Dolly Parton once said, “Above everything else I’ve done, I’ve always said I have more guts than talent.” Some say the key differentiator for achieving success in business and life is simply something called “grit.” Grit is a combination of passion and perseverance for achieving long term goals. It is the key as to why some succeed, and others don’t. It is living life understanding it’s a marathon, not a sprint. It is something often displayed by athletes but is a particularly useful tool to have as a businesswoman.
Grit is a predictor of success. It is the belief and the sheer bloody-mindedness that will get us through every time. Someone with grit will display some or all of the following traits:

Courage – Although hard to measure courage is relatable to your level of grit, or your ability to manage your fear levels.

Conscientiousness – Someone who is conscientious tirelessly tries to do a good job and completes the task at hand. This person understands how important it is to go for the gold rather than just show up for practice.

Resilience Optimism, Confidence, and Creativity – Each journey involves a few stumble’s along the way. But what is it that gives you the strength to get up, dust yourself off and keep going? Resilience, the ability to keep yourself on track while dealing with surprises. Resilience requires optimism, creativity, and confidence; these will enable you to look at the situation and reassess. It’s what makes you pull yourself together and keep moving forward; it helps you persevere despite whatever obstacles you face along the way. Gritty people believe, “everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, it is not the end.”

Excellence vs Perfection – Gritty people, don’t strive for perfection, they are aiming for excellence. Perfection is pedantic, unforgiving and inflexible. Perfection is someone else’s perception of an ideal, pursuing it is like chasing a hallucination. Excellence is an attitude, not an endgame. It is far more forgiving, allowing and embracing failure and vulnerability on the ongoing quest for improvement. It allows for disappointment and prioritises progress over perfection. Like excellence, grit is an attitude about seeking, striving, finding, and never yielding.

Resource: TED talk by Angela Lee Duckworth here…