Get Your Grit On
It’s during tough times that we can harness our inner strength. Tatyana Leonov investigates how to do it.
In the days before social distancing, I was sitting with the home team at a high-school rugby game. Teenage boys were running themselves ragged, while a huge crowd was cheering from the sideline. One boy, in particular, stood out. He jumped with more vigour and ran with more gusto, and when he fell he was up before I was able to take a sip from my cup of coffee.
His parents told me their son was passionate about football, that he often trained on his own and even put his own drills together. The boy has grit.
According to Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals. She first used the term in 2007, and has since become the pioneer for all things grit. “The term precedes my use, but I introduced the construct into scientific literature,” she says. “Grit is not only working hard at something despite setbacks, but loving what you do. It’s a combination of resilience, ambition and self-control.”
As many of us find ourselves grappling with all that is going on, I start to wonder if we can develop grit, once we grasp what it truly means.
Duckworth rationalises that it helps to understand the context of grit by looking at what grit isn’t. On her website, angeladuckworth.com, she writes: “Grit isn’t talent. Grit isn’t luck. Grit isn’t how intensely, for the moment, you want something.” Grit, as we should understand it, is the ability to get up when you fall down … and to keep getting up every time you fall.
I ask Duckworth if anyone can learn grit, and she says self-awareness is the first step to growth, citing some of her new research which finds that rising grit levels predict increases in mental growth, and vice versa. “We now think there may be a virtuous cycle. For example that trying hard may help you believe you can change, which in turn encourages you to keep trying.”
With millions of us working from home, and spending most of our lives at home for the foreseeable future, it’s an ideal opportunity to cultivate self-awareness to help overcome the many challenges ahead. Here are a few ways to try to build up that grit:
Establish/develop consistent habits, such as setting the alarm for the same time each day, scheduling work blocks and ensuring you take a breather.
Choose aspects of your day that you enjoy most, then make a plan that incorporates those high points.
Find purpose in the things you do. If you now have more time to cook dinner, why not plant your own herbs, or consider revamping your garden?
Work on grit as you would a muscle, adding a little extra “weight” with each “set”. Try staying off social media for an hour one day, two hours the next.
Celebrate small wins, as these are building blocks for your confidence.
View setbacks as part of the growth process, as they will help you reframe how you view stumbling blocks in a general sense. “Even accomplished performers practise and make a lot of mistakes,” Duckworth says.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your task load, break down your targets into more manageable parts.
Write a list of goals and cross them off as you move through them. Identifying and working through challenges helps build resilience.
Look for ways to make your daily tasks more meaningful. Finishing something quickly may not feel as consequential as taking your time and getting the detail right.
Spending so much time at home is also an opportunity to share our learnings with our families. “You’re modelling your behaviour, whether you’re intentional about it or not,” explains Duckworth. “I try to be an example of grit to my own daughters, as well as my students.”
