I bet you have more grit than you realize.
It’s when you believe in something and know you can’t do it all or make the big impact all at once. So you chip away at it. One step, then another. Until, with dedication and commitment, you achieve what you want…and more. It is how many significant accomplishments are achieved.
In MADE TO STICK, a Fast Company* article, Dan Heath and Chip Heath explain why some of the biggest victories are won an inch at a time:
“…grit – defined as endurance in pursuit of long-term goals and an ability to persist in the face of adversity – is a key part of what makes people successful. In a culture that values quick results – this qua rter’s numbers, this week’s weight loss, this month’s click-throughs – grit can be an under-appreciated secret weapon.
“Consider the difference grit makes even in a naturally gritty place like West Point. To be admitted, cadets must have impressive marks on multiple dimensions such as SAT scores, class rank, leadership ability, and physical aptitude. They’ve been tested as leaders. Yet during the first summer of training, a grueling period known as Beast Barracks, one out of every 20 cadets drops out.
“When Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania analyzed these incoming West Point cadets, she found that a very simple survey gauging grit – in which people self-assess on statements such as ‘I finish whatever I begin’ – could predict who would survive the Beast Barracks better than any existing West Point measure. ‘Grit may be as essential as talent to high accomplishment,’ D uckworth wrote.
“… Grit is not synonymous with hard work. It involves a certain single-mindedness. An ungritty prison inmate will formulate a new plan of escape every month, but a gritty prison inmate will tunnel his way out one spoonful of concrete at a time.”
Since reading this article, I’m making “I have grit” my mantra for the challenges I wish I could wave a magic wand and finish quickly. It has helped me make progress with a positive mindset. The trick is to keep your vision of success – you successfully completing whatever it is — in mind, in crystal clear detail. A crystal clear vision of you as the success you want to be, brought to mind every day, will get you where you want to go.
What will grit help you accomplish?
Let me know if you would like to talk about it.
