Every day, parents and teachers ask me, ‘How do I build grit in kids? What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic? How do I keep them motivated for the long run?’ The honest answer is, I don’t know.
ANGELA DUCKWORTHPsychologists call this the maturity principle. My own life experience fits this principle to a T.
More Angela Duckworth Quotes
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I would be surprised if my girls ended up as women without grit. I really would.
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At various points, in big ways and small, we get knocked down. If we stay down, grit loses. If we get up, grit prevails.
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When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching. I went to teach seventh graders math in the New York City public schools.
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Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
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What we reliably find is that people’s perseverance scores are actually higher than their passion scores, and I think it really does get to the fact that working hard is hard, but maybe finding your passion is even more difficult.
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The most important thing parents can do, although it’s not the only thing they should do, is model the behavior they want from their kids.
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Grit, in a word, is stamina. But it’s not just stamina in your effort.
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There are no shortcuts to true excellence.
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You cannot will yourself to be interested in something you’re not interested in. But you can actively discover and deepen your interest.
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Longitudinal studies following thousands of people across time have shown that most people only begin to gravitate toward certain vocational interests, and away from others, around middle school.
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Really, what matters in the long run is sticking with things and working daily to get better at them.
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I define talent as the rate at which you get better at something when you try. To be very talented means you get better faster and more easily than other people or other things that you try.
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I worked hard when I was a consultant. I worked hard when I was in graduate school looking at neuroscience.
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I do feel it’s hard to be modest and humble and egoless when people are telling you you are so great and wanting to give you prizes and energy. I’m trying hard not to be an awful, narcissistic human being.
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The focus on just thinking about standardized test scores as being synonymous with achievement for teenagers is ridiculous, right?
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