Concepts of Grit (With Examples) By: Sohail Merchant

1. Break your big goals down into smaller lower-level goals. Get specific with your plans. Stick to these smaller goals. Keep your head down and grind.

1.1. Example:

1.1.1. Big Goal/Vision: Become a doctor

1.1.2. Smaller goal: Score well on the MCAT (maybe it will get you into an IVY League Medical School).

1.1.3. Preview notes prior to the lectures the night before. Stay disciplined, budget your time Get to class early every day, sit in the front, and be prepared.

2. Be passionate about what you are doing, otherwise it will be hard to stay motivated and gritty during the more mundane periods of pursuing your vision. You are happiest when your work intersects with your personal interests, right? Remember these two things as you pick jobs along the way:

2.1. Creative-minded people don’t fully engage with desk jobs.

2.2. If you are a people person, you won’t like jobs that put you in isolation.

3. Intelligent and deliberate practice will prevent you from getting stuck on autopilot. Break your craft down into its subcomponents and really analyze your next step. Work smarter, not just harder.

3.1. Example:

3.1.1. If you have trouble discerning answer choices on a multiple-choice exam, then you need more practice with recall. Don’t just sit and passively read your notes over and over again. Put them away and force yourself to recall. Practice is the only way to improve. Use stories and examples to help chunk information together. Hopefully, these and other techniques will help solidify any blurry lines so you can distinguish between answer choices.

3.1.2. Successful runners break their craft down into details and monitor metrics that are good indicators of their success in each of these smaller components. Like keeping track of pacing, timing, and respirations.

4. Ingrain your purpose into your mind so that when you work, you are motivated. If things get boring or tough, remember your higher calling and purpose. Who will you be able to help once you reach this goal? How big of an impact will you make?

4.1. Maybe achieving your vision will help people, animals, or even the environment. Dwell on your purpose and higher calling.

4.2. Find role models

4.3. Identify problems that require solutions. You have to believe that you can make a difference.

5. Focus on rewarding hard work and not just talent. Develop a growth mindset in yourself. Spread that growth mindset to your kids or the people closest to you. Reward gritty effort.

5.1. Studies in Duckworth’s book share how important this growth mindset is for developing grit in children. She suggests that instead of praising your kids for being naturally talented at something, praise them for being great learners or hard workers.

5.2. It’s easy for parents to think that bad grades reflect a lack of intelligence as opposed to a lack of effort. This may hurt a child’s self-esteem and push them towards giving up. Remind them that effort (and thus skill) is something they can control, and it leads to results!

6. Devotion and determination are learned. Like anything learned, it requires consistent emphasis and practice. Never stop working to instill these values of grit into all aspects of your life.