Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth.

4/5 rating. 291 pages.

Book #40 of 2021. Read April 30, 2021.

This is a wonderful book about the importance of grit in our lives.

As she says: “[W]hat we accomplish in the marathon of life depends tremendously on our grit – our passion and perseverance for long-term goals.”

Angela has spent much of her life studying how the drive to push through difficulties has a much larger impact on our success than almost any other trait. Obviously there are differences in other heritable aspects of people, but again and again, those who are most successful in almost any field are the ones with the most grit. This skill allows for people to practice more, be more deliberate about their practice, and probably even more importantly, lets people find meaning in what they do. From athletics, to our jobs and our careers, grit helps us strive for excellence and get closer to achieving it.

It is one thing to grind every day for no real feeling of accomplishment or higher meaning, but finding a purpose is easier when you have the drive to continue on a single idea or project and push through to the end. This is why those who are world-class at almost any endeavor are usually the grittiest. “This is true whether the endeavor in question is physical, mental, entrepreneurial, civic, or artistic. When you look at the best of the best across domains, the combination of passion and perseverance sustained over the long term is a common denominator.”

This book is one that I’ve heard about for years. After listening to “No Stupid Questions” (one of my favorite podcasts with Angela and Stephen Dubner), I figured I had to finally go find this book and actually read it. I absolutely loved the book and I would recommend it as a super useful, but very accessible psychological and sociological read!

Quotes:

“For I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and hard work; and I still think this is an eminently important difference.” – Charles Darwin

“In other words, when we can’t easily see how experience and training got someone to a level of excellence that is so cleverly beyond the norm, we default to labeling that person a ‘natural.’”

“In other words, mythologizing natural talent lets us all off the hook. It lets us relax into the status quo.”

“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.” – Will Smith

“Worldwide, only 13 percent of adults call themselves ‘engaged’ at work.”

“[T]alent is common; what you invest to develop that talent is the critical final measure of greatness.”

“Soul mate isn’t a preexisting condition. It’s an earned title. They’re made over time.” – Pamela Druckerman

“Greatness is wonderful but goodness ever so much more so.”

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