courage: You must have courage to set goals and not be afraid to fail. Some of us are perfectionist (myself included) and we never take that step outside of our comfort zone because we are scared of failing. Don’t let fear paralyze you because you may miss out on something great!

Goal Oriented: The most gritty and successful people set goals and then work relentlessly to achieve them. If you don’t set goals then how do you know where you are going? After you have your goal you must have an action plan to get there. Then you work on it daily!

Endurance: Life is a marathon not a sprint. Malcom Gladwell states in his book Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in a field. To achieve success we must be willing to put in the time necessary. There are no short cuts or quick fixes!

Resilience: Success is not linear. There are going to be bumps in the road. People who have grit and are successful are also resilient. They use every opportunity as a chance for growth and have confidence to move forward.

Excellence: Not perfection! We must strive for excellence in everything we do. When we seek perfection we often get discouraged because we don’t achieve it. Perfection is not realistic. Excellence is an attitude that is positive and motivating.

Let’s work together to build these characteristics and some Grit!