True Grit

One of the hottest researchers on the planet, right now, is a lady by the name of Angela Duckworth. If you don't know who Ms. Duckworth is don't fret, I'll give you the update. Angela is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn as it's called. Along with people like Martin Seligman and Aaron Beck, Penn is one of the top psychology schools in the world.

The character trait, or attribute, that Duckworth is known for is something called, “Grit.” Why is it called grit? Because that's what she named it! Why did she name it grit? She took the name from the movie True Grit. Duckworth defines grit as, “Passion and perseverance for long-term goals.” And what psychologists are finding is that grit is more important than talent when it comes to high achievement.

A lot of people think that talent trumps all. They think that the key to success and achievement is your native talents. The quintessential example being Tiger Woods. Many people thought Woods was the world's best golfer because of an inane talent which he possesses. But, if you know Tiger's story, you know this isn't true. The fact is, there was nobody who spent more time at the driving range. Woods practiced longer and harder than anyone else. He had grit. Psychologist Christine Carter points out, “Tiger Woods had been working on his golf game for 15 years when he became the youngest-ever winner of the US Amateur Championship.” Perhaps you've seen some of the photos of Woods as a youngster.

The person who seems to be Duckworth's favorite example of grit is the actor Will Smith. Angela is fond of the following quote from Mr. Smith, “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things — you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple…”

In physics we know that Distance = Rate x Time. To this, Duckworth saw a correlation and thought that distance was an apt metaphor for achievement. So, Angela has come up with a sister equation of her own. It is, Achievement = Skill x Effort. And Duckworth's mentor, Martin Seligman, says that if you truly understand Duckworth's equation, you'll see that ALL the leverage is in the effort. Because, not only does effort multiply any given skill, it simultaneously increases our skill level. That is to say, we get better through practice, which is certainly a form of effort.

This is all, very much, related to the concept of “Deliberate Practice.” A concept developed by Anders Ericsson at Florida State University. Ericsson discovered something he called the 10-Year Rule, which has subsequently become known as the 10,000 hour rule (Malcolm Gladwell talks about it in his book Outliers). Ericsson found that elite performers, in any field, have spent, on average, about 10 years developing their craft. More specifically, it was 10 years of deliberate practice that had taken them to the top.

Now, 10 years, or 10,000 hours sure seems like a long time, and it is. But there's no way around it. Nevertheless, you don't need to stress-out. What Professor Ericsson is talking about is Elite performance. You know, like Mozart, or Martha Graham. People that are the best in the world. And, in order to arrive at that destination, a person does need to persevere like crazy. Indeed, they need grit.

But you might not be interested in being the best in the world. You might be happy to "settle" for an above-average level of skill. Very well. The road map remains the same. The key is still deliberate practice. Perhaps "only" three year of practice instead of ten. But the thing is this. Deliberate practice is quite difficult. It isn't simply going through the motions.It's work. It's hard work. Because focused and disciplined practice is require, achieving your big goals requires grit more than anything else.

Yes, grit is very important. So naturally, the next question should probably be, how can we become more gritty? The short answer is, we don't know. But it's a problem that Duckworth is working on. As of now, the best idea Angela has heard, for building grit, is something called the Growth Mindset. The Growth Mindset was developed by Carol Dweck and it's something I wrote about in this post: Mindset

Going back to Duckworth's formula of Achievement = Skill x Effort, we know that it's largely about the effort. Duckworth says we can replace the word "effort" with “time on task.” Meaning, achievement is largely about how much time you're willing to devote to a task. And it isn't just the time we spend, but it's the amount of time we spend in deliberate practice. Because it's so difficult, most people can only get through a few hours of deliberate practice per day. Then we need to rest and recover. Which is why it's better to think of the 10-Year Rule rather than the 10,000 Hour Rule. This most certainly is not an invitation to become a work-a-holic and cram in those 10K hours. You need time to rest. So really, it's about consistent effort over time. As plain and mundane as that may sound, it's the real key to high achievement.

If you read my report on Carol Dweck's book you know that you can either "get-better" or "be-good." The idea of all this work (Duckworth + Ericsson + Dweck) should leave you with one prescription. Put as much time-on-task as possible with your focus on getting-better NOT on being-good. Then rest and do it all over again. If that sounds like too much work, you're always welcome to settle for mediocrity.