{"id":53363,"date":"2021-10-30T10:18:39","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T14:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=53363"},"modified":"2026-01-22T22:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:02:09","slug":"what-is-the-meaning-of-grit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-the-meaning-of-grit\/","title":{"rendered":"Angela Duckworth: What Is the Meaning of \u201cGrit?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the meaning of &#8220;grit&#8221;<em>?<\/em> Is the idea of grit something new and revolutionary, or is it an old concept with a new name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In her <em>New York Times <\/em>bestselling book <em>Grit, <\/em>Angela Duckworth defines grit as a personality trait that combines perseverance and passion. She asserts that having grit is more important than any natural intelligence or talent. However, not everyone agrees with Duckworth&#8217;s conclusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-does-it-mean-to-have-grit\/\">the meaning of grit<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/opposing-views\/\">opposing viewpoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-grit\"><strong>What Is Grit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Duckworth formulated the idea of grit after noticing that talent and luck were incomplete explanations for success in a variety of fields, including the military, sales, business, and sports. In each of these, people who showed early potential sometimes dropped out and some successful people didn\u2019t start off showing the most promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, what is the meaning of grit? Well, Duckworth noticed that the one characteristic that successful people had in common that distinguished them from the non-successful was <em>grit<\/em>, which she defines as <strong>a personality trait combining <em>perseverance<\/em> and <em>passion<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><em>Perseverance<\/em><\/strong><strong> means having resilience: <\/strong>It\u2019s the ability to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/setbacks-in-life\/\">overcome setbacks<\/a>, work hard, and finish things rather than give up.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><em>Passion<\/em><\/strong><strong> means having direction: <\/strong>It\u2019s the ability to adhere to a goal over the long term and maintain your interest level, as opposed to changing your goal mercurially.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Is Grit Different From Conscientiousness?<\/strong><br><br>Critics of Duckworth\u2019s book contend that <em>grit<\/em> is not a new concept, but instead is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0092656620301100\">merely a deep exploration of <em>conscientiousness<\/em><\/a>, a long-known and well-acknowledged personality trait. Conscientiousness is one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomas.co\/resources\/type\/hr-guides\/what-are-big-5-personality-traits\">Big Five personality traits<\/a> used by psychologists to predict how a person will react to life and to adversity. (The other four traits are openness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.)&nbsp;&nbsp;Conscientiousness describes the tendency to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/conscientiousness\">responsible, organized, persistent, goal-oriented, and self-controlled<\/a>. Duckworth has argued that grit differs from conscientiousness in that it also incorporates <em>passion<\/em>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.apa.org\/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.92.6.1087\">the adherence to<em> high-level, long-term<\/em> goals<\/a>\u2014rather than just short-term <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-stick-to-your-goals-2\/\">commitment to goals<\/a>. Thus she describes grit as not just resilience\u2014the ability to bounce back from setbacks\u2014but also loyalty to goals over many years.&nbsp;<br><br>However, some researchers have had difficulty finding distinctions between grit and conscientiousness even with this explanation, and have concluded that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0092656620301100\">they\u2019re essentially the same thing<\/a> and have the same influence on a person\u2019s success. These psychologists contend that both grit and conscientiousness describe a tendency to work hard toward goals, and any distinction that accounts for long-term goals is moot, because people who work hard naturally accomplish long-term goals.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Duckworth contends that gritty people constantly see themselves as never good enough. They\u2019re never complacent with where they are. Yet they\u2019re not miserable\u2014gritty people are <strong>content being discontented<\/strong>. They work on things of great interest to them, and the idea of giving up rarely crosses their mind. This is what brings them success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Getting Comfortable With Discomfort Leads to Success<\/strong><br><br>Other experts agree that discomfort is not an inherently bad thing, because it can inspire you to improve your situation. For example, Frank Yoo, who served as director of design at, among others, Google, Lyft, and Coinbase, has discussed his relationship with discomfort as a positive one. He observes that <a href=\"https:\/\/uxdesign.cc\/deliberate-discomfort-7c7218500f63\">when you feel frustrated or anxious, it\u2019s your mind and body telling you that you need to grow<\/a>. He relates periods in his career when he had a choice to either keep using a skill set that he\u2019d already mastered or to start learning a new, more difficult one, and he chose to take on the difficult one. He attributes his success to always choosing to take on a challenge.\u00a0<br><br>Yoo recommends that you actively seek out challenges that make you uncomfortable so that you constantly push your limits. In doing so, he notes that you might initially feel some <em>impostor syndrome<\/em>\u2014where you doubt your abilities and feel like a fraud\u2014but that this reaction fades with experience.