By Tara Struyk, Wise Bread
As the Olympics Games in Sochi approach, there’s one story we’ll hear again and again — the one about the athlete who emerged from injury, personal hardship, or the back of the pack to win Olympic gold. Those are the Olympic stories most people love, and these athletes inspire us because the best of the bunch refuse to give up, under any circumstances.
Being successful
In other words, most of us naturally admire what you might call “grit,” or the ability to maintain passion and perseverance for a very long time to achieve very big goals. That’s why we’re especially moved by the stories of athletes who have the most to overcome.
Now there’s research to back up what we already know (funny how that happens): determination counts. In fact, research by psychologists Angela Duckworth and Carol Dweck show that grit is the most important factor for success. It’s more important than IQ and social intelligence and good looks. It even matters more than talent. The good news is that you can develop and nurture grit. Here’s how.
Develop a Growth Mindset
If you’re bad at managing your money or getting ahead at work, it’s easy to think there’s nothing you can do about it. You were just born that way. (It kind of makes for an awesome excuse, right?) According to Carol Dweck, however, this “fixed mindset” is a recipe for failure.
If, on the other hand, you have a “growth mindset,” you’re more likely to see your skills and abilities as something you have some control over. Those who have this sort of mindset see failure not as, well, failure, but as an opportunity to learn, try again, and, eventually, succeed.
See the difference? If you can think of your skills and abilities as secondary to your effort, you gain control over your performance. That means you get to decide whether you succeed or fail.
Embrace Failure
We all make mistakes. We say the wrong things, we make the wrong choices, and we just plain screw things up. Unfortunately, we’re often so mortified and regretful about it that we forget that failure isn’t such a bad thing.
In her research, Duckworth found that grit was a better predictor of success in everything from spelling bees to college completion than any other factor. Part of being gritty involves bouncing back from failure and trying again and again. So, if you really want to succeed, the first step is to take failure in stride, rather than allowing it to become the end of the road. When you fail, you are not a failure. You’re just human, and you’re learning.
Read the full article by Tara Struyk from Wise Bread.
