What makes for success?
Is it talent, intelligence, passion or perseverance? Is success best achieved as a combination of these and other qualities or by individuals who exhibit a unique group of skills?
Is it created naturally by effectively combining a variety of skills, insight and natural talent? Can it effectively be found, duplicated and grown?
Certainly, there are thousands of books, leadership training programs and discussions of needs dedicated to such a quest. For companies today, finding — and keeping — the next best method for success is a challenge.
Angela Duckworth in her book “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” presents not only insights for business success, but for families and individuals.
Through her research, she concluded that no matter the situation, the successful individual will play it out in two ways: determination and directed power of passion and perseverance.
Duckworth calls this combination grit.
“Grit is about holding the same top-shelf goal for a very long time,” Duckworth says. “It’s falling in love and staying in love.”
Her first challenge was how to measure this quality. To solve this need, she created “The Grit Scale.”
This scale measures the extent of the individual’s approach to grit. This is done using two components: passion and perseverance.
Her research uncovered an interesting finding: If you scored high on passion, you will usually score high in perseverance. This consistent pattern makes the statement that passion and perseverance are not the same thing but two parts of a whole.
For example, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll shares the story of the moment of his career when he was asked if he had a life philosophy. One of his friends asked him to consider something more abstract than what job to take.
To find a purpose, Carroll spent months writing and reading to find a “clear, well-defined philosophy that gives you the guidelines and boundaries that keep you on track.”
As he discovered, grit requires that most tasks come to an ultimate goal.
Further, Duckworth explains, “the more unified, aligned and coordinated our goal hierarchies, the better.”
Duckworth suggests a three-step process adapted from the self-made multibillionaire Warren Buffett. First, write a list of 25 career goals and then circle the five highest priority goals. Third, reexamine the 20 goals you didn’t circle. Avoid these 20 — they eat away time and energy.
Much of what she has learned about grit comes from interviewing men and women who appear to epitomize the trait. From these stories, as well as research, she has concluded there are four aspects that all areas of grit have in common:
• Interest: Passion begins when you are enjoying what you are doing
• Practice: The daily rendering of self-improvement
• Purpose: The sense that your work matters both personally, as well as to others
• Hope: The psychological asset that defines every stage of grit
Duckworth stresses that these are not all-or-nothing assets. Discipline, for example, can be learned. A sense of meaning can be defined.
Duckworth singles out “hope” as different from its usual definition. Hope, according to Duckworth’s book, “rests on the expectation that our efforts can improve our future.”
“The main thing is greatness is many, many individual feats, and each of them is doable,” Duckworth says. As you grow your grit from the outside in or from the inside out, your work and life satisfaction are greater.