Angela Lee Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, studied the success factors that make some people more successful than others. According to her research, one factor shared among successful persons is grit or perseverance. Specifically, it means long-term effort and passion, or not giving up easily in order to achieve a long-term goal.

That means your efforts may not bring results today or even in the next few days. It may take weeks, months, or even years. What matters is that you keep trying and fighting your lack of knowledge and others’ judgments day after day to make achieving your goal a reality.

According to Duckworth, “Grit is having stamina ...Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.”

How do we build grit then? How can we become a gritty person?

Despite Duckworth leaving this question unanswered, she noted that it starts with a “growth mindset,” which is the opposite of a fixed mindset or the belief in limited potential. Or in other words, if you can’t do it, then just give up. Duckworth did however note that the answer to this question might lie in an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck. Duckworth further explained, “It is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, that it can change with your effort. Dr. Dweck has shown that when kids read and learn about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge, they're much more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition.”

A growth mindset encourages you to encounter the unknown and unfamiliar more often, to not be afraid to fail or lose, and to start over again and again. It teaches you valuable lessons learned through hands-on experience. With a growth mindset, you can continue self-development and endlessly rebuild yourself as a gritty person.

You might lose countless minor battles, but you can achieve a decisive victory in the end by persevering.

-Grit-

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Reference: https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance