GRIT – Do You Have What It Takes?

I was speaking with a colleague last week and we were talking about current projects that we are working on, and future projects and goals. He was amazed with all the ideas that I have and with my enthusiasm and passion for my work. He told me that I have a lot of GRIT.

My colleague then asked if I had seen the Ted Talk by Angela Lee Duckworth:The Key To Success? Grit. I confessed to never having seen it and he recommended that I watch it. I did and love it! (Scroll down to the bottom to watch it. It’s only 6 minutes long and well worth it.)

I love the word Grit.

Grit is an important factor to being successful in life. Look around you…Why do some people accomplish more than others of equal intelligence?

Besides intelligence it comes down to personality traits. After reading numerous articles, my favorite way to describe these personality traits are: Growth, Resilience, Integrity and Tenacity = GRIT.

Wikipedia defines Grit as;
“…a positive, non-cognitive trait, based on an individual’s passion for a particular long-term goal or endstate coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective. This perseverance of effort promotes the overcoming of obstacles or challenges that lie within a gritty individual’s path to accomplishment and serves as a driving force in achievement realization. Commonly associated concepts within the field of psychology include “perseverance,” “hardiness,” “resilience,” “ambition,” “need for achievement” and conscientiousness.”

People that have Grit, work hard, persevere, and don’t give up. They realize that the path to success is not a straight line. It’s a squiggly line. There will be a lot of bumps along the way as well. People with Grit look at the obstacles in their path as a way to grow and learn. They stay focused on long term goals. They never give up.

Do you have what it takes to be successful?

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