5 Characteristics Of Grit -- How Many Do

You Have?

Margaret M. Perlis , CONTRIBUTOR
I write about Excellence in practice, people, places & product.  Opinions expressed by Forbes
Contributors are their own.

 Recently some close friends visited, both of whom have worked in education with
adolescents for over 40 years. We were talking about students in general and when I
asked what has changed with regards to the character of kids, in unison they said "grit”
– or more specifically, lack thereof. There seems to be growing concern among
teachers that kids these days are growing soft.

When I took a deeper dive, I found that what my friends have been observing in-the-
field, researchers have been measuring in the lab. The role grit plays in success has
become a topic du jour, spearheaded by Angela Duckworth, who was catapulted to the
forefront of the field after delivering a TED talk which has since been viewed well over a 
million times. Additionally, in the last month, Duckworth received a $650,000 MacArthur
fellowship, otherwise known as the “Genius Grant,” to continue her work. And, while
Duckworth has made tremendous leaps in the field, she stands on the shoulders of
giants including William James, K.E Ericson, and Aristotle, who believed tenacity was
one of the most valued virtues.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, grit in the context of behavior is defined

as “firmness of character; indomitable spirit.” Duckworth, based on her studies, tweaked
this definition to be “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” While I recognize
that she is the expert, I questioned her modification…in particular the “long-term goals”
part. Some of the grittiest people I’ve known lack the luxury to consider the big picture
and instead must react to immediate needs. This doesn’t diminish the value of their
fortitude, but rather underscores that grit perhaps is more about attitude than an end
game.

But Duckworth’s research is conducted in the context of exceptional performance and

success in the traditional sense, so requires it be measured by test scores, degrees,
and medals over an extended period of time. Specifically, she explores this question,
talent and intelligence/ IQ being equal: why do some individuals accomplish more than
others?  It is that distinction which allows her the liberty to evolve the definition, but
underscores the importance of defining her context.

The characteristics of grit outlined below include Duckworth’s findings as well as some
that defy measurement. Duckworth herself is the first to say that the essence of grit
remains elusive. It has hundreds of correlates, with nuances and anomalies, and your
level depends on the expression of their interaction at any given point. Sometimes it is
stronger, sometimes weaker, but the constancy of your tenacity is based on the degree
to which you can access, ignite, and control it. So here are a few of the more salient
characteristics to see how you measure up.

Courage

While courage is hard to measure, it is directly proportional to your level of grit. More
specifically, your ability to manage fear of failure is imperative and a predicator of
success. The supremely gritty are not afraid to tank, but rather embrace it as part of a
process. They understand that there are valuable lessons in defeat and that the
vulnerability of perseverance is requisite for high achievement. Teddy Roosevelt, a
Grand Sire of Grit, spoke about the importance of overcoming fear and managing
vulnerability in an address he made at the Sorbonne in 1907. He stated:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who
is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strived
valiantly; who errs, who comes again and again, because there is no effort without error
and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great
enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the
best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly.

Fear of failure, or atychiphobia as the medical-set calls it, can be a debilitating disorder,
and is characterized by an unhealthy aversion to risk (or a strong resistance to
embracing vulnerability). Some symptoms include anxiety, mental blocks, and
perfectionism and scientists ascribe it to genetics, brain chemistry, and life experiences.
However, don’t be alarmed…the problem is not insurmountable. On Amazon, a “fear of
failure” search yields 28,879 results. And while there are millions of different
manifestations and degrees of the affliction, a baseline antidote starts with listening to
the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: “do something that scares you everyday.” As I noted in
a recent post, courage is like a muscle; it has to be exercised daily. If you do, it will
grow; ignored, it will atrophy.  Courage helps fuel grit; the two are symbiotic, feeding into
and off of each other…and you need to manage each and how they are functioning
together.

As a side note, some educators believe that the current trend of coddling our youth, by
removing competition in sports for example, is preventing some kids from actually
learning how to fail and to embrace it as an inevitable part of life. In our effort to protect
our kids from disappointment are we inadvertently harming them? Coddling and
cultivating courage may indeed turn out to be irreconcilable bedfellows. As with
everything, perhaps the answer lies in the balance…more to come.

Conscientiousness: Achievement Oriented vs. Dependable

As you probably know, it is generally agreed that there are five core character traits
from which all human personalities stem called… get this…The Big Five. They are:
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neurotic. Each exists
on a continuum with its opposite on the other end, and our personality is the expression
of the dynamic interaction of each and all at any given time. One minute you may feel
more agreeable, the next more neurotic, but fortunately, day-to-day, they collectively
remain fairly stable for most of us.

According to Duckworth, of the five personality traits, conscientiousness is the most

closely associated with grit. However, it seems that there are two types, and how
successful you will be depends on what type you are.  Conscientiousness in this context
means, careful and painstaking; meticulous. But in a 1992 study, the educator L.M.
Hough found the definition to be far more nuanced when applied to tenacity. Hough’s
study distinguished achievement from the dependability aspects of conscientiousness.

