{"id":52920,"date":"2021-11-02T02:30:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T06:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=52920"},"modified":"2021-11-10T11:05:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T15:05:11","slug":"grit-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/grit-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"David Epstein\u2019s Criticism of Grit by Angela Duckworth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why does David Epstein think that Angela Duckworth&#8217;s book <em>Grit <\/em>is wrong? What are his issues with the &#8220;Grit Scale&#8221;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>Range, <\/em>David Epstein gives <em>Grit <\/em>criticism for lumping together persistence and commitment. He goes further to say that too much commitment can actually be harmful rather than helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is how<em> Grit<\/em> gets it wrong, according to Epstein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How <em>Grit<\/em> Gets It Wrong<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Often, we see pivoting as a sign of weakness, giving up on what we\u2019ve promised to do\u2014a deficiency of \u201cgrit.\u201d Epstein disagrees, arguing that \u201cgrit\u201d is a deeply flawed way to measure human potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Popularized in Angela Duckworth\u2019s 2016 book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/grit\"><em>Grit<\/em><\/a>, \u201cgrit\u201d refers to the personality trait needed to set impressive goals and achieve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Epstein\u2019s <em>Grit<\/em> criticism is that it lumps together persistence and commitment<\/strong>\u2014two concepts that are similar, but not synonymous. While it\u2019s beneficial to be as persistent as possible\u2014to not be discouraged by struggles and setbacks\u2014it\u2019s not necessarily in your best interest to deeply commit to everything you\u2019re doing. Duckworth\u2019s \u201cGrit Scale\u201d test conflates persistence and commitment by assessing how much subjects agree with statements like \u201cI often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one\u201d and \u201cMy interests change from year to year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Duckworth is right to value commitment\u2014after all, if you can\u2019t commit to anything, you\u2019ll never get anything done\u2014she overlooks the fact that <strong>too much commitment can be just as harmful. <\/strong>Epstein cites a Gallup survey showing that 85% of workers around the world are either \u201cnot engaged\u201d at work or \u201cactively disengaged.\u201d This shows that many people are far too committed to the jobs they currently have\u2014if you\u2019re actively apathetic about what you do eight hours a day, avoiding a job change not only hurts you, but it also the people who count on you at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Epstein argues that if a specific pursuit isn\u2019t a good fit for you, sticking it out in the name of grit is the worst thing you can do. He points out that making a big, risky life change often takes more courage than doing nothing and continuing to plug away at whatever is in front of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>The Dip: How to Know When to Quit<\/strong><br><br>Epstein directly cites Seth Godin\u2019s The Dip in this section\u2014a book all about how grit is overrated. Many people conflate two very different types of quitting: quitting because you want to refocus on something new (the good kind of quitting, as Epstein describes), and quitting because you\u2019re in \u201cthe Dip.\u201d <br><br>&#8220;The Dip\u201d is the long span of time between being a beginner at something and being the best at something that\u2019s difficult and less fun. However, because it weeds out the vast majority of people who try to do something, pushing through the Dip ensures that you are a scarce resource, and therefore, are valuable. To Godin, it\u2019s possible for anyone to become the best in the world at something if they stick at it long enough and push through the Dip. By his definition, \u201cthe world\u201d might be a single country, a niche software market, or just a small town. Being the \u201cbest in the world\u201d just means that <em>everyone<\/em> in your \u201cworld\u201d wants you. Only then do you receive a disproportionate share of rewards.<br><br>Being the best in the world at something is a very attainable goal. You\u2019ll often need to quit certain things to get there. But if you quit trying to be the best in the world, you\u2019ll get stuck in a dead-end, and any more hard work you put in will give little in return.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why does David Epstein think that Angela Duckworth&#8217;s book Grit is wrong? What are his issues with the &#8220;Grit Scale&#8221;? In his book Range, David Epstein gives Grit criticism for lumping together persistence and commitment. He goes further to say that too much commitment can actually be harmful rather than helpful. Here is how Grit gets it wrong, according to Epstein.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,42,30],"tags":[527],"class_list":["post-52920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-motivation","category-work","tag-range","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>David Epstein\u2019s Criticism of Grit by Angela Duckworth - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his book Range, David Epstein criticizes the book Grit. He says that you can&#039;t lump together persistence and commitment. 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