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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance Paperback – August 21, 2018
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The daughter of a scientist who frequently noted her lack of “genius,” Angela Duckworth is now a celebrated researcher and professor. It was her early eye-opening stints in teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience that led to her hypothesis about what really drives success: not genius, but a unique combination of passion and long-term perseverance.
In Grit, she takes us into the field to visit cadets struggling through their first days at West Point, teachers working in some of the toughest schools, and young finalists in the National Spelling Bee. She also mines fascinating insights from history and shows what can be gleaned from modern experiments in peak performance. Finally, she shares what she’s learned from interviewing dozens of high achievers—from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff to Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll.
“Duckworth’s ideas about the cultivation of tenacity have clearly changed some lives for the better” (The New York Times Book Review). Among Grit’s most valuable insights: any effort you make ultimately counts twice toward your goal; grit can be learned, regardless of IQ or circumstances; when it comes to child-rearing, neither a warm embrace nor high standards will work by themselves; how to trigger lifelong interest; the magic of the Hard Thing Rule; and so much more. Winningly personal, insightful, and even life-changing, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that—not talent or luck—makes all the difference. This is “a fascinating tour of the psychological research on success” (The Wall Street Journal).
- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherScribner
- Publication dateAugust 21, 2018
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.92 x 8.38 inches
- ISBN-101501111116
- ISBN-13978-1501111112
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Editorial Reviews
Review
—The Wall Street Journal
“Grit delves into the personal ingredients of great success. It’s worth reading…the gist is that talent and skill are less valuable than effort.”
—Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times
"It really isn't talent but practice—along with passion—that makes perfect, explains psychologist Duckworth in this illuminating book. Inspiration for non-geniuses everywhere."
—People
“Grit is a pop-psych smash.”
—The New Yorker
“With Grit, Duckworth has now put out the definitive handbook for her theory of success. It parades from one essential topic to another on a float of common sense, tossing out scientific insights.”
—Slate
"If you have recently bumped into that word, grit, Duckworth is the reason...In education and parenting circles, her research has provided a much needed antipode to hovering, by which children are systematically deprived of the opportunity to experience setbacks, much less overcome them...What sticks with you [in Grit] are the testimonials, collected from sources as disparate as Will Smith, William James, and Jeff Bezos's mom, that relentlessly deflate the myth of the natural."
—The Atlantic
"A fascinating tour of the psychological research on success...A great service of Ms. Duckworth's book is her down-to-earth definition of passion. To be gritty, an individual doesn't need to have an obsessive infatuation with a goal. Rather, he needs to show 'consistency over time.' The grittiest people have developed long-term goals and are constantly working toward them."
—The Wall Street Journal
“Duckworth is the researcher most associated with the study and popularization of grit. And yet what I like about her new book, Grit, is the way she is pulling away from the narrow, joyless intonations of that word, and pointing us beyond the way many schools are now teaching it…Most important, she notes that the quality of our longing matters. Gritty people are resilient and hard working, sure. But they also, she writes, know in a very, very deep way what it is they want.”
—David Brooks, New York Times
"Grit is packed with great lessons. The tools and gems I took from this book aided me in being able to handle the adversity of my career coming to an unexpected end and finding my passion in writing."
—Chris Bosh, five-time NBA All Star
“[Have] no doubt: Grit is great. It's a lucid, informative, and entertaining review of the research Angela has assiduously conducted over the past decade or so. The book also includes suggestions on how to develop grit, and how we can help support grit in others. There are few people who wouldn't learn something from this book.”
—Scientific American (blog)
"An informative and inspiring contribution to the literature of success."
—Publishers Weekly
"Grit is a useful guide for parents or teachers looking for confirmation that passion and persistence matter, and for inspiring models of how to cultivate these important qualities."
—The Washington Post
"[Blends] anecdote and science, statistic and yarn...Not your grandpa's self-help book, but Duckworth's text is oddly encouraging, exhorting us to do better by trying harder, and a pleasure to read."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Engaging...With strong appeal for readers of Daniel H. Pink, Malcolm Gladwell, and Susan Cain, this is a must-have."
