Last updated April 10, 2022

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PART I -  WHAT GRIT IS AND WHY IT MATTERS

CHAPTER 1: SHOWING UP

• People with grit have determination and direction

• To persevere in excruciating situations like army training, one must have grit

ex) Studying more and competing in more spelling bees to become better

• Our potential is one thing; what we do with it is another

CHAPTER 2: DISTRACTED BY TALENT

• Aptitude does not guarantee achievement, as talent can distract

• When comparing a natural and a person of grit, people tend to believe the natural will succeed more

• The natural bias explains how we are prejudiced against those who have achieved what they have because they worked for it

• Talent is good, but tests to measure talent suck

CHAPTER 3: EFFORT COUNTS TWICE

• When we see something perfect or impressive, we may attribute it to magic or talent

• “People who think actively in one direction, who employ everything as material, who observe their inner life and others, who perceive everywhere models and incentives, who never tire of combining together the means available to them”

• Talent x effort = skill, and skill x effort = achievement

• Talent is how quickly your skills improve when you invest effort

• Effort matters in the equations twice, and makes skill productive

CHAPTER 4: HOW GRITTY ARE YOU?

• Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you’re willing to stay loyal to it

• I got a 3.5 on the grit test when comparing my current self to my values

• Passion acts as a compass for our purpose in life

• Positive fantasizing has short-term payoffs but long-term costs, as we may be disappointed in the future if we don’t reach that goal

• The more unified our goals are, the better

• Warren Buffet’s advice for prioritizing is:

1. Write down 25 career goals

2. Circle the five most important goals

3. You avoid the other 20 at all costs

• The author recommends adding an extra step to consider how these goals serve a common purpose; the more focused they are, the more passionate you are

• It’s okay to give up on lower-level goals if you spend more time focusing on other more important goals or creating new ones

• Two indicators could easily be rephrased as passion items for the Grit Scale.

• Degree to which he works with distant objects in view (as opposed to living from hand to mouth). Active preparation for later life. Working toward a definite goal.

• Tendency not to abandon tasks from mere changeability. Not seeking something fresh because of novelty. Not “looking for a change.”

• And the other two could easily be rewritten as perseverance items for the Grit Scale.

• Degree of strength of will or perseverance. Quiet determination to stick to a course once decided upon.

• Tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles. Perseverance, tenacity, doggedness.

CHAPTER 5: GRIT GROWS

• Every human trait is influenced by both genes and experience, and all are polygenic, meaning that traits are influenced by more than just one gene

• Society has become better at abstract reasoning

• We develop the capacity for long-term passion and perseverance as we get older

• People tend to become conscientious, confident, caring, and calm with life experience

• Life experiences teach us things we never knew before and introduce us into new circumstances

• Our grit is not fixed

• Grit-enhancers include:

• Interest

• Practice

• Purpose

• Hope

PART II: GROWING GRIT FROM THE INSIDE OUT

CHAPTER 6: INTEREST

• Doing things that interest you result in higher satisfaction

• High expectations stop people from trying new things (relationships, careers)

• Passion stems from a hint of discovery, then a lot of development, then a lifetime of deepening

• Interests are triggered by interactions with the outside world

• When we develop an interest in something, we tend to overlook it

• For a passion to manifest, it needs to retrigger our attention

• People are important in developing our interests

• Overbearing influences harm our intrinsic motivation

• It’s important to not rush our developing interests

• To find our interest, we can build off of what we already do and know and try new things related to the things we are already interested in

CHAPTER 7: PRACTICE

• It takes roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to get good at something

• Deliberate practice means to work on areas for improvement

• After the mastery of a stretch goal, we can work towards a new goal

• World-class dancers can only do 3-5 hours of deliberate practice a day

• While deliberate practice is effortful, flow is effortless

• People with more grit tend to do more deliberate practice and experience more flow BOOKMARK

• Deliberate practice is to improve skill, while flow is for performance

• People with higher grit tend to see deliberate practice as more effortful and enjoyable

• To adopt deliberate practice:

1. Know the science behind it

• • A clearly defined stretch goal

• • Full concentration and effort

• • Immediate and informative feedback

• • Repetition with reflection and refinement

2. Make deliberate practice a habit

• Incorporate it into your daily routine

3. Change the way you experience it

CHAPTER 8: PURPOSE

• Having purpose means that your efforts pay dividends to other people; to contribute to the well-being of others

• Grittier people are more motivated than others to seek a meaningful, other-centered life

• There are different levels of understanding purpose

• ex) When building a building with bricks, you can think that you are laying bricks, building a church, or building the house of God”

• How you see your work is more important than the job title

• People who tend to consider both personal and prosocial interests do better than those who are selfishly motivated

• Consider finding a role model to observe and understand the importance of purpose, and seeing that you can do something similar

• Reflect on how the work you’re already doing can make a positive change in society, how we can change our current work to enhance its connection to our core values, and finding inspiration in a purposeful role model

