Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

by Angela Duckworth

Angela Duckworth sets out to prove that talent alone is not enough to succeed in life. I have learned the importance of grit in achieving success. Angela describes grit as passion and perseverance. She uses real-life examples to illustrate this such as her teaching experience, psychology, statistical studies such as the treadmill test as well as stories of numerous award-winning characters such as Will Smith and leaders such as George Bush. These examples prove that effort builds skills and makes skills productive. Making use of the grit scale has helped me self-reflect on my goals and whether they are linked to one goal of supreme importance. This grit scale exercise teaches you how to persevere when faced with rejection. She also explains how we can grow grit from the inside through interest, practice, purpose, and hope and also on the outside using coaches and mentors. She asserts that the beginning of passion is discovery through exploring different interests for example in your career journey. This book is very informative and I highly recommend it.

Nancy Oundo

Rating: 5 Recommended

 

 

Grit serves as a much-needed reminder of the effort and time needed to become successful. Angela Duckworth highlights the importance of hard work and persistence in achieving one’s goals. By focusing on the key facets that make a person gritty in each chapter. She writes about Passion, perseverance, purpose, interest, practice, and hope that can allow us to endure even the toughest circumstances on our journeys to success. One aspect of the book I enjoyed was the Grit Scale. Being able to measure my grit was interactive, and it allowed me to gain a better understanding of what constituted grit. By answering 10 simple questions, readers can measure their grit on a scale from 1-5. These questions assess a reader’s ability to follow through with what they’ve started and their commitment and drive. Besides the Grit Scale, Duckworth also provides other exercises including a method to set goals by ordering them according to what speaks the most to our passions and purpose which was really fascinating to do. Throughout her book, Duckworth included a plethora of examples of gritty people and how they became successful. These stories are fascinating and made for a more interesting reach. We are all looking for some sort of secret to success. Angela Duckworth’s book, Grit: the Power of Passion and Perseverance, explores success, but she does so from a different angle. She introduces grit. This book can guide you towards becoming a more gritty person. It can also inspire you to be more dedicated, striving to reach your full potential. I would highly recommend everyone read this book.

Ryan Nduma 

Rating: 5 Recommended

 

 

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth was quite the eyeopener for me. All my life, I have always attributed success to talent. Every time I would settle on the couch beside my football-loving dad to watch football, he would make a remark like “Victor Wanyama is really talented”. Which he probably is but I have learnt that there is probably more to his success. Every time I come across such success, I find myself recalling Angela Duckworth’s wisdom-soaked words: “as much as talent counts, effort counts twice”. Angela Duckworth, the author, is a psychologist who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She pursued teaching for a few years, during which took note of a few things she noticed. The students who had the highest IQ tended to perform significantly below their potential, while, those who were considered hardworking did significantly better. Her observations led her to studying psychology, paving the way for what I would describe as the most enlightening book there is: Grit. Grit is a topic still yet to be explored. Duckworth has elucidated on the fact that she feels that she has merely scratched the surface of a mountain that contains the secret to the treasure we all seek: Success. Nevertheless, she is certain of one thing, that is “grit matters more than talent”. Angela Duckworth spent her book exploring the question of why certain people are successful and others aren’t. In her book, she recalls her visits to West Point Military Academy, the National Spelling Bee and a divergence of schools and businesses where she conducted various investigations. She describes the appraisals that she conducted and the evaluations she made in detail. The book also brings forth strategies to increase Grit, which include utilising passion, persevering, practising and believing that you will make progress (positive mindset). I was able to benefit from the grit scale frequently referenced in the book. Evaluating my level of grit was insightful. I was able to see where my weaknesses were and use Angela Duckworth’s advice to improve my grit. By the end of the book, I am proud to say that I improved on my level of grit. One thing that I will always carry with me, is that I, nor anybody else, is limited by their “talent”; we are all capable of achieving beyond what all IQ tests would claim are our limits. Without a shadow of doubt, I highly recommend this book to anyone who can access it. The insight it provides on success is life-changing. Anyone who is feeling stuck with their goals or is struggling to make progress with their goals would benefit insurmountably from reading Grit.

Megan Kamau 

Rating: 5 Recommended