Grit by Angela Duckworth
I really enjoyed this book and look forward to applying it’s themes throughout my life. The biggest message throughout the book is that grit is a measure of effort above talent. Someone who measures high on the grit scale likely works twice as hard as someone who tries to survive on talent alone. In many circumstances, people with high level of grit will be more successful than those relying solely on talent. The author spent time trying to compare grit among high achievers and compared that to intelligence, innate ability, or physical anomalies. Quite often, people who are high achievers put in twice the effort to achieve and maintain their success.
People who are high on the grit scale often do more deliberate practice, fail more often, learn from the failures to correct issues. One of the more important factors is effective high level goal setting and consistently striving to achieve one’s top-level goal. The key components of being successful include someone’s interest, how often and hard they practice, believing their goal is their purpose, and having hope they can achieve what they’re attempting to do. As important as having a goal is having mentors along the way that help one grow. Whether that’s teachers, coaches, bosses, family members or peers to help guide and support one’s vision.
My favorite part going through the book was the idea of high level and low-level goal setting and ultimately doing this in a pyramid like structure. The high-level goal is what you hope are striving to achieve throughout your life, something that gives your life direction. The author’s concept of high-level goals being written in pen and low-level goals being written in pencil really resonated with me. The low-level goals should be plentiful and are the likely steps needed to be taken to reach the high-level goal. One should be prepared to fail at the low level goals or abandon them all together through the personal growth process. Continuing to find new ways to work towards the main high-level goal as one’s life evolves is key to being able to achieve the desired end result.
I believe that this book directly correlates to the book Endurance and what they went through. The determination to survive was their high-level goal. Every step it took to get through the extreme environment would be considered low-level goals to achieve the ultimate goal of survival. Continually working, and at times failing in their low-level goals helped them learn what would keep them alive long enough to survive. Their entire experience is truly the definition of persistence and grit.
I look forward to applying this to my everyday life in terms of setting important high-level goals that go beyond what’s right in front of me. For example, one of my main high-level goals is to become a nurse. I’m currently on my path to do so, and one of the low levels goals is completing this class. Another would be completing the Nursing Program through Stockton starting in the spring. There are several steps along the way that I need to accomplish to achieve my high-level goal that I’m writing in pen, and make sure that no short-term failures on lower level goal discourage me from achieving my high level goal.
https://angeladuckworth.com/research/ - Grit Scale
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