Grit: the power of passion and perseverance | Angela Lee Duckworth

Summary

The speaker, a former teacher turned psychologist, discusses the importance of 'grit' over IQ in achieving success. Through various studies, including West Point Military Academy and the National Spelling Bee, the speaker found that grit—a combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals—was the key predictor of success. The speaker emphasizes the need for a better understanding of how to cultivate grit, especially in education, and highlights the concept of a 'growth mindset' as a potential method to foster resilience and hard work in students.

Takeaways

• 🎓 The speaker transitioned from a demanding job in management consulting to teaching, highlighting the challenges of educating seventh graders in New York City.
• 🧠 IQ was found to not be the sole differentiator between the speaker's top and bottom students, suggesting other factors contribute to academic success.
• 🤔 The realization prompted the speaker to pursue psychology to better understand the motivational and psychological aspects of student learning.
• 🎯 The speaker's research across various challenging settings consistently identified 'grit' as a significant predictor of success, beyond IQ or talent.
• 🏆 Grit is defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, requiring stamina and a commitment to work hard over time.
• 🏫 A study in Chicago public schools showed that grittier students were more likely to graduate, even when controlling for other factors.
• 🚀 The importance of grit extends beyond academic settings, being relevant in military training, spelling bees, teaching, and sales roles.
• 🤷‍♀️ The speaker admits the limited understanding of how to build grit in children, despite its clear impact on success.
• 🌱 The concept of a 'growth mindset', developed by Carol Dweck, is suggested as a potential method for fostering grit by emphasizing the changeability of learning abilities.
• 💡 The speaker calls for more ideas and research to effectively cultivate grit in children, emphasizing the need for testing and learning from failures.
• 🔄 The final message encourages embracing a gritty approach to improving educational strategies, acknowledging the iterative process of trial and error.

Q & A

Why did the speaker leave their job in management consulting to become a teacher?

The speaker was driven by a desire to understand the difference between their best and worst students, noticing that IQ was not the sole factor in their success.

What did the speaker conclude about the importance of IQ in relation to success in school and life?

The speaker concluded that success in school and life depends on more than just the ability to learn quickly and easily, suggesting that IQ is not the only determinant of success.

What led the speaker to pursue a career in psychology after leaving the classroom?

The speaker's curiosity about the motivational and psychological aspects of learning led them to graduate school to become a psychologist.

Which institutions did the speaker and their research team visit to study grit and success?

The speaker and their team visited West Point Military Academy, the National Spelling Bee, schools in tough neighborhoods, and private companies to study grit and success.

What is the definition of 'grit' according to the speaker?

Grit is described as passion and perseverance for very long-term goals, having stamina, and sticking with one's future over the long term.

What did the speaker find when they studied grit in the Chicago public schools?

The speaker found that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when matched on other characteristics like family income and test scores.

Why is the concept of 'grit' considered important for students, especially those at risk for dropping out?

Grit is important because it helps students stick with their education over the long term, which is crucial for those who might otherwise drop out.

What is the 'growth mindset' and how is it related to building grit in kids?

The 'growth mindset' is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed and can change with effort. It helps build grit by encouraging perseverance when faced with failure.

What does the speaker suggest is the best idea they've heard for building grit in kids?

The speaker suggests the 'growth mindset' as the best idea for building grit, as it promotes the belief that failure is not permanent and effort can lead to improvement.

What does the speaker emphasize as a necessary approach to further understand and develop grit?

The speaker emphasizes the need to test ideas and intuitions, measure success, and be willing to fail and learn from mistakes in order to develop grit.

What is the speaker's final call to action regarding the development of grit in children?

The speaker calls for a gritty approach to making children grittier, implying that the process of developing grit in children requires persistence and resilience.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Impact of Grit on Success

The speaker, a former teacher turned psychologist, shares her journey from the classroom to research, focusing on the concept of 'grit'. She observed that IQ was not the sole differentiator between high- and low-performing students. After years of studying individuals in challenging environments, she found that grit—a combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals—was a significant predictor of success across various fields. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding and nurturing grit in students, especially those at risk of dropping out, and acknowledges the limited knowledge on how to build this trait.

