Are you a paragon of grit?
Sure, you consider yourself to be fairly tough, but are you really prepared to throw around the word paragon?
Also, what does grit even mean?
In Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth defines grit as… “a combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals.”
This bestseller contributes to a growing body of literature that strays away from the idea that talent is the key factor that leads to outstanding achievement. The emphasis instead is on effort and time.
This empowering notion of passion and perseverance, instead of innate ability and privilege, can be important to martial artists, athletes, business people, educators, parents, and more.
Here are 4 reasons why you should read Grit by Angela Duckworth.
1. Grit is Empowering
Moving away from words like genius and talent, the notion of grit is empowering because it emphasizes effort over anything else.
Showing up again and again over a long period of time is what really matters. Consistency is something you do have control over – and if that’s not empowering, then I don’t know what is.
Perseverance is something else within your control. No one else gets to decide how much effort you put into an endeavour, and nobody gets to choose for how long you stay chipping away at your goals.
Grit equals passion plus perseverance – in a world of uncontrollables, these are two things over which you do actually have control.
Grit is empowering because it espouses an internal locus of control. This means that, rather than attributing successes and blaming failures on the outside world, you instead turn the responsibility inward.
2. Grit is Guiding
Another reason why Grit is such a great read is that the author provides an outline of how grit is grown.
Rather than the romantic scenario of falling in love with a sport or a hobby and following your passion, this book makes the argument that the path of a gritty individual is far less sexy.
To develop grit, Duckworth says the process should look something like this:
- You develop an interest in an activity.
- You engage in practice over an extended period.
- You cultivate a purpose that drives you to continue to engage in the activity.
- You develop hope about your future with the activity.
Hope is the one that tends to get left out. The interest, practice, and purpose lead to passion, while the hope is what allows you to persevere. Put it all together, and you’ve got yourself some grit.
3. Grow Grit For Yourself, Help Develop Grit in Others
Not only can grit be grown from the inside (in other words, you can grow your own grit), but you can also help to develop grit in others.
Two chapters in the book focus specifically on this idea: Parenting for Grit, and A Culture of Grit.
It’s nice to know how much control you have over your own grit, but it’s also important to recognize that we are social creatures, and our environments do play a huge part in who we become (and how we get there).
4. Find Out: Are You a Paragon of Grit?
Are you gritty? Take it one step further – are you a paragon of grit?
What’s a paragon, anyway? (Isn’t that the shape of the cage that UFC fighters beat each other up in?)
Basically, a paragon describes someone who is the absolute best in their field. Think of a paragon of grit as a title reserved for the grittiest individuals among us. (Think of the David Goggins of the world).
One great thing about reading this book is that you get access to a ten-question Grit Scale that allows you to self-assess your level of grittiness. Once you tally your answers, you’ll get a score out of five with a matching percentile so you can see where you rank compared to the general population.
How gritty are you?
One More Reason to Read Grit
Also, here’s a bonus: It won’t seem like you’re reading about study findings and research designs… but you will be.
There are no incredibly long sentences, no technical jargon, and no confusing academic-speak. Duckworth does a great job of getting to the point to tell you why what she’s saying is important.
Whether it’s discussing her own experiences working as a graduate student with her supervisor Martin Seligman (a.k.a. the father of positive psychology), or summarizing experiment procedures and study findings from other researchers, Duckworth does an excellent job of storytelling in her writing.
This makes it easy to consume a large amount of information without getting bored; it would be a tough sell to read that many academic papers one after another.
Overall, the mixture of intriguing and inspiring content, mixed with a terrific delivery method, makes this book a must-read for athletes, martial artists, teachers, parents, and business people.
To be quite honest, I’m not sure who wouldn’t benefit from reading this book.
So, are you a paragon of grit? Get the book, find out, and let me know what you think!
Enjoy reading this article? Follow me on social media for more content like this! Instagram @evanbjj, Twitter @evan_writing.
