Angela Duckworth: Grit

“Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.” - Angela Duckworth

Championship football coach Nick Saban says every great team has three things: a vision, a plan, and discipline. Discipline is both doing what you are supposed to do when you don’t want to and not doing what you want to do when you know you aren’t supposed to do it.

How do we have the discipline to do the right thing all the time? Grit. 

Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is sticking with your plan and having discipline no matter what tries to get in your way.

Psychologist Angela Duckworth says the number one indicator of success is grit. Grit can be the one characteristic that can help you overcome any obstacle you will have to face.

How do you build grit? It starts with having a growth mindset: the belief that you have the ability to get better at whatever you work at.

Nick Saban was from a small coal town in West Virginia where many people didn’t even think about going to college, and because he believed in himself and surrounded himself with the right people, he became a championship coach and taught hundreds of athletes how to be champions themselves.

He did it by having a vision, a plan, discipline, and the grit to fight through everything in his way. You can be what you want and do what you want, but you will have to go through difficult storms and circumstances to do so.

Reflection Questions: When the journey gets tough, what will you do? Will you quit, or will you have the grit to dig in, learn, grow, get better, and keep going?