—Booklist
“Imagine that: a Philadelphia psychology professor setting the education world on fire with a one-syllable noun that just happens to define the city she currently calls home….Her book gives cause for hope and an immediate path to action.”
—Philly.com
“Psychologists have spent decades searching for the secret of success, but Angela Duckworth is the one who found it. In this smart and lively book, she not only tells us what it is, but also how to get it.”
—Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness
“A robust and engaging read, as Duckworth intersperses her own research with stories from her Chinese-American background, as well as interviews with high achievers in sport, business and the military…[The book includes a] riveting section on raising gritty children. When Duckworth suggests trashing the common parenting line ‘That’s OK, you tried your best’ and replacing it with the demanding yet supportive ‘That didn’t work. Let’s talk about how you approached it and what might work better,’ she made me want to cheer.”
—The Toronto Star
“A contemporary classic—a clarifying and deeply-researched book in the tradition of Stephen Covey and Carol Dweck. For anyone hoping to work smarter or live better, Grit is an essential—and perhaps life-changing—read.”
—Daniel H. Pink, New York Times-bestselling author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human
“Grit is a persuasive and fascinating response to the cult of IQ fundamentalism. Duckworth reminds us that it is character and perseverance that set the successful apart.”
—Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers
"Angela Duckworth [is] the psychologist who has made 'grit' the reigning buzzword in education-policy circles...Duckworth's ideas about the cultivation of tenacity have clearly changed some lives for the better...In this book, Duckworth, whose TED talk has been viewed more than eight million times, brings her lessons to the reading public."
—Judith Shulevitz, The New York Times Book Review
“Impressively fresh and original…Grit scrubs away preconceptions about how far our potential can take us.”
—Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
“Fascinating. Angela Duckworth pulls together decades of psychological research, inspiring success stories from business and sports, and her own unique personal experience and distills it all into a set of practical strategies to make yourself and your children more motivated, more passionate, and more persistent at work and at school.”
—Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed
“This book will change your life. Fascinating, rigorous, and practical, Grit is destined to be a classic in the literature of success.”
—Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick, Switch, and Decisive
“Utterly captivating, inspiring and original…Once you pick up Grit, you won't be able to tear yourself away.”
—Amy Cuddy, Harvard Business School professor and author of Presence
“Enlightening…Grit teaches that life’s high peaks aren’t necessarily conquered by the naturally nimble but, rather, by those willing to endure, wait out the storm, and try again.”
—Ed Viesturs, Seven-Time Climber of Mount Everest and author of No Shortcuts to the Top
“I kept wanting to read this book aloud—to my child, my husband, to everyone I care about. There are no shortcuts to greatness, it's true. But there is a roadmap, and you are holding it.”
—Amanda Ripley, author of The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way
“Readable, compelling and totally persuasive. The ideas in this book have the potential to transform education, management and the way its readers live. Angela Duckworth’s Grit is a national treasure.”
—Lawrence H. Summers, Former Secretary of the Treasury and President Emeritus at Harvard University
“Masterful…Grit offers a truly sane perspective: that true success comes when we devote ourselves to endeavors that give us joy and purpose.”
—Arianna Huffington, author of Thrive
“I’m convinced there are no more important qualities in striving for excellence than those that create true grit...I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.”
—Brad Stevens, Coach of the Boston Celtics
“Empowering…Angela Duckworth compels attention with her idea that regular individuals who exercise self-control and perseverance can reach as high as those who are naturally talented—that your mindset is as important as your mind.”
—Soledad O’Brien, Chairman of Starfish MediaGroup and former co-anchor of CNN’s “American Morning”
“Invaluable…In a world where access to knowledge is unprecedented, this book describes the key trait of those who will optimally take advantage of it. Grit will inspire everyone who reads it to stick to something hard that they have a passion for.”
—Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy
“A combination of rich science, compelling stories, crisp graceful prose, and appealingly personal examples…Without a doubt, this is the most transformative, eye-opening book I’ve read this year.”
—Sonja Lyubomirsky, Professor, University of California, Riverside and author of The How of Happiness
“Incredibly important…There is deeply embodied grit, which is born of love, purpose, truth to one's core under ferocious heat, and a relentless passion for what can only be revealed on the razor’s edge; and there is the cool, patient, disciplined cultivation and study of resilience that can teach us all how to get there. Angela Duckworth's masterpiece straddles both worlds, offering a level of nuance that I haven’t read before.”
—Josh Waitzkin, International Chess Master, Tai Chi Push Hands World Champion, and author of The Art of Learning
“A thoughtful and engaging exploration of what predicts success. Grit takes on widespread misconceptions and predictors of what makes us strive harder and push further…Duckworth’s own story, wound throughout her research, ends up demonstrating her theory best; passion and perseverance make up grit.”
—Tory Burch, Chairman, CEO and Designer of Tory Burch
“I love an idea that challenges our conventional wisdom and 'grit' does just that! Put aside what you think you know about getting ahead and outlasting your competition, even if they are more talented. Getting smarter won't help you—sticking with it, will!”
—Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why and Leaders Eat Last
“Profoundly important. For eons, we've been trapped inside the myth of innate talent. Angela Duckworth shines a bright light into a truer understanding of how we achieve. We owe her a great debt.”
—David Shenk, author of The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ
“An important book...In these pages, the leading scholarly expert on the power of grit (what my mom called 'stick-to-it-iveness') carries her message to a wider audience, using apt anecdotes and aphorisms to illustrate how we can usefully apply her insights to our own lives and those of our kids.”
—Robert D. Putnam, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard and author of Bowling Alone and Our Kids
“This book gets into your head, which is where it belongs…For educators who want our kids to succeed, this is an indispensable read.”
—Joel Klein, former Chancellor, New York City public schools
“Grit delivers! Angela Duckworth shares the stories, the science, and the positivity behind sustained success…A must-read.”
—Barbara Fredrickson, author of Positivity and Love 2.0 and President of the International Positive Psychology Association
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Product details
- Publisher : Scribner; Reprint edition (August 21, 2018)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1501111116
- ISBN-13 : 978-1501111112
- Item Weight : 12 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.92 x 8.38 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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An uplifting book on how to come back from setbacks.
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Highly recommend to my by mentor and it was a great read
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About the author

Dr Angela Duckworth is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an expert in non-IQ competencies, including grit and self-control. A highly sought-after international speaker, her TED talk on grit has been viewed by over 10 million people.
Duckworth’s hypothesis that the real guarantor of success may not be inborn talent but a special blend of resilience and single-mindedness grew out of her upbringing: as a child her scientist father lovingly bemoaned the fact his daughter was ‘no genius’. Duckworth was determined to prove him wrong and spent her youth smashing through every academic barrier. As an adult she became focused on proving her theory and to find out if grit can be learned or cultivated. It was out of this that she created her own Character Lab at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2016
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The most striking matter I've found about this book doesn't really relate to the book per se. I've discovered that a lot of the more "official" reviews, such as the New Yorker, are being utterly pretentious and vilifying this book based on arguments that Angela Duckworth never made or even implied. I was shocked to see the radical difference between the contents of the book and the disparaging reviews that were being dishonest in their representation of both her research and her as a person. I was in disbelief until I read her perspective on her TEDTalk in her own book where she mentions, in much nicer words than I'm describing, how the CEO of TED basically asked her to dumb down her information to the public about her findings. The TEDTalk and the arguments against her feel and sound like they're calling her bluff about nonsense the public has heard before, specifically because she was requested to tone down the information. So, it's unfair. It's unfair of us to judge her based on her TEDTalk and those shockingly disingenuous reviews. I wouldn't honestly be saying this had I not done the same prior to reading her book on a whim.
