Last Fall, I had the chance to observe the true meaning of grit first hand and it got me thinking: ‘What do we all need to do so we can apply grit and amplify our career results?’ In this time of uncertainty, Grit is the one thing we can rely on to get us through. Angela Duckworth author of the book, Grit, has inspired thousands of people to discover how success is more than talent and IQ. Duckworth describes in her book, how people who are successful in their careers have two characteristics-passion and perseverance.
Whether you are trying to figure out how to start your own business, or if you are a parent wanting to inspire a child it is all about how to find your Grit and what to do for yourself or your family to become “grittier” and influence true potential.
Personal Story-Can You Relate?
Here is a first-hand observation of grit in action. It was a warm fall evening this past week and my daughter’s field hockey team-who is JV – was playing a varsity team.
A little context-my daughter’s team was new- in its third year as a sport at the high school and many of the players were new athletes and have never played the game before. The other high school coach assured our team that while they were varsity – in reality the players were closer to a JV team. It was the team’s senior night-the most celebrated evening for a team where the players can shine for their parents and families.
For anyone with kids who play sports-or if you yourself played sports-the next portion of the story will resonate I am sure. Our team was down a goalie and there were lot of sick and injured players. We borrowed a former goalie who was kind enough to come and help the team out so the game could be played.
After the senior announcements, the girls took to the field. Our team was in position and then it started-two seniors competing for the most goals against our team. You can envision this-score after score-they totally crushed us. At the end of the second half with only 37 seconds left to play-and a score of 14-0 on the score board-one of the seniors took her final shot for a 15th goal. The announcer was so embarrassed he didn’t even say her name or mention the goal.
During this entire hour of play, I watched my daughter’s team smile at each other. They encouraged and cheered one another on. In short, they simply never gave up. Despite the odds, and when it was clear that not only would scoring be a long shot, but defending these skilled players was like climbing mount Everest. And yet- and yet, they pushed on-and were even hugging each other at the end of the game.
I usually don’t share personal stories here but thought we can all be inspired and learn how to tap into Grit and make things happen that we might have otherwise thought impossible. Now-let’s apply this idea to your business and life-using Angela Duckworth’s model for grit and the grit scale.
10 Tips About Grit
1. Grit predicts success and it goes beyond IQ and Talent. People with grit are able to move past setbacks to achieve your goals and find success.
2. Effort is a multiplier that indicates success rates. Duckworth identifies the following two equations: talent x effort = skill and skill x effort = achievement. People with talent who make less of an effort don’t necessarily achieve more success-in fact they often achieve less.
3. Test your grit on the grit scale. How did you score? Did it surprise you?
4. Grit is something you can change. Don’t focus on the score-look at what you can do to improve so you can accomplish your dreams.
5. Four characteristics to having grit: Interest, practice, purpose and hope.
6. Goal setting should exceed your comfort zone. People with grit go for things beyond their reach.
7. Tapping into your purpose will help you achieve success beyond personal gain.
8. Optimism is key to feeling hopeful and it helps us realize we can push past adversity.
9. Environment and extracurricular activities contribute to our having grit. This is harder now but there are ways to find things to do with your kids
10. Culture and the people with whom we associate influence our application of grit in our businesses.
Together we can use Grit to accomplish great things for our businesses. How will you use Grit today? Share with your connections, we are all in this together. Always remember- You Got This!