What matters, in the long run, is sticking with things and working daily to get better at them, says the author Angela Duckworth. She describes grit as long-term success, a marathon. Grit is not IQ, talent, good looks, or skill. She shares the research that brought her to that definition; she uses many interesting examples, including the national spelling bee and West Point cadets, and more.
Using a grit assessment in the book, are ten questions you can answer to assess your grit. She says that people with grit are reliant, hardworking, knows their direction, and have determination.
Grit can be taught using the assumption that a growth mindset is required to grow grit, and she goes on for a chapter for each of the areas to develop grit: interest, practice, purpose, and hope.
It’s research, engaging, and personal. She weaves her story of being told she wasn’t the smartest and raising children into the book. It brings in lots of USA pop culture and builds on others’ work. It crosses that genre that some might call self-help or pop-psych. It was based on her research and propelled to fame because of her TED talk, that as of this review, had 29 million views. So, there is some academic backlash to her research; you can find it by googling NPR and Angela Duckworth.
Overall, it is not surprising but satisfying to see it spelled out this way. For me, there is too much focus on parenting and grit. It gave me a framework for building long-term success that I have shared in my book group and applied personally.
Link to buy: https://amzn.to/3kdlblq