The achievement-oriented individual is one who works tirelessly, tries to do a good job,
and completes the task at hand, whereas the dependable person is more notably self-
controlled and conventional. Not surprisingly, Hough discovered that achievement
orientated traits predicted job proficiency and educational success far better than
dependability. So a self-controlled person who may never step out of line may fail to
reach the same heights as their more mercurial friends.  In other words, in the context of
conscientious, grit, and success, it is important to commit to go for the gold rather than
just show up for practice.  Or, to put it less delicately, it’s better to be a racehorse than
an ass.

Long-Term Goals and Endurance: Follow Through

As I wrote in the introduction, I had some reservations about accepting the difference
between Webster’s definition of grit and Duckworth’s interpretation. Both have to do with
perseverance, but the latter exists in the arena of extraordinary success and therefore
requires a long-term time commitment. Well, since you are Forbes readers and destined
for the pantheon of extraordinary success, it is important to concede that for you…long-
term goals play an important role. Duckworth writes:

“… achievement is the product of talent and effort, the latter a function of the intensity,
direction, and duration of one’s exertions towards a long-term goal.”

Malcolm Gladwell agrees. In his 2007 best selling book Outliers, he examines the
seminal conditions required for optimal success. We’re talking about the best of the
best… Beatles, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs. How did they build such impossibly powerful
spheres of influence? Unfortunately, some of Gladwell’ s findings point to dumb luck.
Still, the area where Gladwell and Duckworth intersect (and what we can actually
control), is on the importance of goals and lots, and lots and lots of practice…10,000
hours to be precise.
Turns out the baseline time commitment required to become a contender, even if
predisposed with seemingly prodigious talent, is at least 20 hours a week over 10 years.
Gladwell’s 10,000 hours theory and Duckworth's findings align to the hour. However,
one of the distinctions between someone who succeeds and someone who is just
spending a lot of time doing something is this: practice must have purpose. That’s
where long-term goals come in. They provide the context and framework in which to find
the meaning and value of your long-term efforts, which helps cultivate drive,
sustainability, passion, courage, stamina…grit.

Resilience: Optimism, Confidence, and Creativity

Of course, on your long haul to greatness you’re going to stumble, and you will need to
get back up on the proverbial horse. But what is it that gives you the strength to get up,
wipe the dust off, and remount? Futurist and author Andrew Zolli says it’s resilience. I’d
have to agree with that one.

In Zolli’s book, Resilience, Why Things Bounce Back, he defines resilience as “the

ability of people, communities, and systems to maintain their core purpose and integrity
among unforeseen shocks and surprises.”

For Zolli, resilience is a dynamic combination of optimism, creativity, and confidence,

which together empower one to reappraise situations and regulate emotion – a behavior
many social scientists refer to as “hardiness” or “grit.” Zolli takes it even further and
explains that “hardiness” is comprised of three tenents: “ (1) the belief one can find
meaningful purpose in life, (2) the belief that one can influence one’s surroundings and
the outcome of events, and (3) the belief that positive and negative experiences will
lead to learning and growth.”

Wait, what? Seems that there is a lot going on here, but this is my take on the situation
in an elemental equation. Optimism + Confidence + Creativity = Resilience = Hardiness
=(+/- )Grit. So, while a key component of grit is resilience, resilience is the powering
mechanism that draws your head up, moves you forward, and helps you persevere
despite whatever obstacles you face along the way.  In other words, gritty people
believe, “everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, it is not the end.”

Excellence vs. Perfection

In general, gritty people don’t seek perfection, but instead strive for excellence. It may
seem that these two have only subtle semantic distinctions; but in fact they are quite at
odds. Perfection is excellence’s somewhat pernicious cousin. It is pedantic, binary,
unforgiving and inflexible. Certainly there are times when “perfection” is necessary to
establish standards, like in performance athletics such as diving and gymnastics. But in
general, perfection is someone else’s perception of an ideal, and pursuing it is like
chasing a hallucination. Anxiety, low self-esteem, obsessive compulsive disorder,
substance abuse, and clinical depression are only a few of the conditions ascribed to
“perfectionism.” To be clear, those are ominous barriers to success.
Excellence is an attitude, not an endgame. The word excellence is derived from the
Greek word Arête which is bound with the notion of fulfillment of purpose or function and
is closely associated with virtue. It is far more forgiving, allowing and embracing failure
and vulnerability on the ongoing quest for improvement. It allows for disappointment,
and  prioritizes progress over perfection. Like excellence, grit is an attitude about, to
paraphrase Tennyson…seeking, striving, finding, and never yielding.

Are there any others you'd add? By definition, passion is critical, but what role do you
think it plays? I am sure that Duckworth will continue to explore and share the
distinctions in the years to come, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.