What is Grit? 8 Things You’re Not Doing That Actually Work

This article’s all about grit, the #1 trait for long-term success. If you think building grit is about “powering through,” you’re missing the key ingredients. Let’s dive in!

My friend Anna is not, by any definition, a “natural runner.” When she signed up for her first marathon, she was the person who got winded walking up a steep flight of stairs. The first few weeks of training were rough. Her shins screamed, her lungs burned, and every single morning, her brain gave her a thousand very convincing reasons to just stay in bed.

Many people would have quit. And honestly, no one would have blamed her.

But Anna didn’t. Last April, I stood on a crowded street corner and watched her cross the finish line, exhausted and limping, but with a massive, glowing smile on her face.

What’s the secret sauce that separates the people who finish from the people who just start? Is it talent? Luck? Some superhuman gene?

Nope—it’s grit.

And the good news is, you can learn it, too!

What Is Grit, Really?

Grit is this sustained dedication and effort in the face of challenges and setbacks that is a key predictor of success, often more so than innate talent.

In a nutshell, you can thank researcher and author Angela Duckworth for this term. After studying everyone from West Point cadets to National Spelling Bee champions, she boiled it down to this:

Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.

Think marathon over sprint. Stamina over speed. It’s about sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years.

But here’s what most people get wrong: You don’t get more grit by just gritting your teeth and “powering through.” It’s a skill, built through specific, learnable, and often surprising habits.

Ready to build yours? Here are eight things you might not be doing.

Talk to Yourself Like a Coach, Not a Critic

What you’re probably doing: Berating yourself when you mess up.

What to do instead: Use instructional and motivational self-talk.

When you stumble, what’s the voice in your head saying? Is it, “You idiot, you always do this!” or is it, “Okay, that didn’t work. What can we try next time? Let’s refocus.”

Elite athletes and performers know this secret, according to research (source). A good coach wouldn’t scream that you’re worthless. They’d point out the mistake and remind you that you have what it takes to fix it. Be your own coach.

Try This: Come up with a simple, encouraging phrase you can say to yourself when you’re struggling. Something like, “Keep your feet moving,” or “Just one more step.” It’s surprisingly effective. Better yet, make it personal: 417 Daily Positive Affirmations For Personal Growth

Practice Deliberately, Not Mindlessly

What you’re probably doing: Putting in 10,000 hours of the same old thing.

What to do instead: Focus on what you can’t do.

The idea of 10,000 hours of practice leading to mastery is famous, but the secret ingredient is that the practice must be deliberate. Coined by psychologist Anders Ericsson, deliberate practice involves breaking down a skill, zeroing in on a specific weakness, and working on it with intense focus and immediate feedback.

Just running five miles every day isn’t deliberate practice. Running five miles with a focus on improving your cadence in the last mile, then checking your watch for data afterward? That’s deliberate practice.

Try This: Whatever you’re working on, ask yourself: “What’s the single hardest part of this for me?” Isolate that one thing and work only on it for 15 minutes. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s where all the growth happens. For example:

• Playing Guitar: Don’t play the whole song. For 15 minutes, just practice the one difficult chord change you always fumble (like G to C) over and over.

• Giving a Speech: Stop rehearsing the entire speech. For 15 minutes, practice only your opening line until it feels completely natural.

• Learning a Language: Can’t roll your R’s in Spanish? For 15 minutes, do nothing but drills for that specific sound.

• Improving at the Gym: Can’t do a pull-up? For 15 minutes, just jump to the bar and practice lowering yourself down as slowly as possible to build strength.

Find Your “Ultimate Concern”

What you’re probably doing: Setting a goal, like “I want to get a promotion.”

What to do instead: Connect that goal to something bigger than yourself.

Duckworth found that people with the highest levels of grit don’t just have a goal; they have what she calls an “ultimate concern.” It’s a top-level life philosophy that gives meaning to everything else you do.

Your goal might be to get a promotion. But why? To better support your family? To earn the resources to start a non-profit? To become a mentor who can lift others up? That deeper meaning is the fuel you’ll burn when your motivation runs dry.

Try This: Ask yourself “Why?” five times. Start with your goal (e.g., “I want to learn to code”). Why? “To get a better job.” Why? “To have more financial security.” Why? “So I can worry less and be more present with my family.” Why? “Because that’s what a meaningful life looks like to me.” Boom! There’s your fuel.

If you’re trying to find more purpose in life, you’re not alone! Read on: 20 Steps to Become the Best Version of Yourself in 2025

Adopt a Growth Mindset (For Real)

What you’re probably doing: Telling yourself you’re either “good” or “bad” at something.

What to do instead: Add the word “yet” to your self-talk.

This is the groundbreaking work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck. She found people have two different mindsets:

1. People with a fixed mindset believe their abilities are set in stone. When they fail, it’s a verdict.
2. People with a growth mindset believe their abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. When they fail, it’s a lesson.

