What is Grit, Why Do Gritty People Succeed, and How Can You Develop Your Own Grit?

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welcome as always it's good to see you

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in this session you learn about a

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characteristic associated with

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self-motivation and that's the power of

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grit

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new cadets at the US Military Academy

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West Point go through a staggeringly

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tough physically and mentally

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challenging program during their first

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seven weeks this program is called the

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beast it's well known that many new

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cadets drop out of West Point before the

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end of those harsh seven weeks for years

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West Point was unable to pinpoint why

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they found no patterns related to high

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school rank college entrance exam grades

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for example SAT and ACT grades physical

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fitness leadership potential assessments

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or any other measure that would seem to

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be relevant to whether a cadet would go

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the distance or drop

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out in 2004 along came psychology

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doctoral student Angela Duckworth she

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got permission to give the cadets a 12

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question assessment on their second day

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at West Point she found that the higher

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the cadets scored on this simple

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assessment the more likely they were to

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complete the beast as well the lower

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they scored the more likely they were to

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drop out the assessment was Duckworth's

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grit scale she defines grit as passion

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and perseverance toward a long-term goal

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the assessment questions included

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statements such as "I finish what I

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begin I am diligent I never give up and

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I often choose a goal and later on

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choose to pursue a different

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one." She also explored whether

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teenagers who performed best in the US

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Scripts National Spelling Bee

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Competition rated higher on grit and

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they did not surprisingly Duckworth

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found that the grittier teenagers spent

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more time studying for the spelling bee

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and this paid off in their higher

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ranking in her research Duckworth found

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that grit did not relate positively to

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IQ but it was highly correlated with

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conscientiousness

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as with conscientious people gritty

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people are hardworking self-directed

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self-motivated persistent and they're

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able to bounce back from setbacks and

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get themselves back on track but here's

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where grit differs from

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conscientiousness gritty people apply

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their focus to a single long-term goal

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that's extremely meaningful to them for

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example a person can be conscientious in

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their everyday life and fulfill their

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everyday work responsibilities to a very

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high standard yet they may not be

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focused on achieving a particular

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long-term goal that's very important to

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them gritty people stay focused on that

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one important goal keeping their eyes on

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the prize it's the driving force that

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compels them to work even harder to be

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even more persistent and to be even more

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resilient

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rejection and being told they can't do

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something fuels their

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determination steven Spielberg was

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rejected from film school three times

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oprah was told she was unfit for TV and

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Beyonce was told she couldn't sing being

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gritty takes even more stamina for

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longer periods of time all in the dogged

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persistence of achieving a single

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long-term goal grit is like

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conscientiousness on

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steroids actor Will Smith describes the

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secret to success as an actor this way

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the only thing that I see that is

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distinctly different about me is that

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I'm not afraid to die on a treadmill you

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might have more talent than me you might

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be smarter than me you might be sexier

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than me you might be all of those things

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but if we get on the treadmill together

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there's two things you're getting off

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first or I'm gonna die it's really that

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simple US Supreme Court Justice Sonia

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Sotomayor demonstrated grittiness ever

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since she was a child born in the Bronx

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New York to a family from Puerto Rico

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she was raised for many years by a

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single mother after her father died of

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complications related to alcoholism when

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she was only 9 years old her mother was

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an orphan and her father never completed

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the third grade her mother worked hard

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to save money to send Sotomayor to

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Catholic

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school Sotomayor learned responsibility at

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age seven when she was diagnosed with

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type 1 juvenile diabetes and had to give

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herself daily insulin shots for the rest

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of her life in her autobiography she

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said "I probably learned more

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self-discipline from living with

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diabetes than I ever did from the

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Sisters of Charity."

