Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

by Angela Duckworth

If I’m ever invited to give a commencement speech, I’ll begin with the advice to foster a passion.

But, in fact, most grit paragons I’ve interviewed told me they spent years exploring several different interests, and the one that eventually came to occupy all of their waking (and some sleeping) thoughts wasn’t recognizably their life’s destiny on first acquaintance.

Chances are, they took quite some time figuring out exactly what they wanted to do with their lives.

Barry thinks that what prevents a lot of young people from developing a serious career interest is unrealistic expectations.

Try telling a twenty-one-year-old that you can’t find a person who is absolutely the best in every way. They don’t listen. They’re holding out for perfection.”

“There are a lot of things where the subtleties and exhilarations come with sticking with it for a while, getting elbow-deep into something.

A lot of things seem uninteresting and superficial until you start doing them and, after a while, you realize that there are so many facets you didn’t know at the start, and you never can fully solve the problem, or fully understand it, or what have you. Well, that requires that you stick with it.”

To the thirty-something on Reddit with a “fleeting interest in everything” and “no career direction,” here’s what science has to say: passion for your work is a little bit of discovery, followed by a lot of development, and then a lifetime of deepening.

Instead, interests are triggered by interactions with the outside world. The process of interest discovery can be messy, serendipitous, and inefficient.

As Jeff Bezos has observed, “One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves.”

Finally, interests thrive when there is a crew of encouraging supporters, including parents, teachers, coaches, and peers.

Is it “a drag” that passions don’t come to us all at once, as epiphanies, without the need to actively develop them? Maybe.

In other words, even the most accomplished of experts start out as unserious beginners.

Encouragement during the early years is crucial because beginners are still figuring out whether they want to commit or cut bait.

“Perhaps the major quality of these teachers was that they made the initial learning very pleasant and rewarding.

A degree of autonomy during the early years is also important.

Longitudinal studies tracking learners confirm that overbearing parents and teachers erode intrinsic motivation.

Sports psychologist Jean Côté finds that shortcutting this stage of relaxed, playful interest, discovery, and development has dire consequences.

This early breadth of experience helps the young athlete figure out which sport fits better than others.

Sampling also provides an opportunity to “cross-train” muscles and skills that will eventually complement more focused training.

Rush a beginner and you’ll bludgeon their budding interest.

her oldest son was blooming into a world-class problem solver,

And in examining one large-scale study after another, I find that the grittier an individual is, the fewer career changes they’re likely to make.

There seems no harm in pursuing a variety of different hobbies, but endlessly dating new occupations, and never settling down with just one, is a more serious matter.

In fact, the word interest comes from the Latin interesse, which means “to differ.” To be interesting is, literally, to be different. We are, by our natures, neophiles.

This links back to the fact that grit paragons don’t just discover something they enjoy and develop that interest—they also learn to deepen it.

Like me, Paul has found that experts often say things like “The more I know, the less I understand.”

“How little we know, how eager to learn.”

For the beginner, novelty is anything that hasn’t been encountered before. For the expert, novelty is nuance.

But the art expert has comparatively enormous understanding. He or she has developed a sensitivity to details that the rest of us can’t even see.

What do I like to think about? Where does my mind wander? What do I really care about? What matters most to me? How do I enjoy spending my time? And, in contrast, what do I find absolutely unbearable?

Begin with the answers you’re surest of and build from there.

Don’t be afraid to guess. Like it or not, there’s a certain amount of trial and error inherent in the process of interest discovery.

Don’t be afraid to erase an answer that isn’t working out. At some point, you may choose to write your top-level goal in indelible ink, but until you know for sure, work in pencil.

After discovery comes development.

Remember that interests must be triggered again and again and again. Find ways to make that happen. And have patience. The development of interests takes time.

Whatever your age, over time your role as a learner will become a more active and informed one.

Over a period of years, your knowledge and expertise will grow, and along with it your confidence and curiosity to know more.

Finally, if you’ve been doing something you like for a few years and still wouldn’t quite call it a passion, see ...

if you want to stay engaged for more than a few years in any endeavor, you’ll need to find a way to enjoy the nuances

“The old in the new is what claims the attention,” said William James. “The old with a slightly new turn.”

In one of my earliest research studies, I found that grittier kids at the National Spelling Bee practiced more than their less gritty competitors. These extra hours of practice, in turn, explained their superior performance in final competition.

Considering all the studies showing that gritty people typically stick with their commitments longer than others, it seemed like the major advantage of grit was, simply, more time on task.

Kaizen is Japanese for resisting the plateau of arrested development. Its literal translation is: “continuous improvement.”

After interviewing dozens and dozens of grit paragons, I can tell you that they all exude kaizen.

Likewise, in her interviews with “mega successful” people, journalist Hester Lacey has noticed that all of them demonstrate a striking desire to excel beyond their already remarkable level of expertise:

“It’s the opposite of being complacent. But it’s a positive state of mind, not a negative one. It’s not looking backward with dissatisfaction. It’s looking forward and wanting to grow.”

My interview research made me wonder whether grit is not just about quantity of time devoted to interests, but also quality of time. Not just more time on task, but also better time on task.

As they get better, their rate of improvement slows.

The more you know about your field, the slighter will be your improvement from one day to the next.