Try This: The next time you catch yourself thinking, “Ugh, I’m terrible at public speaking,” stop and add the magic word: “I’m not great at public speaking yet.” It’s a small tweak that reframes the entire challenge from a dead end into a journey.

In fact, you CAN harness your inner thoughts! Check out our guide: Take Control of Your Life By Silencing Your Inner Critic

Build Your Grit Crew

What you’re probably doing: Trying to be the lone hero.

What to do instead: Surround yourself with gritty people.

Grit is contagious. The attitudes and habits of the people around you directly influence your own perseverance. When your friends are pushing through their own struggles, your own challenges feel more manageable. They normalize the process.

Try This: Identify one person in your life who embodies grit. It could be a mentor, coworker, or best friend. Take them out for coffee and ask them about a time they wanted to quit but didn’t. Absorb their story. Better yet, find a group—a running club, a writers’ workshop, a professional mastermind—where perseverance is the price of admission.

Learn to Love the Plateau

What you’re probably doing: Getting frustrated when progress stalls.

What to do instead: Expect the dip and learn to see it as part of the process.

Author Seth Godin calls it “The Dip”—the long, hard slog between starting something new and finally achieving mastery. It’s where you stop getting rapid newbie gains and progress slows to a crawl. This is where most people quit. Do any of these examples sound familiar?

• You’ve learned enough Spanish to order a pizza on holiday, but now you’re stuck on verb tenses and can’t hold a real conversation.
• The first month at the gym was great (thanks, New Year’s resolution), but now your progress has completely stalled and you haven’t lifted heavier in weeks.
• You can play the four chords to your favorite song on the guitar, but you can’t master any barre chords.
• Your new side-hustle got a few exciting first sales, but now it’s nothing.
• You lost six pounds in the first two weeks of your new diet, but now the scale seems stuck on the same number.

Try This: When your progress flatlines, find a new way to keep score. If the scale won’t budge, celebrate that your jeans feel looser this week. If you can’t play the solo any faster, count how many times you can play it cleanly at half-speed. Focus on a different kind of win to keep your head in the game.

Learn to Quit… The Right Way

What you’re probably doing: Thinking grit means never, ever quitting anything.

What to do instead: Quit the things that are distracting you from your ultimate concern.

Wait, quitting? In an article about grit? Yes! This is the most misunderstood part of grit. Being gritty doesn’t mean blindly finishing every single thing you start. That will lead to burnout faster than an F1 tire on a racetrack.

True grit is about quitting the lower-level goals that are actively distracting you from your main, long-term passion. You might have to quit:

• A less-important hobby
• That side project you KNOW you’ll (eventually) get to
• A weekly group or committee

All in the name to free up the energy and focus needed for your ultimate concern. But—if your ultimate goal is that important, you’ll know it’s worth giving up the lesser goals anyway.

Try This: Look at your commitments. Is there anything you’re sticking with out of sheer obligation that’s draining the life out of you? Quitting that might be the grittiest thing you do all year.

Master the Art of the Reset

What you’re probably doing: Pushing until you completely burn out.

What to do instead: Treat rest and recovery as part of the training.

Grit is a marathon, and you can’t sprint a marathon. No one can maintain peak intensity indefinitely. In fact, it’s best to get rid of the “hustle” mentality altogether if you want to keep your head in the game long-term.

Take a look at this chart:

Try This: Schedule your downtime with the same seriousness you schedule your work. Put it in your calendar. A walk in nature, an hour of reading a novel, or just sitting quietly without your phone can be the most productive thing you do all day. Want a great routine? Check out: Evening Routine for Better Sleep: 6 Steps to Rest Easy

Real-Life Grit: Stories From People You Know

Think grit is just for athletes and entrepreneurs, or the “get hard or die trying” crowd? Think again. Some of the most inspiring stories of passion and perseverance come from the people we see on screen.

Their paths weren’t always as glamorous as they look today:

• J.K. Rowling: Before she created the magical world of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling was a single mother, recently divorced, and living on government benefits. She famously described herself as “the biggest failure I knew.” She wrote the initial novel on an old typewriter, often in cafés because she couldn’t afford to heat her own apartment. The finished manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected by twelve different publishers before a small London house, Bloomsbury, finally took a chance on it—reportedly only after the chairman’s eight-year-old daughter read the first chapter and demanded to know what happened next. Rowling’s grit was her unwavering belief in a story no one else wanted, a belief that eventually reshaped modern literature.
• Harrison Ford: Can you imagine telling Han Solo he doesn’t have what it takes? In the early 1970s, Harrison Ford was a struggling actor, unhappy with the big parts he was being offered. To support his young family, he put his acting dreams on the back burner and became a self-taught professional carpenter. He was working at Francis Ford Coppola’s house when a young director named George Lucas, who had given him a small part in American Graffiti, asked him to read lines with other actors auditioning for a new space movie. Lucas had no intention of casting Ford, wanting new faces. But Ford’s grumpy, lived-in reading was so perfect that he won the iconic role of Han Solo. His perseverance wasn’t just about going to auditions; it was about doing whatever it took to survive while keeping the passion alive.
• Oprah Winfrey: Today she is one of the most powerful and influential media figures in the world, but Oprah Winfrey’s early career was fraught with setbacks. At 22, she landed a job as a TV news co-anchor in Baltimore. It seemed like a dream come true, but it quickly soured. She was told she was too emotional, that she got too invested in the stories, and that her look wasn’t right for television. A producer famously told her she was “unfit for TV news,” and she was publicly demoted from her co-anchor role. For most people, that would be a career-ending humiliation. For Oprah, it was a redirection. The demotion moved her into a daytime talk show slot where her empathy and emotional connection—the very things she was criticized for—became her greatest assets, ultimately launching her media empire.

Want More? Watch These TED Talks on Grit

If you’re ready for a shot of inspiration combined with some fascinating science, these TED Talks are the perfect next step. Grab a coffee, get comfortable, and prepare to feel a surge of motivation!

• “Grit: The power of passion and perseverance” by Angela Duckworth. This is the talk that started it all. In just six minutes, Duckworth makes a powerful, evidence-based case for why grit is a better predictor of success than talent. If you watch one thing today, make it this.

• “The power of believing that you can improve” by Carol Dweck. Remember the “growth mindset” we talked about earlier? This is the talk from the brilliant psychologist who pioneered the research. Dweck explains how a simple shift in your thinking—understanding that your abilities can be developed—unlocks massive potential. It’s the “how” behind building your grit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU

• “Your elusive creative genius” by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is a beautiful talk about what it takes to do creative work. The author of Eat, Pray, Love offers a compassionate perspective on showing up to do the work, even when you’re scared. It’s a wonderful lesson in persevering through fear and self-doubt.

Ready to Go Deeper? Read These Books on Grit

Besides TED Talks, books are amazing to learn about personal stories and go even deeper into the specifics. Here are some great books I recommend:

• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. This is the definitive book on the subject. Duckworth expands on her viral TED Talk, sharing incredible stories and breaking down the science of what makes gritty people tick. It’s an absolute must-read that will reframe how you think about achievement!

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. If Duckworth’s book is the “what,” Dweck’s is the “how.” This book is a game-changer, revealing how a simple fixed vs. growth mindset can impact nearly every aspect of your life.

• Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool. Remember that point about “deliberate practice”? This book is the deep dive. Ericsson is the researcher who coined the term, and he explains exactly how the world’s top performers—from athletes to chess grandmasters—truly practice. It’s the ultimate guide to getting better at anything.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Grit

How do you increase your grit?

You can increase your grit by developing specific, actionable habits. Focus on connecting your work to a deeper, long-term purpose, adopting a growth mindset where challenges are opportunities, and using “deliberate practice” to work on your weaknesses. Crucially, building grit also involves mastering strategic rest to prevent burnout and maintain long-term effort.

Is grit more important than talent?**

Research by psychologist Angela Duckworth suggests that grit is often a more reliable predictor of long-term success than raw talent or IQ. While talent can give you a head start, grit is the stamina that determines if you persevere through the inevitable boredom, failure, and plateaus required to achieve true mastery.

What is the difference between grit and resilience?

Grit and resilience are related but distinct. Resilience is primarily about how you bounce back from adversity or a specific setback. Grit is a longer-term concept that includes resilience but also involves a proactive, sustained passion and perseverance toward a single, long-term goal, even in the absence of adversity.

Does having grit mean you should never quit?

No. In fact, a key part of grit is knowing what to quit. People with high levels of grit often strategically quit lower-level goals, distractions, or projects that are not aligned with their ultimate concern. This allows them to conserve and focus their energy on the one long-term passion that matters most.

Grit is All About You

Remember, grit is a practice, not a personality trait. As you leave, keep these core ideas in your back pocket:

• Grit trumps talent. Your passion and perseverance over the long haul will always be more valuable than a head start.
• Find your “ultimate concern.” Lasting motivation comes from connecting your goals to a deeper, meaningful purpose.
• Adopt a growth mindset. Believing you can improve is the non-negotiable first step. Challenges are opportunities, not verdicts.
• Practice deliberately. Focus on your weaknesses instead of just going through the motions. Fifteen minutes of focused, uncomfortable practice is worth more than two hours of mindless repetition.
• Rest is part of the work. Sustainable grit requires strategic renewal. The highest performers are masters of recovery, not burnout.
• Know when to quit. True grit isn’t about finishing everything; it’s about quitting the wrong things so you can focus all your energy on the right one.

You’ve just learned the framework for building long-term grit. But what about the day-to-day battle with distraction and delay that can get in the way?

If you’re ready to tackle the single biggest enemy of grit, your next read should be our deep dive: The Ultimate (Non-Lazy) Guide to Stopping Procrastination