The concept of grit was introduced by Angela Duckworth, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist who began exploring this concept when she was teaching math to seventh graders. She realized IQ wasn’t the only factor separating successful students from those who struggled, and that grit—holding steadfast to a goal through time—was highly predictive of success. She then spent years analyzing the short- and long term effects of grit on people’s performance in school, at work, and in personal relationships, and published her research in Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, a New York Times bestseller documenting how grit predicts long-term success in nearly every realm of life.

Duckworth suggests that there are 5 characteristics of grit. How many of these do you posses?

1. Courage: Gritty people are not afraid of failure. They welcome failure as part of the growth process. They brush themselves off and try again using what they learned from the experience of failure. Many people freeze up because of they fear failure. Gritty people live by the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do something that scares you everyday.”
2. Conscientiousness: Gritty people are meticulous while also achievement-oriented. They strive do the best they possibly can and are tenacious. Gritty people do not complete just the minimum requirements of any task, they put their all into what they do and deliberately make the best effort possible at all times.
3. Commitment and focus on long-term goals: Gritty people find value and meaning in the effort that it takes to reach a long-term goal. They zone in on their goals and have the stamina to reach them.
4. Resiliency: Gritty people bounce back from setbacks and continue bounce back until they have reached their goals. They are hardy and do not easily give up.
5. Focus on excellence: Gritty people focus on achieving excellence, not perfection. The former is a state of mind in which you continuously strive and grow to be the best that you can be. The latter is a unachievable status where better is never enough.