CHAPTER 9: HOPE

• Grit depends on a hope that expects our efforts to improve the future

• Suffering doesn’t lead to hopelessness, it’s thinking that we can’t control our suffering

• Pessimist thinking revolves around permanent ideas, while optimist thinking revolves around temporary ideas

ex) I failed because “I’m a dummy” vs “I didn’t study this one section”

• People with high grit tend to be more optimistic

• When you stop searching for ways to change your situation, you will never find it

• We can find out our view on intelligence by asking ourselves:

• If intelligence is something basic that you can’t change

• If it’s possible to learn new things, but not change intelligence

• No matter how much intelligence you have, you can change it

• You can always substantially change how intelligent you are

• Saying no to the first two imply that we have a growth mindset

• People tend to have both a fixed and growth mindset

• The influences of things that “don’t kill us” is dependent on our efforts and control on what is happening

• Growth mindsets allow us to optimistically view adversity, leading to perseverance and the willingness to take on more challenges

• Growth mindset → optimistic self-talk → perseverance over adversity

• To inhabit a growth mindset, one must first update their beliefs on intelligence and talent, practice optimistic self-talk, and ask for a helping hand

PART III: GROWING GRIT FROM THE OUTSIDE IN

CHAPTER 10: PARENTING FOR GRIT

• To foster grit, one can either display tough love by having their child independently work through challenges, or one can give them the freedom to do what they want

• There is no trade-off between supportive parenting and demanding parenting

• The way the child interprets the parenting is more important than the style

• Since children imitate their parents, parents should try to display grit

CHAPTER 11: THE PLAYING FIELDS OF GRIT

• Extracurriculars can pose as challenging and entertaining forms of grit practice

• Situations that people gravitate toward tend to enhance the reasons why we gravitated towards it

• The discipline and energy we had for previous activities can be transferred onto new ones

• Consider having at least one hard thing in your life that requires deliberate practice that you cannot quit until some natural event occurs

CHAPTER 12: A CULTURE OF GRIT

• It’s important to surround yourself around a culture that supports grit

• We internalize the norms and values of the groups we are in

• “Have a fierce resolve in everything you do.” “Demonstrate determination, resiliency, and tenacity.” “Do not let temporary setbacks become permanent excuses.” And, finally, “Use mistakes and problems as opportunities to get better—not reasons to quit.”

• One person’s grit influences the grit of others

• Consider finishing strong, giving something your complete efforts from start to finish

CHAPTER 13: CONCLUSION

• Being gritty results in a happier life

• Complacency has its charms, but none are worth trading for the fulfillment of realizing their potential

• Developing grit develops self-control, gratitude, and social intelligence

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

RECOMMENDED READING

• Brooks, David. The Road to Character. New York: Random House, 2015.

• Brown, Peter C., Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2014.

• Damon, William. The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life. New York: Free Press, 2009.

• Deci, Edward L. with Richard Flaste. Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation. New York: Penguin Group, 1995.

• Duhigg, Charles. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. New York: Random House, 2012.

• Dweck, Carol. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House, 2006.

• Emmons, Robert A. Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007.

• Ericsson, Anders and Robert Pool. Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.

• Heckman, James J., John Eric Humphries, and Tim Kautz (eds.). The Myth of Achievement Tests: The GED and the Role of Character in American Life. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.

• Kaufman, Scott Barry and Carolyn Gregoire. Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind. New York: Perigee, 2015.

• Lewis, Sarah. The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014.

• Matthews, Michael D. Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

• McMahon, Darrin M. Divine Fury: A History of Genius. New York: Basic Books, 2013.

• Mischel, Walter. The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control. New York: Little, Brown, 2014.

• Oettingen, Gabriele. Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation. New York: Penguin Group, 2014.

• Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. New York: Riverhead Books, 2009.

• Renninger, K. Ann and Suzanne E. Hidi. The Power of Interest for Motivation and Engagement. New York: Routledge, 2015.

• Seligman, Martin E. P. Learned Optimism: How To Change Your Mind and Your Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.

• Steinberg, Laurence. Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.

• Tetlock, Philip E. and Dan Gardner. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. New York: Crown, 2015.

• Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.

Willingham, Daniel T. Why Don’t Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009.

Application

• Start being more active in productivity and self-improvement discords to be surrounded by like-minded people

• Start by engaging in discussions at least once a week during breaks

• Incorporate deliberate practice into my week

• Come up with different skills that I need to do deliberate practice for

• VALORANT (aim training)

• Computer programming (Learning new concepts)

• Beatsaber (Practice mode)

• Reading (Trying to maintain a faster speed, focus more, no regression)

• AP exams (do practice ones, go over material again)

• Script-writing (Analyze other scripts, time constraint sessions, improve vocabulary)

• Video-editing (Find new effects for montages, find ways to make essay videos more entertaining)

• Spend 6-10 hours a day in meaningful work

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