Book Summary: Grit by Angela Duckworth
Talent alone does not equal success. It takes hard work, determination, perseverance, and the willingness to show up even when it's difficult. Grit is the extra effort needed to succeed. If you do not have grit you can grow it overtime by changing your thought patterns and actions and working to improve them until they become habitual. To succeed in something, you must first be passionate about what you are doing. People feel most satisfied and engaged in their work when they like what they do. Only 13% of adults worldwide consider themselves engaged in their work. It is ok to not love everything about your job--most people don't. When you feel passionate about your work you tend to forget about the hard part and focus on your goal and what you love to do.
One truth that has stood the test of time is that practice makes perfect. Generally speaking, the more times you perform a certain task, the better at it you become. Practice is described as “a persistent desire to do better.” It is a positive state of mind of looking forward and wanting to grow. But more than just practice, the author describes it as “deliberate practice,” practice with the goal of measured improvement. Finally, people who truly want to improve (the author calls them experts) hungrily seek feedback. She writes, “Necessarily, much of that feedback is negative. This means that experts are more interested in what they did wrong—so they can fix it—than what they did right (Duckworth 122)." This is why we role play in the coaching program. It’s why we encourage new brokers to practice their listing presentation on a friend or family member.
•Fixed mindset: the belief that you are either good at something or you are not, therefore no effort is required to improve. Our talent, skill and abilities cannot be trained.
•Growth mindset: the belief that through hard work and deliberate practice, one’s skill and ability can improve. The author describes growth mindset people as significantly grittier than people with a fixed mindset.
High school kids who participated in more than one sport or activity for a minimum of two years earned a higher “follow-through” rating and achieved far more success in that particular discipline than students with just one year of experience. Gritty people want to be around other gritty people. Cadets who enroll at West Point do so in part knowing they will be pushed and challenged. Both by their instructors and by their peers. People like Coach Pete Carroll and Jeff Bezos want gritty people on their team because one person’s grit enhances the grit of the others. Internal growth is the challenge that we place on ourselves to be better and to do more. Like Rowdy Gaines pushing himself to swim a bit faster each day. External growth relies on those people around us who see our potential and won’t let us settle for second-best. For you it may be your spouse or significant other, your managing broker, or perhaps your coach. Grit is determined not by how many times you fall down, but how many times you get back up.