Grit Summary – The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Author: Angela Duckworth

Synopsis
Grit (2016) is a short book by the CEO of Character Lab and Co‐director of Wharton People Analytics, Angela Duckworth. The book teaches you to find your interests, practice hard, develop a sense of purpose, and nurture hope. It focuses on the interpersonal virtues you need in order to gain success. The Grit summary will focus on teaching you the power of passion, perseverance, and hope.
grit summary
Source: amazon.com

Detailed Summary of Grit

This book will allow you to prioritize your top goals. It shows you how to work in an organized and smart manner to achieve what you desire. It teaches you how to develop Grit.

In the book, Duckworth looks at grit-based success in the toughest schools, in military cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, and in young finalists in the National Spelling Bee.

The word ‘Grit’ means to persevere and to have courage, and that is exactly what the author is advising you so that you can achieve greatness.

People can achieve almost anything if they put their minds to it, but most people are a bit lazy and ignorant. Grit means going the extra mile after you have established your goals. Grit means getting back up, keeping going, and doing it anyway, and it’s usually developed under extreme circumstances and challenges and with passion, interest, practice, and hope.

For you to become the person you want to be, you need to have a clear vision. You cannot fall into the illusion that people are successful only because they have talent. Once you’ve established that success requires constant and deliberate work, you will be ready to develop grit.

Grit Summary Key Points

No one gets success without doing hardship. Your consistency, passion, loyalty, and work dedication help you achieve great accomplishments. After understanding the meaning of the word Grit, you must know that achievements are not only for talented ones but also for those who work passionately.

Let’s explore the most valuable insights from the grit summary.

Talent is not a guarantor of Success

As human beings, we tend to put all the focus on talent. If you are successful, it is because talent talents get you everywhere, and talent is the only thing you need. These are a few of the phrases you might have heard over and over again throughout your life.

In Duckworth’s view, we obsess over talent so much that we ignore the other elements. This also leads us to believe that all successful people have reached where they are due to their natural capabilities. We ignore the number of sleepless nights, hardships, and criticism they had to endure.

The author argues that our potential or talent is only one of the many elements that make us successful, and grit is one of them. So drop the high school mentality that you are not successful because you are not talented. After all, there is so much in your power.

You can also like to read To Sell Is Human Summary to learn the strategies of great selling.

Effort and Consistency

The author claims that effort is twice more important as talent. If you are talented but reluctant to put effort, say goodbye to success. You must put in the effort to convert your natural talents into skills. You need to put effort into practicing the skill over and over again and keep on improving.

The Psychological Assets behind Grit

The first asset interests. Find out what you are passionate about and what it is that you love. You can take help from your childhood memories. What did you spend most of your time on? Did you like sitting alone and painting, or were you drawn toward helping your playmates whenever you played on the ground? Then start your practice. Practice is your step forward.

Focus on getting better and achieving excellence in whatever you are interested in. The third asset is purpose. Know what you are doing. Why you are doing it? How is it beneficial to those around you and the world?

The fourth and last asset is hope. Have hope when you fail. Try and try again. Do not be afraid of going out and finding out your passions. Do not be scared of practicing and failing.

Pick One Main goal and link it with others

Your everyday goals should be linked with your one major goal. Pick your major goal wisely. Let the wins from smaller daily goals motivate you to work for your bigger goal. Doing one thing better and better might be more satisfying than staying an amateur at many different things. That is why you need to stay realistic and work relentlessly.

Grit Quotes

“There are no shortcuts to excellence. Developing real expertise, figuring out really hard problems, it all takes time―longer than most people imagine….you’ve got to apply those skills and produce goods or services that are valuable to people…Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you’re willing to stay loyal to it…it’s doing what you love, but not just falling in love―staying in love.” –Angela Duckworth

“Grit grows as we figure out our life philosophy, learn to dust ourselves off after rejection and disappointment, and learn to tell the difference between low‐level goals that should be abandoned quickly and higher‐level goals that demand more tenacity. The maturation story is that we develop the capacity for long‐term passion and perseverance as we get older.” –Angela Duckworth

Grit Summary Review

 The book is based on a very basic subject that we neglect in our daily life. Talent vs Hard work. How we ignore all the other factors required for talent and how we put children into labels: Talented and talentless. The book teaches you to attain success based on research and empirical data. It gives you hope that effort matters more for your achievements than talents.

The author sets a guideline for greatness with eloquent writing without getting all technical and preachy. The book is bound to change your perspective on hard work, passion, hope, and talent.

To Whom I would Recommend Grit Summary?

  • To teenagers trying to succeed but failing to take the required steps.
  • New teachers do not instill the “talented vs talentless” mindset in their students.
  • To anyone in their thirties who is afraid to fail just once more.

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