05:03

🌱 Cultivating Grit Through Growth Mindset

Building on the concept of grit, the speaker introduces the idea of a 'growth mindset', developed by Dr. Carol Dweck at Stanford University. This mindset is the belief that one's ability to learn can change with effort. The speaker explains that teaching children about the brain's capacity to grow in response to challenges can foster perseverance in the face of failure. While the growth mindset is a promising approach, the speaker calls for more research and practical strategies to effectively cultivate grit in children, concluding with an encouragement to embrace a gritty approach in our educational endeavors.

Keywords

💡IQ

IQ stands for 'Intelligence Quotient' and is a measure of a person's cognitive abilities relative to their age group. In the video, the speaker initially assumed that IQ was the main differentiator between their best and worst students, but later realized that it was not the only factor. The script mentions, 'IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students.'

💡Grit

Grit is defined as 'passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.' It is a central theme of the video, emphasizing the importance of resilience and sustained effort over time. The speaker illustrates this with the metaphor of life being a marathon, not a sprint, and highlights that 'grittier kids' are more likely to graduate.

💡Motivation

Motivation refers to the psychological factors that drive an individual's behavior towards a goal. The speaker concluded that understanding students' motivation from a psychological perspective is crucial for educational success. The script states, 'what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning, from a motivational perspective.'

💡Success

Success in the context of the video is not solely determined by traditional measures like IQ but is significantly predicted by grit. The speaker's research found that grittier individuals were more likely to succeed in various challenging settings, such as the military academy, spelling bees, and teaching careers.

💡Persistence

Persistence is the ability to continue despite obstacles or difficulties. It is a key component of grit, as the speaker explains that 'grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out.' The video suggests that persistence is more critical for long-term achievement than innate talent.

💡Stamina

Stamina refers to the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort. In the video, the speaker equates grit with stamina, suggesting that the capacity to endure over time is essential for achieving long-term goals, as exemplified by the phrase 'Grit is having stamina.'

💡Talent

Talent is the natural aptitude or skill in a particular area. The video challenges the notion that talent alone leads to success, as the speaker's data shows that many talented individuals do not follow through on their commitments. The script states, 'talent doesn't make you gritty.'

💡Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work, rather than being fixed traits. The speaker suggests that fostering a growth mindset in children can help build grit, as it encourages them to persevere through challenges. The script mentions, 'the best idea I've heard about building grit in kids is something called "growth mindset."'

💡Challenge

Challenge in the video represents difficult situations or tasks that require effort and resilience to overcome. The speaker's research indicates that understanding how individuals respond to challenges is key to predicting success. The script refers to this with examples like 'in all kinds of super challenging settings.'

💡Education

Education is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and understanding. The video discusses the need for a better understanding of students' learning from a motivational and psychological perspective within the educational system. The speaker's initial experience as a teacher in New York City public schools sparked their interest in this field.

💡Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, particularly those affecting behavior. The speaker's journey into psychology was driven by the desire to understand what makes students succeed beyond traditional measures like IQ. The script states, 'So I left the classroom, and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist.'

Highlights

The speaker left a demanding job in management consulting to teach seventh graders math in New York City public schools.

IQ was found not to be the only difference between the best and worst students, with some high performers not having high IQ scores.

The speaker believes that all students can learn the material if they work hard and long enough, despite the difficulty of seventh-grade math concepts.

After years of teaching, the speaker concluded that education needs a better understanding of students and learning from a motivational and psychological perspective.

The speaker left the classroom to become a psychologist and study success in various challenging settings.

Grit, not IQ, social intelligence, looks, or physical health, emerged as a significant predictor of success in different contexts studied.

Grit is defined as passion and perseverance for very long-term goals, having stamina, and working hard to make the future a reality.