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She decided that she wanted to become an

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attorney after watching the TV show

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Perry Mason in which actor Ramon Burr

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played a prosecutor with a flare for

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public speaking and for winning cases

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she was fascinated with the way Mason

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eloquently presented his cases and

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served the law Sotomayor did not have

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the resources at home to help her pursue

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her dream of becoming an attorney but

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she had the grit to figure it out

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inspired by the fictional Perry Mason

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she practiced public speaking whenever

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she could when she was ready to become

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the first person in her family to attend

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college her friend Kenny from her high

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school debate team encouraged her to get

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admitted to an Ivy League college he

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gave her the names of colleges and then

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he helped her adjust to life at

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Princeton and then Yale Law School

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she relied heavily on students with more

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experience to help her develop the

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confidence and political skills to not

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only survive but thrive today Sotomayor

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is quick to advise people to

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remember that no one succeeds alone she

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expresses pride that she was one of the

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early beneficiaries of affirmative

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action and she worked hard to live up to

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expectations she was awarded the Pine

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Prize the highest academic award given

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to Princeton undergraduates and she was

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an editor for the prestigious Yale Law

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Journal she bounced back after not being

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offered a job after a school summer

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internship with a prestigious law firm

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reflecting on that early failure

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Sotomayor said "I would do what I had

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always done break the challenge down

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into smaller challenges which I would

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get on with in my methodical fashion."

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Now Duckworth notes that grit is like

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living life as a marathon not as a

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sprint and she is convinced that grit

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can be learned she works with school

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systems to help them develop grit in

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children so that they can have better

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opportunities for a good life today

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Duckworth likes to show her doctoral

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students the letters that she receives

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from academic journals rejecting her

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articles because she wants to build a

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resilience by showing them that

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struggles and failures are a normal if

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not desirable part of an academic's

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life what can you do to increase your

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grit like a muscle grit can be developed

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through focused practice

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Angela Duckworth describes self-made

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businessman Warren Buffett's strategy

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for identifying your most important goal

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the one that most deserves grit first

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list up to 25 goals second circle the

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five that are the highest priority those

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that are most aligned with what's most

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important to you in life third look at

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the goals that you didn't circle and

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don't pay much time and energy toward

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those goals because they'll distract you

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from your top goals Buffett says it more

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starkly avoid the goals on the second

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list at all costs deciding what you're

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not going to do is as important as

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deciding what you will do then make a

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plan for achieving your top five or

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fewer

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goals then Duckworth adds another step

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she recommends that you ask yourself "To

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what extent do my top five goals serve a

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common purpose?" By aligning your goals

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the effort you put into one of your top

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goals is likely to benefit your other

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goals as

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well Warren Buffett is known to be clear

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about his priorities despite his wealth

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he's worth over 60 billion Buffett lives

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frugally in the house he bought in 1958

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for

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$31,000 which today would be around

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$260,000 he has pledged to donate 99% of

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his wealth to charitable causes when he

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dies with most of it going to the Bill

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and Melinda Gates Foundation which is

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dedicated to lifting people out of

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poverty to lead healthy productive lives

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before we end this session it's worth

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noting that being overly gritty carries

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some

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risks sometimes it's healthier to quit

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particularly when the goal is

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unachievable or if the situation has

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changed to one in which the goal is no

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longer worth the effort required

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researchers have found that people who

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are able to let go of goals that are for

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some reason unattainable had lower

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C-reactive protein and that's a molecule

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that's associated with health issues

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related to inflammation than people who

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continue to pursue an unattainable goal

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in another study researchers found that

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people who were able to detach from

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unattainable goals and invest in new

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attainable goals reported higher

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subjective well-being otherwise known as

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happiness lower stress and higher

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self-mastery which the researchers

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defined as a belief that one has control

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over what happens in their future

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another risk of excess grit that you can

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become so invested in achieving your

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goal that you lose interest in other

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important parts of your life for example

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your health and

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relationships as researcher Walter

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Mischel the creator of the original

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marshmallow experience says "A life with

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too much self-control and delayed

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gratification can be as unfulfilling as

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one with too little."

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So now you know how grit can help you

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achieve your goals what steps you can

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take to increase your own grit and what

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risks are associated with grit and I

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must say that you've shown quite a bit

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of grit by staying with this course so

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far because it can be easy to get

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sidetracked with everyday distractions

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so it looks like you already have some

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of the grit it takes to succeed thanks

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for taking the time to learn about the

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power of grit and I hope you found this

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session to be useful and enjoyable