Grit by Angela Duckworth - A Delightful Read

Most successful people are driven by the desire to become better which is what is signified by Grit. They start from level 0 and are so driven by the desire to improve that they spend so much time and effort on it until they master it. One key thing to note here is that while it is okay to try out different things from time to time until you find the one which you really like/passionate about but just to obsesses with a certain idea/project for a short time, lose interest and move on to something else is NOT advisable. The author in her specially designed surveys for measuring Grit added special weightage if the respondent had persisted with an extra-curricular activity for more than a year, thus indicating that it is a sign of grit if you keep up with your hobby/interest for more than a year. It takes lot of time to improve and get better aka a year/short-period is not enough.

You have to work hard, persevere and fight with problems to fulfill your potential. Luck, environment cannot substitute for Grit.

Another key takeaway is that Talent alone does not mean a person is gritty. Nor does aptitude guarantee achievement. 

Charles Darwin penned a distinction between high achievers – Men do not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and hard-work. And this is an eminently important difference.

You have to be a plodder just like Charles Darwin was.

Darwin indulged in semi-willful forgetting. He kept thinking about the same questions long after others would move on to different and easier problems. For him the questions were alive at the back of his mind.

 It has to be recognized that men the world over possess amounts of resource, which only very exceptional individuals push to their extremes of use.

·      Another key thing that Angela highlight is that mythologizing natural talent lets us all of the hook.

It makes people think that the person was born with that talent for absolutely no one wants to sit on the pool deck as the amateur swimmer transforms him/her to expertise. When it comes to talent – we prefer mystery to mundanity.

Talent X Effort = Skill

Skill X Effort = Achievement

Also, the book provides an elegant definition of talent

 Talent is how fast we can improve our skills when we invest effort.

How to master a Skill?

To do anything really well, you have to overextend yourself. You pay twice as much attention and do the same thing over and over again, until what was never natural becomes second nature.

The book is full of some elegant quotes –

Eighty percent of success in life is showing up.

So never shy away from the challenges.

Grit  = Effort = Showing Up/Never Giving Up

Grit is more about stamina than intensity.

Grit is not about falling in love but staying in love with the task you have picked up.

Often people never get to show how gritty they are because they have never found their passion. Passion is a compass that takes you some time to build, tinker with and finally get right and then guides you on your long and winding road to where, ultimately you want to be.

The author suggests that it is very important to set your goals and divide them into a hierarchy i.e Top Level -> Mid Level -> Low Level. And this is where Grit comes in – about holding the same top-level goal for a very long time.

Warren Buffett lists his method to set a long-term goal.

1.    First, you write down a list of 25 career goals.

2.    Do some soul-searching and circle the five highest priority goals. Just five.

3.    Take a hard-look at the 20 goals you didn’t circle. They’re what distract you, they eat away time and energy; taking your eye from the goals that matter.

We need to face the fact that time and energy are limited. Any successful person has to decide what to do in part by deciding what not to do.

There are always some parts of work that you will not like. IT should be enjoyable overall.

What are the identifiers/signs that shows a person is gritty?

è Apart from endurance related mental and physical tasks, one way to identify is persevering with your childhood tasks.

è …following through on our commitments while we grow up both requires grit and at the same time builds it.

è If one does not “follow through” with extra-curricular activities it is highly likely that person is NOT gritty.

The book states that we should not assume that successful people started from a different place than the rest of us. Chances are, they took quite some time figuring out exactly what they wanted to do with their lives.

It is important to note that –

i)               You have to try many different things.

ii)             It will take time.

iii)           Your passion would turn out to be different.

We often mistake to think of passion is a sudden, all-at-once discovery. It is actually like that the opening scene is a much longer, less dramatic narrative.

The author’s words following this are a bit comforting. She says that “Childhood is far too early to know what we want to be when we grow up. Interests are triggered with interactions with the outside world. It is a paradox, that the initial discovery of an interest often goes unnoticed by the discoverer. Crucially, the initial triggering of a new interest must be followed by subsequent encounters that retrigger your attention – again and again and again.

Thus, it is important to let kids try out different things and figure them out at their own pace. Rush a beginner and you’ll bludgeon their budding interest.

Another aspect which is equally important is PRACTICE.

There’s an inspiring example of Benjamin Franklin who home-schooled himself. He used to collect the best essays in his favorite magazine Spectator. Read and re-read them taking notes. Hid the originals in the drawers and rewrote them. He would then compare it with the original and correct his flaws. Hard to imagine this is how the man who came up with a lot of witty aphorisms was made.

You have to practice a lot. A term called deliberate practice has been used. i.e Create a schedule – daily habit.

The thing is – Nobody wants to show you the hours and hours of becoming. They’d rather show the highlight of what they’ve become.

It also helps if you can attach a higher-calling/sense of purpose to your passion. You tend to enjoy it more.

·      Mindset is extremely important. In the face of setbacks, you should believe that you can change the circumstances/master the situation. Positive self-talk is helpful too.

·      Good mentor helps too to build up Grit (parenting)

The very traits that steer up toward certain life situations are the very same traits that those situations encourage, reinforce and amplify. This there’s this virtuous/vicious cycle.

Culture is crucial as it shapes our identity so try to be in the company of gritty people.

