Grit

up:: Books

The Power of Passion and Perseverance

• Type:nonfiction
• Author:: Angela Duckworth
• Year published:: 2016

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Summary/Reflection

A compelling argument how sucess comes from sticking with things, even when they’re hard. Angela Duckworth is an empathetic and lively author and narrator. The book lacked the aggressive self-promoting tone that many self-help books have.

That doesn’t mean that Angela and her research doesn’t pose a strong challenge to the reader. The people you meet and the arguments she presents force self-examination in regards to grittiness. I sure feel like there is space to grow. The books was a surprisingly comprehensive and nuanced treatment. I expected a “stiffen your neck and push through things” message but she also talked about the importance of hope, optimism and peers.

Notes

Talent _ effort = skill. Skill _ effort = achievement.

• Grit = Passion + Perseverance
• Grit is sticking with one thing to become really good at it

The four building blocks of Grit

• Interest: Captivated by an endeavour
• Practice: Daily discipline to do better today than yesterday
• Purpose: Meaningful work breeds passion
• Hope: Defines every stage. Keep going, even in doubts

Interest

• When what we do lines up with what we love doing, we are happier and better at it
• ”Follow your passion” is actually good advice (Jeff Bezos says so too)
• Passion comes not in an epiphany, but by cultivation and deepening over time

Practice

• Desire to do better today than yesterday
• 10.000h rule mentioned: Effective learning comes from deliberate practice
• Deliberate practice takes extreme effort and focus
  • It takes strain and feedback
• Flow and deliberate practice go hand in hand but aren’t the same. Deliberate practice is what you do (practice), flow is what you feel (performance)
• Practice shame-free. Mistakes are to be embraced.
• Setting stretch goals: Improve weaknesses.

Purpose

• ”The intention of contributing to the lives of others”

Optimism

• When being faced with setbacks, optimism is to see them as temporary and specific
• Pessimism is to see them as permanent and pervasive ⇒ Giving up on challenges or not engaging them at all
• Growth mindset leads to optimistic self-talk leads to perseverance over adversity
• IQ scores usually change over life

Growing Grit from the outside in

Parenting

• In Parenting, demanding and loving aren’t opposites

• Demanding and supportive parents are classified as psicolocially wise,

• non-demanding but supportive as x,

• demanding and not-supportive as authoritarian,

• non-demanding and unsupportive as y.

• experiment: graded student essays were sorted into two piles. The experimental group had a note that read: “I’m giving you these comments because I have every high expectations and I know that you can reach them.”

• The control read, “I’m giving you these comments so that you’ll have feedback on your paper.”

• Students were then given the option of revising their essays. 80% of the students with the wise feedback turned in a revised paper, compared to 40% in the control group.

• Extracurricular activities are key. It’s one of the few activities that are fun and challenging at the same time.

• Sticking with those activities is important too. Follow-up is the biggest factor in determining sucess later in life.

The Hard Thing Rule

1. Everyone in the family does a hard thing that requires daily deliberate practice.
2. You can quit the thing but only at a natural stopping point. When the semester is over, the fee is up,…
3. You get to pick your hard thing. No one picks it for you.
4. In high school: Commit to a hard thing, this one or a new one, for two years.

A culture of Grit

• An easy way to be more gritty is by joining a high-grit team.