A study in Chicago public schools showed that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, even when matched on other characteristics.

The speaker emphasizes the shocking lack of knowledge and science about building grit.

Parents and teachers often ask about building grit in kids, but the speaker admits not knowing the answer.

Talent does not necessarily make one gritty, as many talented individuals do not follow through on commitments.

The best idea for building grit in kids mentioned is the 'growth mindset' concept developed by Carol Dweck at Stanford University.

Growth mindset is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed and can change with effort.

Learning about the brain and its growth in response to challenge makes kids more likely to persevere when they fail.

The speaker calls for more ideas and research on building grit, emphasizing the need to test ideas, measure success, and be willing to fail and learn.

The speaker concludes by saying we need to be gritty about getting our kids grittier and ends with a call to action for further work in this area.

Transcripts

Transcriber: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

When I was 27 years old,

I left a very demanding job in management consulting

for a job that was even more demanding: teaching.

I went to teach seventh graders math

in the New York City public schools.

And like any teacher, I made quizzes and tests.

I gave out homework assignments.

When the work came back, I calculated grades.

What struck me was that IQ was not the only difference

between my best and my worst students.

Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores.

Some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well.

And that got me thinking.

The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math,

sure, they're hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram.

But these concepts are not impossible,

and I was firmly convinced that every one of my students

could learn the material

if they worked hard and long enough.

After several more years of teaching,

I came to the conclusion that what we need in education

is a much better understanding of students and learning

from a motivational perspective,

from a psychological perspective.

In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ.

But what if doing well in school and in life

depends on much more

than your ability to learn quickly and easily?

So I left the classroom,

and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist.

I started studying kids and adults

in all kinds of super challenging settings,

and in every study my question was,

who is successful here and why?

My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy.

We tried to predict which cadets

would stay in military training and which would drop out.

We went to the National Spelling Bee

and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition.

We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods,

asking which teachers are still going to be here in teaching

by the end of the school year,

and of those, who will be the most effective

at improving learning outcomes for their students?

We partnered with private companies, asking,

which of these salespeople is going to keep their jobs?

And who's going to earn the most money?

In all those very different contexts,

one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success.

And it wasn't social intelligence.

It wasn't good looks, physical health,

and it wasn't IQ.

It was grit.

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

Grit is having stamina.

Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out,

not just for the week, not just for the month,

but for years,

and working really hard to make that future a reality.

Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.

A few years ago,

I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools.

I asked thousands of high school juniors

to take grit questionnaires,

and then waited around more than a year

to see who would graduate.

Turns out that grittier kids

were significantly more likely to graduate,

even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure,

things like family income,

standardized achievement test scores,

even how safe kids felt when they were at school.

So it's not just at West Point or the National Spelling Bee

that grit matters.

It's also in school,

especially for kids at risk for dropping out.

To me, the most shocking thing about grit

is how little we know,

how little science knows, about building it.

Every day, parents and teachers ask me,

"How do I build grit in kids?

What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic?

How do I keep them motivated for the long run?"

The honest answer is,

I don't know.

(Laughter)

What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty.

Our data show very clearly

that there are many talented individuals

who simply do not follow through on their commitments.

In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated

or even inversely related to measures of talent.

So far, the best idea I've heard about building grit in kids

is something called "growth mindset."

This is an idea developed at Stanford University by Carol Dweck,

and it is the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed,

that it can change with your effort.

Dr. Dweck has shown

that when kids read and learn about the brain

and how it changes and grows in response to challenge,

they're much more likely to persevere when they fail,

because they don't believe that failure is a permanent condition.

So growth mindset is a great idea for building grit.

But we need more.

And that's where I'm going to end my remarks,

because that's where we are.

That's the work that stands before us.

We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions,

and we need to test them.

We need to measure whether we've been successful,

and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong,

to start over again with lessons learned.

In other words, we need to be gritty

about getting our kids grittier.

Thank you.

(Applause)