#210: Got Grit?

Grit Defined

Angela Duckworth, a prominent psychologist, defines grit as the combination of perseverance and passion for achieving challenging long-term goals. Her interest in grit began during her teaching career, where she noticed varying levels of student success despite similar academic challenges. This observation led her to explore why some students persist while others do not, ultimately leading to her research on grit.

I define grit as both perseverance and passion for especially challenging long term goals.

--- Angela Duckworth

Duckworth's work builds on earlier studies, including those by the US Army, which sought to understand why some soldiers excelled at West Point while others, despite apparent talent, did not 1.

   

Grit Scale

The development of the grit scale was a breakthrough in measuring this trait, particularly in predicting success at West Point's rigorous training program. Duckworth's grit scale, a questionnaire assessing passion and perseverance, proved to be a strong predictor of cadet success during the challenging "beast barracks" training. Despite rigorous admissions processes, many cadets dropped out, highlighting the importance of grit over traditional metrics.

The higher your grit score, the more likely you are to make it through beast.

--- Angela Duckworth

This scale demonstrated that while traditional scores predicted long-term success, grit was crucial for enduring initial challenges 2.