Grit

The Power of Passion and Perseverance

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0.1 Executive Summary Cheatsheet

0.1.1 What is Grit? Passion and Perseverance

Grit is the tendency to sustain passion and perseverance toward achieving long-term goals. It’s about stamina and sticking with your future, day in, day out.

1. Passion is not fleeting interest: It’s about consistency over time. Gritty people are usually deeply interested in what they do.
2. Perseverance is resilience: It’s the ability to overcome setbacks, to keep going when things get hard, and to finish what you start.
3. Grit is a marathon, not a sprint: It’s about working diligently toward a goal over years.
4. Talent alone is not enough: Grit often distinguishes high achievers from those who are merely talented.

The Misconception of Talent

Society often overemphasizes innate talent, leading to the belief that if you’re not naturally good at something, you won’t succeed. Duckworth argues effort is a more significant predictor of success. Don’t let a perceived lack of talent stop you from pursuing your goals.

Discovering Your Passion

Passion isn’t usually found in a single moment of epiphany. It’s often developed through a period of exploration, trying different things, and then deepening an initial interest over time. Be patient with yourself as you explore potential interests.

0.1.2 The Grit Equation: Effort Counts Twice

Duckworth proposes a simple framework for understanding achievement:

1. Talent x Effort = Skill: Natural talent is how quickly your skills improve when you invest effort.
2. Skill x Effort = Achievement: What you achieve is what happens when you take your acquired skills and apply effort.
3. Effort builds skill, and effort makes skill productive. This is why effort counts twice.

Why Effort is Doubly Important

Without effort, talent is merely unmet potential. Even with developed skills, without continued effort, achievement remains limited. Sustained, focused effort is the engine of grit.

0.1.3 How to Grow Grit: The Four Psychological Assets

Grit can be learned and cultivated. Duckworth identifies four key psychological assets that gritty individuals possess:

1. Interest: Passion begins with an intrinsic enjoyment of what you do. You must genuinely care about your pursuit.
   • Action: Explore different activities. Once an interest sparks, actively deepen it.
2. Practice (Deliberate Practice): This isn’t just mindlessly repeating tasks. It’s focused, goal-oriented effort to improve specific weaknesses.
   • Action: Identify areas for improvement, set specific goals, concentrate fully, seek feedback, and refine.
3. Purpose: The conviction that your work matters and contributes to the well-being of others. This provides deep motivation.
   • Action: Reflect on how your work connects to a larger good. Find ways your efforts can benefit others.
4. Hope: Not wishful thinking, but the expectation that your own efforts can improve your future. It’s a growth mindset – believing you can learn and overcome challenges.
   • Action: When faced with setbacks, look for lessons and believe in your ability to improve. Cultivate learned optimism.

0.1.4 Other key ideas

The Power of Deliberate Practice

1. Set a clear, specific stretch goal that is just beyond your current abilities.
2. Focus 100% on the task at hand, minimizing distractions.
3. Actively seek immediate and informative feedback on your performance.
4. Reflect on the feedback and refine your approach. Make adjustments and try again.
5. Repeat relentlessly. Consistency is key. Example: A writer doesn’t just write more; they identify weak sentence structures, study examples of good writing, and consciously try to improve that specific skill, seeking critique from peers.

Cultivating a Sense of Purpose

1. Reflect on how your work impacts others: Think beyond personal gain. How does what you do contribute to a larger community or cause?
2. Connect your daily tasks to a broader mission: Even mundane tasks can feel more meaningful if linked to a purposeful outcome.
3. Small acts of service can foster purpose: Look for opportunities to help others in your field or related to your goals. Example: A software developer might find purpose not just in coding, but in creating tools that solve real-world problems or make people’s lives easier.

Nurturing Hope and a Growth Mindset

1. Understand that abilities are malleable: Intelligence and skills can be developed through effort and learning.
2. View challenges as opportunities: See difficult tasks as chances to learn and grow, not as threats to your ego.
3. Learn from failure: Instead of giving up, analyze what went wrong and how you can do better next time.
4. Focus on process and effort, not just innate ability: Praise effort and strategies, not just “being smart.” Example: If a student fails a test, a growth mindset response is “I need to study differently or ask for help,” rather than “I’m just not good at this subject.”

0.1.5 Key Phrases to Embody

• “Effort counts twice.”
• “I’m still learning; I’m not there yet.”
• “This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
• “What can I learn from this setback to improve?”
• “How can I practice this more deliberately?”
• “My work contributes to [larger purpose].”
• “I can get better with focused effort.”

0.2 Video

(Note: This is Angela Duckworth’s popular TED talk on Grit, which encapsulates many core ideas from the book.)

0.3 Practise

Developing grit is an active process. Angela Duckworth advocates for the “Hard Thing Rule” in her own family:

1. Everyone (parents included) must choose a “hard thing” – something that requires daily deliberate practice.
2. You must finish what you begin (e.g., commit for a season, a year, until a milestone is reached).
3. No one gets to pick the “hard thing” for someone else.

Your Turn: What is one “hard thing” you could commit to for the next month or quarter to cultivate your grit? * Interest: Why does this hard thing genuinely interest you?

Practice: How will you engage in deliberate practice for it?

Purpose: What larger purpose or benefit (for yourself or others) does pursuing this hard thing serve?

Hope: How will you maintain a growth mindset and persevere through challenges?

Consider using a journal to track your progress and reflections.

0.4 Learn More

• Get the book:

• Official Site (Angela Duckworth’s website with resources and research)