If you create a vision for yourself, stick with it, you can make amazing things happen in your life.

Be early and Don’t complain.

Grit plays a far greater role than talent in achieving potential.

The book conveys a very powerful message - and reminded me not to fall in the trap of mediocrity and not lose hope.

The Conquest of Happiness - Book Review

After a few years when I will look back at this book there will be quite a few things that I’ll be able to recollect. I can easily make lot of associations with this book. I read one of the chapters of this book in a Critical Reading class, bought it at a real cool bookstore, happened to stumble upon a hidden treasure of a coffee shop where I spend some afternoons perusing it. And finally, some clarity of thought which I gained after completing it.

As is clear by the title – it is mainly about how we can stay happy.  

I am particularly struck by the mention of “the pursuit of happiness” as one of the inalienable rights of the citizens in the U.S declaration of Independence. Seems like the Committee of Five were wise enough to know what matters eventually. There is abundant material floating around which claims to provide answers to the complex questions people spend their lives struggling with. Bertrand Russell does a really good job stripping down the needs and necessities of a man/woman and come up with what are few basic things which can provide contentment/happiness/whatever you call it.

In the first half of the book – he lists the possible reasons why people are unhappy: -

•        Mistaken views of the world
•        Mistaken ethics
•        Mistaken habits of life
•        Absence of effort from life
•        Absence of love
•       Absence of quiet life
•       Too much to worry
•       Envy
•       Fear of public opinion

He lists with examples, anecdotes going into detail as to how the above characteristics contribute to disillusionment with life and makes a person incapable to be happy. For instance – he so rightly points out that “boredom” is an essential ingredient of life. Even though most of us try to always indulge in exciting endeavors – little do we realize that their value will start diminishing and the need for stronger levels of excitement then arises. He also so wisely states that “the lives of most great men have not been exciting except at a few great moments.” The manner in which simple, unadulterated truth is presented in this book is what makes it such a classic even 80 years after it was first published. Russell clearly defines that certain great things in life are possible only with a certain degree of monotony. I had never thought about boredom through such a perspective. Point to be noted – not to feel bad if you have a low-key weekend or vacation!

Similarly, he talks about fatigue – how indecisiveness can cause fatigue and the buildup on fatigue (mental) causes a person to stop living in the moment. The best way to prevent it is to face our anxieties head-on i.e thinking of the worst-case possibility. Often, we will realize that the “worst case possibility” isn’t as big as we thought it would be. That realization can provide a sense of relief.

After listing down the possible avenues of unhappiness – he starts with whether happiness is even an achievable goal. He draws a subtle (but very interesting) distinction between the level of happiness which a scientist and an artist can attain. He points out that even though the general public cannot understand a picture or a poem – they conclude it is a bad picture or bad poem. But when they cannot understand the theory of relativity they conclude (rightly) that their education has been insufficient. In a lot of places, you can spot Russell’s dry wit humor.

The last 7 chapters are dedicated to possible ways in which happiness can be derived.

In no proper order, he implores the reader to -

• Let your interests be as wide as possible and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.
• Give affection to your dear ones as affection is reciprocal by nature.
•  How having a tight-knit family contributes to a sense of satisfaction.

  He calls upon lot of focus to be given to personal relationships and upbringing kids. 

• Need to Work.

He could clearly see much earlier in the 1930s that no matter how dull the work would be, life would be much worse if there was no work to do. Russell blames it to the failure of man to rely on being told what to do. As per him, man has not evolved yet to intelligently use his leisure time. Thus, the need to get up in the morning and do some (any) work remains important.    

• Put in Effort.

You have to have a life where you put in effort. Also, it is extremely important to not fret over small things like missing the train or things that upset you. A wise man does not expend emotions over things that go wrong. Russell shares a powerful trick to put things into perspective. Ask yourself when things go wrong – In the history of the cosmos does the event in question has lot of importance?

With his simple powerful words the author is successfully able to drive home the point that happiness is not elusive. It is attainable. Most of our “unhappiness” is our own doing, our improper thoughts and expectations.

If we start approaching life with the right perspective which he shared we will become A Happy Man or Woman.

-->

P.S - The very few things I did not like was that at places Russell seems to come across very conservative by nature specially when it came to women shouldering working opportunities. If you think of the time when he wrote the book it explains his viewpoint. At that time women were not even remotely provided equal opportunities to go out and work. Probably, that is the reason why he couldn’t come to the conclusion that factors affecting happiness of women were the same as men.

P.P.S - The other thing that stands out from the book is that Russell views drinking in a negative light. He says it is a shame that people are too tired to be capable of enjoying without the help of alcohol. At one place he mocks those who drink a lot - Me no drinkee for drinkee, me drinkee for drunkee!

P.P.S.1 - A bit of trivia.
Einstein is usually praised in the mainstream literature for the stance he adopted against nuclear weapons and the Nazi party. Both Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein signed statements against the adoption of nuclear weapons. And then Einstein went back to his research while Russell continued his struggle on the streets raising voice and trying to bring awareness on that issue. In Noam Chomsky's words - Einstein didn't rattle too many cages but Russell tried to do something about it. Thus, Russell was viciously attacked by the NYT and others. He was disregarded as a public intellectual and rather considered a crazy madman.

-->