Angela Duckworth is a former teacher and psychologist. She has studied West Point Cadets, teachers, students, spelling B contestants and salespeople. Her main research question is, “Who is successful here and why?” She discovered that success had little to do with a person’s IQ, looks or personality. Her finding is that “grit” is the factor that determines the level of success.

She defines grit as “passion and perseverance for very long-term goals; grit is having stamina; grit is sticking with your future, day in day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years and working hard to make that future a reality; grit is living life like a marathon, not a sprint.”  Please watch her 6-minute video presentation below:

Joe’s Perspective #1: Grit is just one aspect of character: How can you disagree with what she is saying? We can squabble about what you call it, but it doesn’t take an Einstein to understand that those who are more determined, set goals, believe in themselves and prepare better are more likely to be successful. One of my favorite quotes in the world is from J.C. Penny:

“Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a person who will make history. Give me a person without a goal and I will give you a stock clerk.” 

I want to expand on her definition of success. I argue that those who are successful in their careers possess perseverance, courage and personal responsibility; those who are successful with relationships possess empathy, loyalty and honesty; those who are successful in life possess integrity, appreciation and a positive attitude.  I believe that these traits make up a person’s character.  The more of these traits you have as a part of your make up, the stronger your character.  I would not just focus on one trait, I would focus on increasing many traits so you can be successful in many facets of your life.

Joe’s Perspective #2 – You can improve grit:  Ms. Duckworth asks the same question that I ask. Can you improve your grit? Can you improve your character? The answer is yes.  If you invest small amount of time into improving yourself, you will benefit down the road. That’s what this program is all about.  If we didn’t believe you could improve on each of these traits, we wouldn’t be offering this program.

Your Turn: 

(1) How important do you think grit is in your life? How much grit do you have? (take the survey to find out at https://sasupenn.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_06f6QSOS2pZW9qR)