Grit

I have recently been reading a book titled “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. In the book he talks about how people who appear to be exceptional achieve this success through a combination of small advantages. You can read the book yourself to find what are all the small things that we don’t notice which combined give people an unassailable edge.

One of the main points made was that IQ is not a good predictor of success. Sure, some level of intelligence is required but it alone is insufficient to attain success. In the book, Malcolm claims that it is a combination of IQ and family background which leads to success. I was initially taken aback by this. There are many people who at least at first glance appear to have attained success from nothing. After all, every advantage must begin from somewhere.

This is where I watched a TED video on Grit. In it the presenter talks about how this one quality appears to be the one quality which is a universal requirement for success. It is defined as:

The tendency to work strenuously towards challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity and plateaus in progress.

Do you think you have Grit?

If you do the sky is the limit!