What Grit Means to Me

Since this blog started in August, we’ve talked in a sideways way about grit but haven’t really explored it yet! Get ready though, because the next four weeks will be all about grit: what it is, how it can help you, how you can develop it, and I’m hoping to be able to share some real-life stories of grit too! Today, I’m going to talk a little bit about what grit means to me.

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What is Grit?

I think grit means different things to different people. It’s how we measure sandpaper or nail files. It may conjure mental images of someone like John Wayne, rough around the edges, someone who is determined to accomplish something. We may think of it as a quality that some people possess and others don’t. We may think of it as something that makes someone abrasive.

For me, grit means knowing what your passions are, caring enough about yourself and your own fulfillment to pursue those passions, and being determined to put in the effort to accomplish your goals and make them happen for you. It’s about knowing that nothing worth having is easy, and being willing to put in the effort needed to excel.

For me, it doesn’t mean “never giving up” or “failure is not an option”. I believe the key component to having grit is having something that means so much to you that it’s worth being gritty about.

Grit is Not Video Games…For Me

Here’s an example. If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time at all, you know that I like video games. I really enjoy them. However, I’m not necessarily passionate about them. I don’t feel a driving desire to be the best video game player ever. I don’t feel the need to keep banging my head against a wall in a game trying to figure it out. It doesn’t matter to me if I am the best at it. I look things up, I get my husband to get me past rough spots. I quit a game if it’s not fun any more. So I’m not very gritty about video games.

I am, however, trying to focus my grittiness on writing, and developing content for this blog, podcast, and YouTube. This is because I am passionate about creating things and inspiring people. I will put in as many hours as needed and practice as often as I can, every day, day in and day out, in order to feel like I am excelling at those things. And I don’t always do it right. I don’t always succeed. I fail. A LOT. Sometimes I think I have more bad ideas than good ones. Or ideas that sound good at first, but don’t work. I try them anyway, because I want to succeed. I want to be gritty about this.

Grit is Passion

Being passionate about something is the first step. Whether it’s playing the guitar, or blogging, or art, or being independently wealthy, or crossword puzzles, in order to be gritty about something, I think you need to be passionate about it.

The reason I feel that way is because excelling in anything will take effort, regardless of how talented you are. And in order to put in effort on something, you need to be highly motivated – you need to have a passion for it. Like my example with video games, I don’t think someone will be gritty about everything. Thinking about the time and effort it takes to truly master something and excel at it, there’s simply not enough time in the day to be gritty about everything. So part of being gritty is carefully choosing what to spend your time on, and making those things something you are truly passionate about.

Grit is Perseverance

Excelling in whatever it is you’re trying to do will never be a nice smooth climb to the top. There will be failures. Many, many failures. When you’re being gritty about something, you recognize that a failure doesn’t mean you aren’t meant to do it, or that you’ll never achieve what you want. It means you still have stuff to learn, and you still have ways in which you can grow.

Limiting yourself with a mindset like “failure is not an option” or “if it was meant to be, it would be easy” are, in my mind, ways to excuse yourself from having to put in the work. They mean that if something doesn’t immediately pan out, or if you’re not immediately good at it right off the bat, that you might as well give up.

Grit is persevering even when you fail. It’s knowing that when you’re passionate about something and you want to succeed at it, you’re being realistic about the fact that you WILL fail sometimes. It WON’T always be smooth sailing. You will experience success, and you will experience failure. Learning from failure and trying again, being persistent and not giving up what you are passionate about, that is grit.

Grit is Effort

Succeeding at anything, truly mastering it, takes practice. So much practice. And the discipline to keep yourself doing it, even when you don’t want to, even when it is hard.

We tend to think that we should only do things that we’re talented at. Or, conversely, that we shouldn’t try things we’re not talented at. But the reality is, that no matter how talented someone is at something, it takes effort to truly succeed. Great artists are great because they are talented, and because they practice. Every day. Great musicians, or public speakers, or leaders, are great because they practice. Day in and day out.

Talent helps you learn skills faster, but effort is what makes the difference in actually achieving anything.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

The book that truly turned me on to the idea of grit and how I can develop it was written by Angela Duckworth. It is called Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance [affiliate link] and I can’t recommend it enough if you want to be inspired to learn about and develop your grit. Angela Duckworth’s hypotheses and opinions are backed by a lot of research, and I love how she uses case studies to make a point or show real life examples of grit. If you get a chance, I definitely recommend checking it out.

With that, I’ll wrap up this post with a question:

What does grit mean to you? What are you passionate about that you want to get gritty with? Share in comments, and I’ll talk to you next week!