Long story short: this book isn't about education policy and never claimed to be. This book is for individuals and parents who want to learn what encourages people to find a passion, how to learn to work at that passion for a long term, and how we internalize a greater purpose for ourselves and others by following through with commitments that we feel strongly about. Grit was never about making kids better with grades. Nevertheless, this can only apply to grades, if kids care about the classes they take, but this book is more oriented towards extracurricular activities and encouraging them in kids early, it was never about trying to force kids to be passionate or persevere in grades on subjects they don't care about. Duckworth even explains the problems trying to force people to be passionate about subject matter that they don't care about.
In Duckworth's book, her interviews and general research have found that people who are very successful in their careers didn't simply find their passion from one incident. They discovered tidbits or gained encouragement from loved ones multiple time. As Duckworth puts it: Again, and again, and again. People might be happy to know that there isn't a specific parenting style, you just shouldn't devalue or tell your child the interest is bad, if you want to encourage their growth. Moreover, even if a child follows with an activity the parent has misgivings about like joining a music band, evidence shows that sticking to it for more than a year (generally 2 years) is likely to encourage them to stick to future goals when they discover a new passion. In the long term, the "grit" mindset of following through with your intrinsic passion can have long-term benefits. Also, much of the passion and perseverance doesn't come from pushing through adversity, but rather being encouraged to follow your intrinsic motivation. Children need encouraging parents and teachers, we need encouraging friends, and - most of all - we need a sense that what we're doing is meaningful for both ourselves and a greater society. I began realizing that a lot of the passion in the passion and perseverance rubric could apply to the immediate feedback loop that video games give people. Generally, we can immediately ascertain gains and losses and the techniques for how to improve are either instructed in the game itself or can be found from tips online. Having a community of friends to talk to about games like Dragon Quest or Dragon Age is self-reinforcing.
I'm somewhat hesitant to jot down a list of the crucial parts of her research, because I'm often afraid that I'm simply not giving this book and it's author due credit by paraphrasing and potentially taking her out of context. I'm particularly hesitant because of how thoroughly people have insulted caricatures of her work instead of the work itself. When people begin counting terminology and the number of times a word was used, I begin to question whether they had ever even read her book at all. I was really disappointed with so many reviews that conflate Carol Dwreck and Angela Duckworth's research with their personality characteristics. This isn't even isolated to women or even people who exist in the present-day. I just keep spotting this same pattern and when I read someone's work, it's largely incredibly different from what accusers espouse that their work contains. I don't want to contribute to that form of misinformation, even if subconsciously, and I don't like taking someone's words out of context as I see so often done.
Overall, I enjoyed her book thoroughly, but I couldn't personally identify with the parenting chapter and the chapter after it seemed like it was simply filling space with anecdotes. Angela Duckworth seems to write in a journalistic fashion just like Carol Dwreck, they both utilize anecdotes to give people a more impressionable affect and it probably helps the average reader to remember more. I prefer Heidi Grant Halvorson's more personalized writing style where she presents the reader with questionable assumptions about life and then presents the evidence to explain the reasoning behind why the research is valuable and how it can improve lives.
However, those who stayed and those who dropped out during the Beast, had indistinguishable scores. Both the Army and Dr. Duckworth were perplexed by the question: “Who spends two years trying to get into a place and then drops out in the first two months?”
What emerged from Duckworth’s work on the problem was the Grit Scale—a test that measures the extent to which you approach life with grit. Grit turned out to be an astoundingly reliable predictor of who made it through and who did not.
The Grit Scale was tested with sales people, among others, who are subject to the daily hardship of rejection. In an experiment involving hundreds of men and women who sold vacation time-share, Grit predicted who stayed and who left. Similar results were found in other demanding professions such as education.
“I came to a fundamental insight that would guide my future work,” explains Duckworth. “Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.”
Natural talent as the explanation of success, according to sociologist, Professor Dan Chambliss, “is perhaps the most pervasive lay explanation we have for athletic success.” However, his research led him to the conclusion that the minimal talent needed to succeed, is lower than most of us think.
