What Is Grit And How to Develop It For a Successful Life

From a young age, we face difficulties and challenges in life, and it doesn’t really matter how much effort parents put into having them solved for you. Sometimes, they simply can’t do that.

The key difference here is that some people persevere these obstacles on their own by never giving up, and that’s how they start to develop grit. It doesn’t matter the IQ or talent that you have since they don’t actually help you achieve your goals as much as grit does. But what exactly is it?

What is grit and why is it important?

Grit is having a passion and perseverance to achieve very long-term goals. It’s having stamina and never backing down when something doesn’t go according to plan.

Grit is sticking with your goals for the future, day in and day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality.

It’s living life like a marathon, not a sprint, and what is required in a marathonist is endurance or perseverance.

Having grit can sometimes be a trait and other times a skill that can be developed. Some individuals have this trait, and they show it since the earlier phases of life, and for the others, this is a cultivated skill that they have worked hard on.

Grit is associated with determination, adaptability, ambition, and the need for achievement and fulfillment. It involves maintaining a goal-focused effort for extended periods of time.

The good news is that everyone can learn to be grittier since it’s also a skill. You just have to know what to do and what to expect from yourself.

What are the characteristics of grit?

People that we perceive as having grit have some characteristics in common with each other such as staying strong in the face of pain, fear, or even grief. It is often underestimated how courageous and resilient these individuals are.

Another thing that struck me was the way that how much detail-oriented and careful they are. In other words, they are people who are conscientious and aware of what’s going on around them.

They are always confident and optimistic even in the direst of situations. This makes them seem stubborn but it’s always misinterpreted with resilience.

How to develop grit?

Sometimes grit is perceived as mental toughness, and that’s not a bad thing to compare it to. You have to be tough mentally to have a good grit score. Every person has their own goals and achievements they want to reach, so the first thing that you need to do is to lay all of them out. By doing that, you are going to get a visual reminder every day, and hopefully, that will motivate you to work on them.

Mental toughness works like a muscle it needs repetitive work so that it can grow and develop. Don’t skip out on completing your goals however small or insignificant they might seem at the moment like for example, your goal is to write at least two thousand words a day in your blog and you’ve only managed to do half of that. Only by completing the task and writing the necessary word amount in this case and pushing through you are going to build grit for yourself. Almost always take the time and the effort that it’s supposed to and never choose the easiest way out. Prove to yourself that you are ready to enter the ring with life and that you are capable of winning.

The motivation that we talked about briefly before it’s to help you build the necessary grit for success. You are not going to be motivated every time of the day and that’s why you need to build habits. Stop depending on motivation and stick to a schedule, build daily habits, overcome distractions and challenges. That’s the only way to succeed and build grit.

What is an example of grit?

A clear example of grit that I also face myself it’s the artists and writers or employers that work on a schedule and not only when they are motivated. Every day you have to approach your job like a pro and take it seriously. Do the most important work and tasks that are time-sensitive first then continue with the rest of the responsibilities.

What to do when you feel like giving up?

Struggling with completing an important task or even just doing some ordinary stuff has happened even to the best of us and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. But what to do when you feel like this and don’t seem to get over it? Well, let’s look at some methods that have worked in the past for me, and maybe they can resonate with you as well.

The discomfort that you might be feeling, which is leading to you wanting to quit, is only temporary, remember that. Let’s take the same example of the writing that we talked about above. The discomfort there is that you might be feeling a little burned out of writing so the suggestion is to go for a walk to a park or just do whatever relaxes your mind. Then come back finish the task and once you are over with it, you won’t feel that discomfort. It’s as simple as that, find the way to manipulate your mind into doing the things that you want.

No one has ever said, I regret completing the task that helps me get closer to my goal.

What I mean by that is that no one does regret doing good work, and that is the most important thing to keep in mind. However, bad or unmotivated to work you feel just remember that by doing good work, you are going to feel better in contrary to not completing the task.

That does make you feel worse than you already might be feeling because you didn’t do the task that you were supposed to do, and now you also gave up.

Everyone wants a gold medal but no one wants to train hard like an olympian athlete. I’m not saying that we should be giving our 110% all the time since understandably we are people in the end, and some days we don’t feel like it despite our efforts. But even just the act of trying to complete the work in itself is a small victory.

Closing Thoughts

Everyone on this planet wishes for success and happiness and despite our wishes, it can’t manifest itself. The keyword for success is dedication and learning how to persevere the difficult challenges that life throws us. Even if you aren’t born with grit built into your system you can still develop that skill and be on par with others. You have to be focused and have only the success in your mind for the future that’s the real way on how to build the necessary grit to succeed.