If you have not followed Angela Duckworth, she has a good book on Grit. My wife had our kids read it – which is a great reference for us as a family. We have added this word to our internal vocabulary. You need to have some grit – is a phrase with profound meaning. Angela gave a great TED talk, you can look her up. The study she did as a researcher in psychology is very real. The results of the study are what she uses to define the concept of grit.
Grit is probably the fundamental reason why the 365 commitment has worked so well for me. Despite all the challenges, and the ups and down, successes and failures at the end of the day – I keep the commitment. To do so requires me to set my jaw and face the brutal task in front of me and take it on. Grit is not talent. Grit is not brilliance. Grit is challenge. Grit is failure. Grit is what you gain on the iterative path to success.
Those that fail succeed. Those that persevere find that path that no one else could. Those that push past the first barrier, find the second and third and get closer to fighting the real problem. Those are the ones that have Grit. They actually are fighting the real fight. The fight that if they break through will get to the actual prize.
People with Grit do not complain, and they certainly do not accept no for an answer. The grittier the person the more scrappy they become. Finding ways around, over and through any challenge. You cannot pin down a person with Grit, you cannot hold them down, and you cannot discourage them. You can get in their way for a little while, but before you know it they will have moved on, worked their way around you, and already be down the path before you realize it.
People with grit solve the most complex problems, find success where no one could, and drive progress in the most stagnant of organizations. You need grit on your team. You need grit in your life. Even though a person with grit will disrupt everything around you, you should accept it, because it was people with grit that built the country I live in, started the companies that I admire, and started movements that we adhere.
You cannot learn grit, you cannot buy grit, you cannot receive grit as a gift. The only way to get grit is to earn it. You earn it everyday you buckle down and keep your commitments. Everyday you decide to do the thing you should rather then the thing you must do, or want to do. Everytime you deny that primal self and seek to follow the higher path of your deliberate consciousness you gain grit. You push through the pain, press through the struggle and embrace the suck. That is when you start to be one of those that have Grit.
Guy Reams
365 Alumni
47 Days Left
