So what the is grit?  And how do I get some?

According to Angela Lee Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania: “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.  Grit is having stamina.  Grit is sticking with your future—day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years—and working really hard to make that future a reality.”

It turns out it is not talent, good looks, intelligence, or amassing financial stability that make us successful—it’s grit.

Of course to develop grit you will have to operate as though failure is not a permanent condition—you may have to give up self pity—after all, you have not failed until you quit, until you have left the playing field forever.

I do believe if you are an entrepreneur, you already have grit.  It takes passion, stamina, and working hard, to be an entrepreneur.  Putting your self out there with a business that you created, and which depends on you to make it work, is grit.

One of my clients called me this week and asked  if I would take some time to “visit’ with him.  I knew that he recently suffered a devastating business blow and nine months of hard work had been crushed when his business plan was rejected by an important investor.  I assumed the “visit” was going to be about how he was quitting.  I was ready for the predictable fallout from this disappointment.  I was wrong.

He wanted to tell me that he had a new idea about how to make his business succeed.  And for the next, forty-five minutes we talked about his new idea for the success of his business plan.  He told me that he wasn’t giving up and that it was probably good that he didn’t get the loan.  He thinks his new idea is even better and will make him more successful.  This guy is a working model of grit. You see, he doesn’t believe that failure is permanent.  He has grit!

In the comments below, please tell me what you think about “grit”.  I look forward to hearing from you.