Several years ago, I saw Angela Duckworth’s remarkable TED talk about the importance of grit and the ability to move on after difficulty. As we all face a certain amount of conflict in our lives, grit and resilience are key to success for most of us, regardless of the level of difficult we face, or even the way we define success. I later read Duckworth’s book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, and still believe that this part of an essential library for creative types.
While everyone faces the possibility of failure in life, one of the reasons it may be felt more keenly by performers is that we must make ourselves vulnerable, quite publicly, in order to do our jobs at all. We cannot hide in the shadows for long. So when things go wrong, we not only have to face that difficulty, but we must persevere in public, as well. It can feel like a lot of pressure, and “doing it anyway” is an über-important habit to build.
Seth Godin has touched on this idea over and over, making resilience a running theme in his blog, his books and his other work. Seth recently shared a list of those posts, curated by a friend, that could be a useful touchstone for your own gritty journey:
Nice title, built for us, right?
For me, the bottom line is this: GRIT is not (entirely) something you were born with. While a few people will be more predisposed to sticktoitiveness than others, determination is something that can not only built, but which can become such a lifelong habit that it feels instinctual. Just like learning a musical skill, the goal is to practice it until you don’t have to think about it anymore.