“Without effort, your talent is nothing more than your unmet potential. Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t. With effort, talent becomes skill, and effort makes skill productive.”
Grammy Award–winning musician and Oscar-nominated actor, Will Smith, says of himself: “I’ve never really viewed myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is a ridiculous, sickening work ethic.”
Too many of us, it appears, give up far too early and far too often.
Duckworth’s research has led her to the conclusion that Grit has four components: interest, practice, passion, and hope.
According to the meta-analysis of sixty studies conducted over the past sixty years, employees whose personal interests fit with their occupations, do their jobs better, are more helpful to their co-workers, and stay at their jobs longer.
Of course, just because you love something doesn’t mean you will excel at it. Many people are poor at the things they love. Many of the Grit paragons interviewed by Duckworth spent years exploring several different interests before discovering the one that eventually came to occupy all of their waking thoughts. “While we might envy those who love what they do for a living, we shouldn’t assume that they started from a different place than the rest of us. Chances are, they took quite some time figuring out exactly what they wanted to do with their lives,” she explains.
The second requirement of Grit is practice. Numerous interviews of Grit paragons revealed that they are all committed to continuous improvement. There are no exceptions. This continuous improvement leads to a gradual improvement of their skills over years.
“That there’s a learning curve for skill development isn’t surprising. But the timescale on which that development happens is,” Duckworth discovered. Anders Ericsson’s work with a German music academy revealed that those who excelled, practised about 10,000 hours over ten years before achieving elite levels of expertise. The less accomplished practised half as much.
Ericsson’s crucial insight is not that experts practice much more, but that they practice very deliberately. Experts are more interested in correcting what they do wrong rather than what they did right, until conscious incompetence becomes unconscious competence.
Dancer Martha Graham says “Dancing appears glamorous, easy, delightful. But the path to the paradise of that achievement is not easier than any other. There is fatigue so great that the body cries even in its sleep. There are times of complete frustration. There are daily small deaths.”
Gritty people do more deliberate practice than others.
The third component of Grit is purpose, the desire to contribute to the well-being of others. If Grit starts with a relatively self-oriented interest to which self-disciplined practice is added, the end point is integrating that work with an other-centred purpose.
“The long days and evenings of toil, the setbacks and disappointments and struggle, the sacrifice—all this is worth it because, ultimately, their efforts pay dividends to other people,” Duckworth identified. Most Gritty people saw their ultimate aims as deeply connected to the world beyond themselves.
The bricklayer may have a job laying bricks so he can pay for food. He may later see bricklaying as his career, and later still as a calling to build beautiful homes for people. It is this last group who seem most satisfied with their jobs and their lives overall, and missed at least a third fewer days of work than those with merely a job or a career as opposed to a calling.
The final component of Grit is hope, but a different kind to the “hopium” many embrace. It is the expectation that our own efforts can improve our future. The hope that creates Grit has nothing to do with luck, so failure is a cue to try harder, rather than as confirmation that one lacks ability.
The book also includes chapters on developing Gritty children, sports teams, and companies.
It is a book for those who relish solid research and well-reasoned conclusions. It is highly motivational, in a mature and thoughtful way. Get the book. Work it, and share the knowledge. It could be transformative.
Readability Light ---+- Serious
Insights High +---- Low
Practical High -+--- Low
*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of Strategy that Works.
Top reviews from other countries

1.If you think of the overall well-being of people around you, you tend to be more successful in the long run
2.Deliberate practice makes you better at a skill
3.While learning something different, the first stage of introduction needs to be interesting and playful, strenuous efforts are required at a later stage
For finding these takeaways, you need to pass through the vast jungle of psychology study and data. On certain occasions it feels like research has been done for certain evident things also. This makes it boring on certain occasions.
However, it is an intelligent book challenging conventional wisdom and places the required prerogative on the importance of efforts above everything else.




I would wholly recommend to anyone especially, parents , teachers and coaches.