What is grit? Well, according to Angela Duckworth, grit is the motivational drive that keeps you on a difficult task over a sustained period of time. It is similar to resilience. Think of it like this, grit is about persevering and resilience is about bouncing back.
In this blog I’d like to tell you a story about a client of mine. This client is amazing. We will refer to him as Peter. Peter grew up in country Victoria and has three siblings, all boys. Perhaps his upbringing has fostered traits in him such as grit, perseverance and determination for whatever he sets his mind to he is able to execute successfully. For example, he is financially secure, has wonderful personal relationships with his partner, family and friends, he is successful at work, he has great health and extremely fit. He is also part of various community groups around Melbourne, travels overseas regularly and has a property in the country where he has his down time. He also practices meditation and yoga. Peter is an example of someone that just gets stuff done. He shows perseverance and determination in whatever he sets his mind to. Remember though, it is not possible as human beings to be at our best 100% of the time. Even Peter! During our discussions, Peter has had times in his life where he has experienced stress and anxiety. He told me about a time when he started a new business, divorced and had 3 children under the age of 10 all at the same time. If you were to ask how he handled this difficult time, he will tell you how important relationships were for him as a support mechanism. He said he was able to bounce back from this tough time by relying on close friends and family to help him.
In closing, Peter summarizes how he has developed grit. Try out these tips:
1. Find something that interests you and pursue your interests
2. Think about ways of helping others
3. Surround yourself around others that are gritty and learn from them
4. Learn how to cultivate grit and practice it daily
5. Learn about how to be more optimist and practice, practice, practice
