Grit
“It’s often said that the last mile is the longest. Grit keeps you on the path”
I recently had the pleasure of hearing Angela Duckworth give a keynote at Highspot SPARK and felt so inspired that I couldn’t wait to read her book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. After reading her book, it lit a fire in me. Over the last year, I felt like I was losing the grit I previously had. I noticed myself feeling less motivated and questioning if what I was doing was making me happy. Not only did I notice this change, but those closest to me noticed it as well and it was frustrating for me. Why do I feel this lack of motivation? What am I even passionate about? What is my life purpose? All these thoughts were constantly running through my head and while this book didn’t answer all my questions, it gave me hope that I can regain my grit and find my purpose overtime.
While there are so many great takeaways from this book, I wanted to talk about the 4 areas that can help you build grit from within.
“The four psychological assets of interest, practice, purpose and hope are not You have it or you don’t commodities. You can learn to discover, develop, and deepen your interest. You can acquire the habit of discipline. You can cultivate a sense of purpose and meaning. And you can teach yourself to hop. You can grow your grit from inside out.”
fostering passion
“Interests must be triggered again and again and again. Find ways to make that happen. And have patience. The development of interest takes time. Keep asking questions, and let the answers to those questions lead you to more questions.”
I know I’m not the only one that struggles to clearly define what I’m passionate about. There are things that I know I enjoy like writing, sharing stories, and traveling. There are causes I care about like education, climate change, and mental health. Though, it’s hard for me to take what I’m passionate about and cultivate that into a career or to intertwine those things into my day to day life. Through this book, I’ve learned to enjoy this process of developing my passions and to take notice of when my interests are triggered, so I can better incorporate them into more parts of my life.
Deliberate Practice
“Nobody wants to show you the hours and hours of becoming. They’d rather show the highlight of what they’ve become”
This is something that really rings true with what I think a lot of us experience. With social media, we’re constantly seeing people getting promotions, buying a house, getting married, etc. We need to remember that nothing great comes easily. Even thinking back to some of my proudest accomplishments, hours of practice and preparation led to those successes. When practicing, we need to think about being intentional and think about quality of practice vs. length of time. Being deliberate will up-level our practice and ultimately lead to better results.
FINDING PURPOSE
“Writing this book made me realize that I’m someone who had an inkling about my interests in adolescence, then some clarity about purpose in my twenties, and finally, in my thirties, the experience and expertise to say that my top-level, life organizing goal is, and will be until my last breath: Use psychological science to help kids thrive”
When I read Angela’s story of working in Wall Street to becoming a teacher and where she is today, it reminded me to be patient. Defining your purpose does not happen overnight and for many, it’s a process that can take you into your 20s and 30s to discover. We need to remind ourselves that it’s normal and okay to feel a little lost. Isn’t that what our 20s are for? To experiment and refine what drives us and what we want to prioritize in life. Overtime, we will be able to define our life purpose and work towards it and I find the journey is really exciting.
HAVING HOPE
“[Grit] rests on the expectation that our own efforts can improve the future. I have a feeling tomorrow will be better is different from I resolve to make tomorrow better. The hope that gritty people have has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with getting up again”
Reading this book reminded me that we write our own stories. Yes, timing and luck play a role in opportunities that may come our way, but through it all, our actions will shape the life we create for ourselves. We are ever evolving and we are responsible for creating the world we want to live in. We can’t let setbacks shut us down, but instead, we should take it as an opportunity to learn and come back stronger. With grit, we can each leave our mark on this world. I know this may sound cheesy, but I truly believe that each one of us has the power to leave a positive impact in this world. All it takes is a bit of grit and a support system that encourages us to keep pushing towards our goals.
If you pick up this book, let me know your thoughts about it in the comments! I’d also love to hear about what you’re passionate about and what your life purpose is!
xo Kerstin