Welcome to this blog on “10 Takeaways from the Book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance!”
My dad read the book “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth. He really enjoyed the book and learned a lot from it. So, I decided to give it a try as well because it seemed interesting and I made it a goal this year to read 1 personal development book a month.
Angela Duckworth defines grit as passion and perserverance for long-term goals. She defines grit as “sticking with things over the very long term until you master them.”
Grit is not just passion and not just perseverance; it’s a combination of both. This combination is important because without perseverance, we are not able to follow through on our goals and without passion, we have nothing to put our focus towards.
The secret to success is not just one factor – it is a result of multiple factors, one of which being grit.
Reading this book has really opened my eyes to what it takes to be successful and live a meaningful and happy life.
As teenagers, we sometimes give up too easily and quit when things get hard. However, this book shows how that is not the right thing to do. Instead, we should get back up and continue working.
Like my dad, I enjoyed reading the book and also learned new lessons that are going to help me on my journey to success, so I wanted to share my top takeaways from “Grit” with you all. Hopefully, it’ll inspire you to read the book as well! So, without further ado, here are 10 takeaways from the book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance”:
1. Grit > Talent
The first lesson I learned in the book is that grit matters more than talent. Many people believe that talent is what leads to success, but that is not true and it underestimates the value of hard work and effort.
In fact, Angela Duckworth mentioned that effort counts twice in achieving our goals, while talent only counts once.
Talent x Effort = Skill
Skill x Effort = Achievment
Angela Duckworth: “Grit”
Sure, talent may account for a small part of your success, but the effort you put into achieving your goals is the main factor.
One could have a great talent at doing a specific task/action, but without putting effort into it, that talent is of no use.
The more you rely on effort and hard work, the more your skills will improve.
2. Doing hard tasks will help you improve
Nowadays, life has become easy. We can just click a button and have food delivered to our homes. We can just pay some money and have someone mow our lawn for us.
While this type of lifestyle is relaxing and puts less stress on us, it also makes us used to not having to do hard work. It makes us less comfortable with having to put extra time and effort into getting something done.
That’s why it is important to do hard things and keep pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone. Doing this will help us be more disciplined to achieve our goals and be able to become the person in life we aspire to be.
Angela Duckworth’s family follows the “Hard Thing Rule.” This rule states that:
- Everyone has to do a hard thing (something that requires deliberate practice)
- You can quit, but not at any time
- You get to pick your hard thing
Try following this rule as well and see how well it works for you!
Remember, you have to keep pushing yourself to become the best version of yourself.
3. Embrace a growth mindset
A growth mindset is extremely important for not only building grit, but also for achieving success.
According to Angela Duckworth, a growth mindset leads to optimistic self-talk, which then leads to perseverance over adversity. It helps you seek out new challenges “that will ultimately make you even stronger.”
With a growth mindset, you know you can and are willing to improve yourself to become the best version of yourself.
So, if you want to adopt a growth mindset, start believing in yourself and also start viewing your challenges as opportunities!
4. Surround yourself with gritty people
One way to increase your grit level and become more gritty is to surround yourself with gritty people and join a gritty culture.
In my other blogs, I mention surrounding yourself with people you want to be like and this relates perfectly.
Doing this will help you be inspired and motivated to act like them.
The culture you live in shapes several aspects of yourself, so if you want it to positively affect you, make sure that your culture is full of people you want to be like, not the opposite.
One example is joining a swim team, which requires you to wake up early and swim multiple laps. One probably wouldn’t do that all by him/herself, but with other people doing the same, it provides motivation.
5. Discover your interests
As teenagers, we may not know exactly what we’re interested in and what we want to do in the future. And, that is totally okay. In fact, Angela Duckworth totally understands this and gives advice as to how we can discover our interests. She recommends asking ourselves these questions:
- What do I like to think about?
- Where does my mind wander?
- What do I really care about?
- What matters most to me?
- How do I enjoy spending my time?
- What do I find absolutel unbearable?
To discover your interests, keep exploring and experiment with new things and see what piques your fascination!
6. Know your purpose
A lot of view our purpose in life as something that benefits only ourselves, not others. In fact, I used to think that until I read Angela Duckworth’s point of view on purpose.
She defines purpose as “the intention to contribute to the well-being of others.”
Your purpose is the deeper meaning behind your goals and aims. Once you find meaning in your work, you will be more driven to accomplish all your goals.
This book taught me that purpose is knowing that what I do matters to more than just myself.
To find your purpose, ask yourself, “How can I contribute to the well-being of others?”
7. Learn how to fail
A lot of people believe that failures are a sign of weakness, something negative. That’s what I used to think, too. However, I learned that failing is part of the journey of success.
There’s no way we can prevent failure in life – it’s going to happen at one point or another.
Failures are what train us for success. By failing, we learn about the mistakes we made and make sure to not repeat them again. So, in a way, there are like stepping stones to success.
Instead of regretting our failures, we should accept them, learn from them, and move on with our lives.
8. Routines are important
I didn’t expect Angela Duckworth to describe routines in her book about grit, but I thought wrong. She mentions how routines are important to boost productivity.
Because sometimes we may feel like procrastinating and not want to work on something, having routines makes it easier to get started. When you have a designated place in your home solely for working and you work at the same time, you will be able to get started without even thinking about it.
Grit involves putting in a lot of effort and hard work, and routines play a big part in helping us get started with all that work and not procrastinate.
So, if you want to increase your grit, be sure to implement a consistent routine into your daily life!
9. Be positive
Being positive is not only great for feeling happy more often, but also for cultivating grit.
Being positive improves your performance for the future and helps you accomplish your goals without worrying about the setback.
By being optimistic, you are willing to learn from your mistakes, grow from your failures, and continue working towards being your best self.
With an optimistic attitude, nothing can hold you back, no matter how many challenges or setbacks you face.
Having optimism is definitely going to increase your grit, so try looking on the bright side more often!
10. Aim to improve yourself every day
Last but not least, I learned that it is important to have a goal to improve yourself every day.
People with grit always want to improve, no matter how good they are already.
Whatever their goal or purpose is, they aspire to get better at it each and every day.
Every day, there are opportunities to better ourselves and grow ourselves – we just have to be on the lookout for them.
It’s you against you, not you against anyone else.
The Takeaway
As a recap, here are my 10 takeaways from Angela Duckworth’s book: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance:
- Grit > Talent
- Doing hard tasks will help you improve
- Embrace a growth mindset
- Surround yourself with gritty people
- Discover your interests
- Know your purpose
- Learn how to fail
- Routines are important
- Be positive
- Aim to improve yourself every day
These are just 10 takeaways from the several lessons explained in the book, so I highly checking it out on Amazon here!
Some of the action items that I’m going to implement from reading this book are:
- Defining my short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals
- Reflect and learn from past obstacles and challenges
- Start deliberately practicing to master a skill
In the book, Angela Duckworth, the author, provides a grit test to see how much grit you have. Take the test on her website here. No matter what your grit score is now, you always have the opportunity to increase it!
Along with that, be sure to watch her TED talk on Youtube!
Last but not least, I also wrote a book review on the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, so check it out here!
I hope this blog inspired you to read the book on Grit and learn about what it takes to be successful, and how you can improve your grit. Thanks for reading and if you’ve read this book as well, I would love to hear your thoughts on it!