MM#296---Getting Some Grit

Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. Often in these nuggets of wisdom we uncover from the great books, both modern and classic, we find authors that are essentially right over the target, and yet we'll color in more details for us from a different perspective. One author might share one perspective and another author will share a different perspective. And that's pretty cool, because when you know, when you know you're over the target and you're getting very close to the truth, you want to learn more and discover more, and so it is with today's nugget of wisdom. Let's go to our first pull quote to learn some of that wisdom. Chuckworth found that the people who had distinguished themselves in overcoming multiple challenges over many years to sustain the pursuit of something that was important to them had several critical qualities in common, namely number one passion. They were lit up from within by a cause or an activity that electrified and energized them, sometimes from a young age. They weren't guided by what others wanted. Instead, they were single-mindedly focused on something that crowded out other interests, gave their lives meaning and filled them with a sense of purpose. Number two perseverance. They weren't just reliant in the short run, they had some bounce back, quality that existed throughout years of emotional droughts, physical and financial setbacks and discouragements that would cause many people to give up. And number three long-term goals. They attached a goal to their passion that might have seemed unrealistic to some, but that became their immovable North Star. In some cases this led to world-renowned or Olympic fame, but for others the results were quieter from regaining the ability to walk after a crippling injury to maintaining the hope of being exonerated after wrongful incarceration, to remaining clean and sober in the hardest of circumstances. So passion, perseverance and long-term goals is how Angela Duckworth, in her pioneering book Grit the Power of Passion and Perseverance, helps us to discover grit in our own lives and how to define it. So that's pretty cool, right? We actually covered Angela and her book grit way back in Mojo Minute 60 and 61. So be sure to check those Mojo Minutes out. But now let's turn to our newest book in the grit lineup, getting Grit, by Carolyn Adams Miller the evidence-based approach to cultivating passion, perseverance and purpose. Oh yes, just love that subtitle. Give us the evidence-based approach. Stuff all day, every day, please, and thank you. So let's go to that book for its first pull-quit. To qualify for the label of authentic grit. It's not enough to be resilient, persistent and passionate. I believe that gritty behavior is a positive force only when it awes and inspires others to want to become better people and imagine greater possibilities for themselves. People who display it make us wonder what if I went after hard things too? What if I devoted my energy and time to cultivating my passions? What if so? Carolyn is defining what she believes as authentic grit, as opposed to the classic definition of grit given to us by Angela Duckworth. And I don't think Carolyn is trying to one-up Angela's research of anything, just a slight tweak and perhaps a twist here and there from a different perspective, like we talked about earlier. And so what does authentic grit sound like? Well, here's Carolyn's definition of authentic grit Authentic grit is the passionate pursuit of hard goals that awes and inspires others to become better people flourish emotionally, take positive risks and live their best lives. Ah, so it's a little bit of a twist and perhaps a development further on this notion of the virtue of grit. And you know, what I love in that definition is actually using the word flourishing, because it's our word. If there's one word to encapsulate every mojo minute we try to execute on here, it is to accentuate how we can flourish in our lives. Now, getting back to Angela Duckworth and her classic definition on grit, she actually endorsed Carolyn's book and the two actually knew each other at the University of Pennsylvania, so that's pretty cool. But here's what Carolyn, or here's what Angela, said of Carolyn's book Quote I don't know anybody who has thought more than Carolyn Miller about how to apply the scientific research on grit and achievement to our own lives. End of quote. Now, it's always great when we get authors helping to flush out with more clarity on how we just go about flourishing in our lives and, more specifically, how we go about getting grit. Did you see what I did there? The name of the book is Getting Grit and I included the name there about getting grit and how we need to get through it, about getting grit and how we need to get some grit. Okay, just one last quote that I absolutely loved from this book. My overarching goal in this book is to demonstrate that building authentic grit isn't just possible, but it's our duty to do so. If we wanna live in a world that upholds standards of excellence and shuns quitting, we need resilience, optimism and determination to overcome setbacks that threaten our flourishing and peace, and we need to arm the next generation the first in US history predicted not to have the same standard of living as their parents With the science of happiness and the tools to persevere toward their best and most meaningful lives. So let's do that, shall we? So, in today's Mojo Minute, here's to a new year and a new you, getting some grit along the way.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your Mojo on.