Looking back on the years after graduate from university, I learned and experienced many new stuff in my spare time, I signed up Web school for English speaking practise, takes 4 levels Japanese classes, joined and then host English Reading clubs, tried Belly Dancing and some yoga classes in the gym, play zither and now learning visual scribing.. and many other one-time adventure/event..
For all those activies, none of them that I can keeping practise every single day, and the result apprears no good, I failed the Japanses N4 testing, no longer go to gym, no zither any more, until this month, I restart English reading club, July 5 is our first activity in this year .. it seems almost all the experiences are just a past tense, and I see nothing left in my life, just like they're not even existed..sometimes I asked myself, should I pick something up with me? how would it be if I can keep doing one thing I really like for a looooooong time, like ten years and more, I would be desperate to see what it will be.
And in my work, as well, I used to be a chemist researcher, then a chemical compliance specilist, i did some work trying to be a toxicologist, but not try that hard, then I try to be a product stewardship, i didn't get the chance. Not sure if you were like me, not really knowing what you want, or even you know it, are you easily give up like me? or you'll try something different for the goal?
Not long before I realized that is ability or capacity we call 'Gritty', and I'm start wondering how gritty I am, dose it nature or its something I can build in myself, like NOW? In the book 'GRIT: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success', a Grit Scale provided to help you measure it and understand yourself better, and I scored 2.4..
Also in the book, the author tells us that Grit has two components: Passion and Perseverance, and the grit scale are designed based on them basicly, good news is, your score is not fixed but may change, and it will improve once you make deliberate practices, as much as talent counts, effort counts twice. If so, then how can we have it?
In order to build grid, we will first need to understand why we drop out.
We may bring up a lot of answers (or excuses) for it, 'It's not interesting anymore.' 'It's not important to me.' 'I'm very busy, no time for that.' 'My effort is not worth it.' .. sounds familar? I would definately take all of them covering for my Japanese N4 testing failure, my quiting for zither and gym, my rejection for trying to be a toxiclogist..
There is nothing wrong with thoughts like these, while most important, paragons of grit don't swap compasses: when it comes to one, sigular important aim that guides almost everything elso we do, the very gritty tend not to utter the statements above. What you will need to do is to envision goals in a hierarchy, and think of the top level goal as a compass that gives direction and meaning to all the goals below it.
The research reveals the psychological assets that mature paragons of grit have in common, they are four.
First comes interest. Passion begins with intrinsically enjoying what you do. Every gritty person I’ve studied can point to aspects of their work they enjoy less than others, and most have to put up with at least one or two chores they don’t enjoy at all. Nevertheless, they’re captivated by the endeavor as a whole. With enduring fascination and childlike curiosity, they practically shout out, “I love what I do!”
Next comes the capacity to practice. One form of perseverance is the daily discipline of trying to do things better than we did yesterday. So, after you’ve discovered and developed interest in a particular area, you must devote yourself to the sort of focused, full-hearted, challenge-exceeding-skill practice that leads to mastery. You must zero in on your weaknesses, and you must do so over and over again, for hours a day, week after month after year. To be gritty is to resist complacency. “Whatever it takes, I want to improve!” is a refrain of all paragons of grit, no matter their particular interest, and no matter how excellent they already are.
Third is purpose. What ripens passion is the conviction that your work matters. For most people, interest without purpose is nearly impossible to sustain for a lifetime. It is therefore imperative that you identify your work as both personally interesting and, at the same time, integrally connected to the well-being of others. For a few, a sense of purpose dawns early, but for many, the motivation to serve others heightens after the development of interest and years of disciplined practice. Regardless, fully mature exemplars of grit invariably tell me, “My work is important—both to me and to others.”
And, finally, hope. Hope is a rising-to-the-occasion kind of perseverance. In this book, I discuss it after interest, practice, and purpose—but hope does not define the last stage of grit. It defines every stage. From the very beginning to the very end, it is inestimably important to learn to keep going even when things are difficult, even when we have doubts. At various points, in big ways and small, we get knocked down. If we stay down, grit loses. If we get up, grit prevails.”
There is an old saying 'If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go afar, go together', finding partners and ask/give feedbacks can help enforcing your gritty. Now review your goals and rank them, identify the highest hierarchy one and rethink the ones support it, for any of them you find not be able to acheive, try again, and then try something different, which easier for you but can support the top level goal as well, then do it.
Quote Odysseus 'As you set out for Ithaka hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery.'
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