Episode 50: The Power of Grit (and YES! You can learn it!)

What the heck is grit, anyway?

The first time I heard the word, I swear I envisioned grits – you know, the boiled cornmeal porridge people eat for breakfast. Obviously, one has nothing to do with the other, but come on. They do sound alike …

I mean, it’s a weird word, isn’t it? GRIT. G.R.I.T.

Huh. Look at that. It’s a four-letter word. LOL

If you were to hear that someone is “gritty” what would you think of? Are they dripping with sweat and clenching their teeth?

Do they stink from all that hard work? Are they friendly or do they growl at you if you come too close?

It’s funny to think about … but today, I hope to turn that around a little bit.

I’ve never really thought of myself as particularly gritty (though that changed a bit this year), but the more I learn about it, the more I want to BE a gritty person.

What if I were to tell you that grit is actually an essential skill for you to develop if you wanted to be truly happy.

In Paul Tough’s book, “How Children Succeed,” he lists grit as one of the 7 traits of successful people. And I don’t think it’s an accident that he consistently lists grit as the first trait.

(Oh, and for what it’s worth, I wish he’d name that book “How People Succeed” because it’s certainly not just about children. I highly recommend you read it.)

And you’ve probably heard of Angela Duckworth’s book, simply named “Grit.” I’d put that on your list of good reads before this podcast is over.

Duckworth came up with the Grit Scale, in which you can rate from 1 to 5. Simple statements like “Setbacks don’t discourage me” or “I finish whatever I begin” or New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones” as being “very much like me” or “not like me at all”.

The crazy thing? When she created the Grit Scale and actually used it in the world, they found that someone’s possession of grit was a greater predictor of success than IQ, passion, or even access to resources.

I’m so excited to be bringing you this episode towards the end of 2020 because I think we can all agree that we’ve upped our grit quotient.

I mean, how many things did you handle this year that you would’ve never believed you’d have to deal with?

Chances are, you fought with your inner rebel during the quarantine, and you won. You stuck it out longer than you thought you could.

You probably did things you weren’t good at at first, but now you do them all the time.

So before you cross off this year as “done” – before you shrug off your many accomplishments, let’s talk about just how much grit you have, and how you can learn to have even more.

After all, if it’s the number one indicator of your success. It’s definitely worth your while to learn all about it.

So pop in those ear phones and let’s get to it!

Don’t miss last week’s Episode 49: The One Thing You Need to Scale Your Business