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-research-on-grit\"><strong>Research on Grit<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In forming her theories, Duckworth conducted many studies measuring the predictive power of grit on success. In one of her earliest, she examined newly admitted West Point cadets, looking for personality characteristics that might predict which candidates would complete the school\u2019s rigorous programs and which would not.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She focused on the admissions program, an intense, seven-week boot camp after which one in 20 cadets typically dropped out of the academy. For her study, Duckworth had the cadets fill out a questionnaire before they started the program, from which she calculated a grit score. After the program, Duckworth looked back to the questionnaire to see whether it predicted which cadets had stuck with the program and which had dropped out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also examined the cadets\u2019 admissions scores that the school used to admit them to the academy in the first place. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/college-admissions-criteria\/\">Admissions criteria<\/a> considered SAT scores, high school rank, physical ability, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/leadership-potential\/\">leadership potential<\/a> (participation in academic clubs and sports).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Duckworth notes that the admissions criteria heavily weighted natural attributes of intelligence and physical fitness. In contrast, her questionnaire measured persistence and passion\u2014grit. She found that the school\u2019s admission criteria couldn\u2019t accurately predict who would drop out, but her grit questionnaire predicted completion better than any other predictor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, she found that grit had little relationship to IQ score, suggesting the two factors are independent. Further, grit was able to predict success even after accounting for IQ, meaning it contributes to success above and beyond IQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her research found similar results in many other studies:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Grit predicts the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.00036\/full\">retention of salespeople<\/a> better than other personality traits like conscientiousness or extroversion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Adults who complete <a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/record\/2007-07951-009\">graduate degrees<\/a> have higher grit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Children who perform better in <a href=\"https:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/record\/2007-07951-009\">spelling bees<\/a> showed higher grit scores.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Counterpoint: IQ Can Sometimes Better Predict Test Scores<\/strong><br><br>Critics of Duckworth point to studies that indicate the opposite conclusion: that IQ has a greater influence on success. A large study in England found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-3442656\/Why-teaching-pupils-grit-determination-waste-time-Ability-persevere-accounts-1-exam-success.html\">grit only accounted for 0.5% of the success<\/a> of students taking the GCSE exams\u2014comprehensive exams evaluating a student\u2019s mastery of a particular subject at the end of secondary school. Intelligence mattered far more, accounting for 40% of the outcome.&nbsp;<br><br>Researchers concluded that grit doesn\u2019t in fact matter to academic success, and that the current preoccupation with grit inspired by Duckworth\u2019s book is misguided. They then advised that schools drop their grit-focused curriculums.&nbsp;<br>However, Duckworth does acknowledge that intelligence counts highly on tests like SATs. Her argument, though, is that for success <em>beyond<\/em> tests\u2014success in an overall professional or academic career\u2014grit is a better predictor of achievement than intelligence.&nbsp;<br><br>The studies referenced above support this argument. The West Point program favors not just people who can intellectually and physically meet its challenges, but also those who can <em>endure<\/em> through the hardships of the program. The fact that salespeople with longevity have grit shows that grit matters over the course of a career\u2014while intelligence or talent may <em>get<\/em> you a job, it\u2019s grit that will keep you in it. The same goes for people working toward graduate degrees.<br><br>The case of the children in spelling bees brings up a nuance of the theory, though. Duckworth\u2019s studies show that successful spelling bee contestants study longer and more effectively than contestants who aren\u2019t as successful. This clearly points to grit, but other studies, as noted above, have shown that <em>test taking<\/em> is influenced by intelligence more than grit. Spelling bees are a test. So why does grit matter here more than intelligence?<br>It may have to do with the type of test that these are\u2014spelling bees are less about reasoning and more about straightforward memorization. They might, therefore, be more influenced by how many hours a person spends reviewing spellings than by intelligence alone.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the meaning of &#8220;grit&#8221;? Is the idea of grit something new and revolutionary, or is it an old concept with a new name? In her New York Times bestselling book Grit, Angela Duckworth defines grit as a personality trait that combines perseverance and passion. She asserts that having grit is more important than any natural intelligence or talent. However, not everyone agrees with Duckworth&#8217;s conclusions. Continue reading to learn more about the meaning of grit from opposing viewpoints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":53395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43],"tags":[181],"class_list":["post-53363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-grit","","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>Angela Duckworth: What Is the Meaning of \u201cGrit?\u201d - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the meaning of &quot;grit&quot;? 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