My Notes posts are the key ideas I jot down about books after I read them. They capture what caught my attention and I want to remember. I post them here to share them with you.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
by Angela Duckworth
Notes from Sept 19, 2016
- Consistent theme in success:
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“In sum, no matter what domain, the highly successful has a kind of ferocious determination that played out in two ways,. First, these exemplars were unusually resilient and hardworking. Second, they knew in a very, very deep way what it was they wanted. They not only had determination, they had direction.” p8
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- Specific domains need other things –
- salespeople->prior experience,
- students->supportive teacher,
- Green Berets->physical fitness
- BUT grit still mattered for all of them
- Talent x effort = skill
- skill x effort = achievement or talent x effort x effort = achievement
- Take the Grit Scale Test.
- From Stanford psychologist Catharine Cox 1926 study of high achievers: key difference of successful “geniuses”
- Degree to which one works with distant objects in view (as opposed to living from hand to mouth). Active preparation for later life. Working toward a definite goal.
- Tendency not to abandon takes from mere changeability. Not seeking something fresh because of novelty. Not “looking for a change.”
- Degree of strength of will or perseverance. Quiet determination to stick to a course once decided upon.
- Tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles. Perseverance, tenacity, doggedness.
- 1 and 2 are passion, 3 and 4 are perseverance
- Genes predict 37% of perseverance and 20% of passion
- Experience matters, we appear to get more grit over time, starts on Grit Scale at 3.4 in our 20’s and ends up at 3.9 in our 60’s
- Interest
- Before hard work comes play
- Early Years – relaxed, playful interest, discovery, development
- See work from Benjamin Bloom
- Paul Silvia
- For the beginner, novelty is anything that hasn’t been encountered before
- For the expert, novelty is nuance
- Angela’s suggestions
- What do I like to think about?
- Where does my mind wander?
- What do I really care about?
- What matters to me most?
- How do I enjoy spending my time?
- What do I find absolutely unbearable?
- Practice
- World class people practice more
- But Anders Ericsson research shows they practice in a deliberate way:
- They find a specific stretch goal
- Give goal undivided attention and great effort to achieve
- ASAP, they gather feedback on how they did.
- Repeat, repeat, repeat with reflection and refinement
- Tends to requite more effort and is less enjoyable
- Connecting to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow…
- Gritty people do more deliberate practice and experience more flow
- Purpose
- Gritty people are dramatically more motivated by meaningful, other-centered work
- The three bricklayers story
- Yale professor Amy Wrzesniewski finds that people naturally split evenly into the three groups
- Recommends “thinking about how, in small but meaningful ways, you can change your current work to enhance its connection to your core value.”
- Teenagers who connect self and others to their future calling are more motivated
- Hope
- “Fall seven, rise eight.” -Japanese saying
- Optimists can find reasons something didn’t work
- Pessimists blame themselves, the conditions are permanent (learned helplessness)
- Sales – Optimists outsell pessimists 20-40%
- Carol Dweck – Fixed vs. Growth Mindset (people can change)
- Growth mindset people are grittier than fixed mindset.
- Growth Mindset -> Optimistic Self-Talk -> Perseverance Over Adversity
- Parenting for Grit
- Successful (“Wise”) parenting involves being supportive AND demanding
- Consistent activity outside of class is predictive of grit.
- This involves multiple years and receiving achievement for success
- Her family has The Hard Thing Rule
- Everyone has to do a hard thing
- You can quit (when the season is over)
- You can pick your hard thing
- People are more satisfied with life when they have higher grit.