Contemporary · Practical Wisdom · Book

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Angela Duckworth · 2016

"Grit — sustained passion and perseverance toward long-term goals — predicts achievement across domains (West Point cadets, spelling bee finalists, teachers, salespeople) independent of, and sometimes better than, raw talent, though Duckworth's own later statements scale back the size of the effect from her original framing."

The idea

Duckworth defines grit as the combination of sustained passion (consistent interest in a goal over years, not just an initial spark) and sustained perseverance (continuing effort despite setbacks, plateaus, and failure), and argues it's measurable via her 'Grit Scale' and predicts long-term achievement in ways that talent or IQ measures alone miss.

Why it works

Her research followed high-attrition environments — West Point's Beast Barracks, the National Spelling Bee, novice teachers in difficult schools — and found grit scores predicted who persisted and improved better than measures of talent alone. The core critique is that showing grittier people succeed more isn't the same as showing that teaching grit causes more success, and that focusing on an individual trait like grit can obscure how much of the 'quitting' it's meant to explain is actually a rational response to structural barriers (under-resourced schools, unstable environments) rather than a personal deficit.

The takeaway — recall it first

Check your understanding

How has Duckworth herself since described the size of grit's independent effect on achievement?

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

"People who hold a 'growth mindset' — believing ability can be developed through effort — tend to achieve more and handle setbacks better than those with a 'fixed mindset,' though later large-scale replications found the effect considerably smaller and more context-dependent than the book implies."

Carol Dweck · BookContinue→