Power of Grit: Reassessing Success Beyond Brilliance and Skill

Angela Lee Duckworth’s TED Talk, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,” details her journey from a demanding management consulting job to becoming a math teacher in the New York City public school system. She noticed that IQ was not the only factor determining a student’s teaching success. Duckworth concluded that passion and perseverance were important factors in achieving long-term goals. She refers to this combination as “grit.”

Duckworth and her research team conducted studies at West Point Military Academy, the National Spelling Bee, and Chicago public schools, among other places. Grit emerged as a significant predictor of success in each of these contexts. Duckworth defines grit as having stamina and sticking with a long-term goal for years while working hard to make that goal a reality.

Duckworth discovered that grittier children were more likely to graduate from high school, even when matched on family income, standardised test scores, and feelings of safety at school. This suggests that grit is especially important for children struggling to drop out.

Despite its significance, Duckworth admits that little is known about how to cultivate it. She suggests that Carol Dweck’s growth mindset, developed at Stanford University, is a promising idea for developing grit. This mindset holds that the ability to learn is flexible and can be improved with effort. Because they do not see failure as a permanent condition, children who understand how the brain responds to challenges are more likely to persevere when they fail.

While the growth mindset is a good place to start, Duckworth believes that more work is needed to understand and develop grit. She encourages educators, parents, and researchers to put their best ideas to the test and measure their success, even if it means failing and starting over.

Duckworth’s findings have far-reaching implications for education and beyond. It refutes the notion that success is solely determined by talent or intelligence and emphasises the value of hard work and perseverance. It also implies that grit is valuable in various contexts, ranging from military training to sales jobs.

Duckworth’s research on grit has ignited an important discussion about achieving long-term goals. She gives a significant perspective on achievement beyond standard concepts of brilliance and skill by highlighting the value of hard effort and perseverance. Her work inspires us to reassess our beliefs about achieving our goals and creating grit in ourselves and others.