August 28, 2017: What do you know about Grit and why is grit important? Psychologist Dr. Angela Duckworth writes about grit in her book, Grit, the Power of Passion and Perseverance.” She says that grit is perseverance and passion for long-term goals and is an accurate predictor of who will finish and who will not. Dr. Duckworth studied West Point cadets, public school students, spelling bee participants and those in business sales to predict who would be successful in each of these arenas. Participants completed a grit scale to learn their grit score. The higher the score, the more gritty the person. The gritty people were the ones who successfully completed what they set out to do. There are four common characteristics gritty people have that we can use to increase our own grittiness:
- Gritty people develop their interests and passions;
- Gritty people practice and have a persistent desire to do better;
- Gritty people live life with a purpose and connect with the bigger picture; and
- Gritty people live a life filled with hope and believe they can improve their future and make tomorrow better.
I encourage you to watch Dr. Duckworth’s TED Talk’s video to learn more about the importance of grit.
https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance
– Janet Leatherwood, CNO