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“Without effort, your talent is nothing more than your unmet potential.
Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t.
With effort, talent becomes skill and,
at the very same time, effort makes skill productive”
– Angela Duckworth, Author-Grit
I recently stumbled upon a TED talk that led to different YouTube talks by Angela Duckworth, Psychologist, and author of the best-selling book Grit. I instantly fell in love with the subject and the thesis around Ms. Duckworth’s study since in a way; it also described me and countless others.
The thesis is simply: talent is not the only predictor of success in life, but rather a small part of a whole totality of attitude that when paired with passion and persistence; the formula that describes GRIT, can, in turn, produce achievement, which ultimately leads to success.
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TALENT x EFFORT = SKILL
SKILL x EFFORT = ACHIEVEMENT
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What makes this study refreshing and different is the way the author approaches the angle of “talent” being the easiest way society describes people who excel, without knowing the underlying effort and perseverance it took to get where they are.
Sure athletes and high achievers are viewed as good on the outside based on us seeing a few moments of ‘great performances’, but what we do not see is the time, patience, and discipline it took for these individuals to practice and hone the skills needed to produce these performances.
Ultimately it’s not just talent that makes one succeed, although it’s a big plus; but the biggest factor that contributes to one’s achievements are hard work which is the effort part, having a passion and loving what you’re doing, and having the discipline to plow through despite, and in spite of the circumstances.
Ms. Duckworth put it this way; “Grit is about working on something you care about so much that you’re willing to stay loyal to it”
She then goes on to say that Grit can be practiced and nurtured at any level and there are 4 life stages we need to identify and develop in us in order to grow in it;
INTEREST
Passion never comes out of us naturally, it eventually comes out of discovery; what activities we like and dislike, experimenting with projects that interest us, and finding the one thing that ultimately brings us joy and satisfaction.
Add to that a sense of purpose, and this undoubtedly becomes a formula for PASSION. By discovering what we love doing will help us focus our energy and desire to working on this endeavor to be an expert in it that it eventually becomes second nature to us, akin to breathing.
PRACTICE
The next step after we discover our passion is to naturally spend time doing it, over and over until it becomes a habit.
Part of persevering is having the discipline to master and practice our craft, be it a sport, an instrument, a skill; the key is it can only be focused on one singular pursuit.
Sure we may stumble into other things that can interest us, but focusing on one pursuit, and mastering it, is an attribute of Grit that enables a mindset of continuous improvement, not settling for mediocrity but striving for excellence.
PURPOSE
Having already discovered our passion and starting to practice on improving our skill, we now need to align these with a sense of purpose.
It is the “why” of the “what” we are doing.
Loving what we do and having the drive to do it will eventually lead to exhaustion and will be un sustainable in the long run.
Having meaning and purpose will provide the motivation and the engine to sustain the drive of perfecting our passion so that it becomes something we can share, something we can use to bring significance not only for our lives but also to the lives of others.
HOPE
The one thing that ties all the three attributes above is HOPE. It is simply the “looking forward to better” perspective.
I believe the main objective of why we choose to be gritty and persevere to rise above our circumstance, is an endearing HOPE for a better “fill in the blank”.
Be it a future, state of mind, health, wealth, or whatever it is we are ultimately striving for; HOPE is the ‘spiritual’ driver.
Being optimistic that circumstances will change even when we don’t see it, Grit is there to help us do and act, but having HOPE is the unseen muscle that eventually helps us raise our game and get us over the top and meet our goal of passion, purpose, and significance.
TYING THIS ALL IN
Now, what does GRIT have to do with personal finance? Or our debt free journey in particular?
Well, for one thing, having GRIT helps us get started. But more than that, it ultimately causes us to win, since we already know that having the desire to win is but one part of the goal, we need to tie in the passion, perseverance, purpose, and hope to finally get us to our destination, that of ‘Financial Independence’.
Battling debt can sometimes be daunting, we all need motivation and purpose, but having just those two will cause us to fall short.
Having the GRIT to overcome, gritting our teeth, getting mad, digging in our heels, rolling up our sleeves, and plowing through our debts one day, one payment, one win at a time, we not only GRIT our way to freedom, but also practice perseverance and determination that will in the long run be habit for us and cause us to win not only with money but in life in general.
Do you have similar stories of GRIT and perseverance that you can share to motivate us on our debt free journey? Please do share by commenting below or emailing at thedebtfreejourney@gmail.com.
Til next time, Peace and Blessings to you All.
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