Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Reviwed by Kristy Dolson.

“Finish a book every week.” This is the sole concrete goal I set for myself in 2020. And so far, January and February have provided the ideal conditions to achieve it. A relative lull in workload, coupled with COVID-19 delays, has produced the opportunity and incentive to burrow into my blanket fort and blaze through my to-read list. But when the new semester commenced in March, I faced tough decisions. Should I allocate extra effort toward work projects, hang out with friends, or achieve my daily page counts? As my free time slowed to a trickle, I started to doubt if this self-imposed goal was worth it. In other words, I began questioning my grit.

Luckily, I recently read Angela Duckworth’s amazing non-fiction book on this very subject. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance compiles Duckworth’s years of research in the service of defining and explaining how readers can harness grit to increase their happiness and success. Early in the book, Duckworth invites readers to take two survey tests to determine their grit score as well as their passion and perseverance rankings. The book then goes on to explore how readers can grow their grit from the inside out, and how parents, teachers, and coaches can help their charges cultivate grit from the outside in.

I took the test and scored rather highly, with my passion score outranking my perseverance. When I look back on my life journey, this makes a lot of sense. True, I have a lot of passions, but I’m not incredibly focused on a singular goal. I want to be a great baker, singer, friend, actor, writer, and teacher! Duckworth calls these passions our inner compasses but claims that we all need to choose one compass to guide our decisions and actions in life. Two competing compasses will cause internal conflict and distract us from reaching our upper-level goals. My experience seems to align with her claim. So, now I need to pick a top-level goal and narrow my focus.

Duckworth’s thesis statement is that people who hold the same top-level goal for a very long time have a lot of grit. A top-level goal is one that harmonizes with a person’s life philosophy and serves as the pinnacle of the achievement of many low- and mid-level goals. For example, my life philosophy is to “Serve others,” and if my top-level goal is to “Be a good teacher,” then my mid-level goals might be things like “Attend KOTESOL,” “Read educational literature,” and “Start a teaching blog,” whereas low-level goals involve small-scale, daily habits, such as “Be on time,” “Reflect on class,” and “Engage with peers” that each serve as small steps toward those upper-level goals.

So, where does my reading goal fit into all of this? Well, by reading more books, I’ll be building my physical library and my knowledge base. One of my favorite things to do is connect people with books I think they’ll love. By reading more books, I have a bigger and more diverse pool of recommendations to choose from. I also write reviews for the Gwangju News. Not only does that serve those who work for the magazine, but it also – hopefully – serves the readership. And by selecting interesting books, I’m continuously advancing my knowledge base, which I can then share with others in personal and professional contexts. Therefore, if my life philosophy is to “Serve others,” then reading more books this year provides robust long-term benefits in terms of my upper-level goals – even if I’ve yet to fully define those goals.

In addition to helping me identify my personal goals, I found this book extremely useful as a teacher and mentor – especially with respect to using praise to foster grit. Recently, I’ve taken a keen interest in motivation and growth mindsets among learners, and this book provided me with some thought-provoking studies and stories to chew over as the new school year approaches. I highly recommend this fascinating read for everyone seeking a more meaningful and satisfying life, but especially to those who teach, coach, mentor, or parent.

THE REVIWER

Kristy Dolson lived in South Korea for five years before taking a year off to travel, read and spend time with her family in Canada and Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Education and now lives in Yeosu.