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.
