Grit
Grit has been recently hailed as the holy grail of success. Psychologist, Angela Duckworth, has pinpointed grit as the X factor for those individuals that have gone on to be world class performers of all stripes: titans of industry, acclaimed novelists, sports superstars, innovative scientists, and original artists.
The equation for grit is passion plus perseverance. It is a very similar notion to a growth mindset that the Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, articulated. According to Dweck’s research, those that succeed aren’t merely talented (the prevailing mythology) but actively work to grow in a particular discipline — regardless of talent. People in fact may be talented but talent alone isn’t enough to be truly successful. Those that are talented but don’t have a growth mindset will settle into a fixed mindset, which inevitably stymies their opportunities for continued growth.
Grit has a lot in common with a growth mindset, specifically the perseverance part. Where it breaks new ground is its emphasis on passion. To have true grit one can’t only have a growth mindset but one must also have passion for what one is persevering in and through — otherwise it’s easy to lose steam. In other words, we will never accomplish anything truly meaningful if we don’t really care about it.
How does one discover passion? It starts by feeding one’s curiosity, which is simply a strong desire to learn or know something. Young children are insatiably curious. They have inquiring minds. However, as students progress throughout the educational system their curiosity, which was once a robust trait, begins to wane in proportion to what they are supposed to know. As Einstein said, “It is a miracle curiosity survives formal education.” Yet education doesn’t need to be an either-or proposition. Either it trains students to be well versed in the designated “canon” or it fosters a personal sense of curiosity and passion. It can do both.
Cultivating curiosity doesn’t have to be a herculean task. In many respects, it’s the small moments that count. Starting with the simple question: what do you find interesting (about a given topic, lesson, discipline or activity), is a good place to start. Continually coming back to this mode of inquiry begins to prime our minds to start paying attention to what piques our interests. Naturally, the more time one spends exploring one’s curiosity, and the deeper we go into it, we begin to discover what was merely a passing interest versus what has staying power. The topics and activities we continually feel pulled toward are likely to blossom into passions over time. For some, passions emerge during schooling. For others, they arises after. But the path to a passionate life travels through the landscape of one’s interests, desires and curiosities. It is my belief that as educators it’s our responsibility to help encourage students to illuminate this landscape.
This article was originally published on Medium.