How to Develop Grit for Lasting Achievement: Lessons from Angela Duckworth’s Leading with Grit Class
A Practical Roadmap to Sustain Your Passion and Perseverance
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, Last Updated :
Mar 17, 2025
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Grit—often defined as passion and perseverance for especially long-term goals—has emerged as a cornerstone concept in performance psychology. Originating from the groundbreaking work of Angela Duckworth, grit explains why some individuals remain relentless in their pursuits, even when the odds seem stacked against them. For professionals and entrepreneurs, understanding how to cultivate grit can spell the difference between short-lived motivation and enduring success.
This article explores practical steps for nurturing grit, clarifies why it isn’t for everyone, and outlines how building the right environment can make or break your journey. Whether you’re leading a startup team, striving to scale a business, or simply looking to refine your leadership approach, you’ll find a focused guide to help you sustain your drive and reach significant milestones.
Grit is more than just resilience or resolve; it’s an ongoing commitment to a defining goal. According to Angela Duckworth, it involves both passion—steadfast loyalty to a pursuit—and perseverance—the ability to overcome hurdles repeatedly. While the definition seems straightforward, building grit requires sustained dedication over months or even years.
Some individuals may not feel compelled to chase ambitious goals, and that’s entirely acceptable. Grit becomes indispensable for those who crave growth, creativity, or large-scale impact. Many iconic figures illustrate the power of grit. A prime example is a story involving football legend Tom Brady. Caught jogging through a parking lot, he explained he was not just “getting in a workout”; he was “winning the Super Bowl.” This anecdote underscores a mindset that relentlessly ties daily effort to an overarching vision.
• Grit thrives when intense, long-term objectives drive every action.
• Not everyone has the privilege of cultivating grit; life constraints can limit or shape one’s capacity to pursue a singular passion.
• For those who do choose the gritty path, the benefits range from deeper fulfillment to higher professional rewards.
❗Tip: Before diving into a massive goal, ask yourself if you genuinely believe in it. True grit flourishes when you feel a strong personal resonance with what you’re doing.
2. The Five Steps to Building Grit
Below is a straightforward framework that illuminates how grit develops. While the specific journey varies from one person to another, these steps help clarify the process of discovering, refining, and sustaining a deeply held passion.
Step 1: Nurture Your Interests
Passion doesn’t typically appear out of thin air; it emerges from consistent exploration of different fields or ideas.
Early-stage interests tend to be broad and experimental. Much like a single-celled organism that bumps into an obstacle, then pivots in another direction, you benefit from trying multiple paths.
This discovery phase is crucial. It ensures that when you finally lock in on an interest, it’s backed by genuine curiosity, not fleeting excitement.
Step 2: Identify Strengths and Growth Areas
As you explore various pursuits, natural talents often come to light. Talents are areas where the rate of improvement is faster for you than for most people.
Yet talent alone doesn’t guarantee achievement. According to an oft-cited formula, “Talent × Effort = Skill, and Skill × Effort = Achievement.” Effort counts twice.
Self-awareness—knowing what you do well and which areas challenge you—lays the groundwork for focusing your efforts more effectively.
Step 3: Determine Your Long-Term Goal (Passion)
For truly gritty individuals, there’s a tipping point where ongoing interest transforms into a passion.
Although it may sometimes feel like a lightbulb moment, passion usually materializes after in-depth exploration and personal reflection.
If you’re unsure of your direction, consider studying people you admire. Understanding what compels you toward their achievements or lifestyle can yield valuable insights into your own aspirations.
Perseverance without genuine passion is unproductive at best and miserable at worst. Grit demands a deep-rooted connection to a specific calling.
Step 4: Engage in Deliberate Practice and Seek Feedback
Deliberate practice involves clear sub-goals, intense concentration, targeted feedback, and adequate rest.
Breaking tasks into smaller components—like playing a short musical phrase repeatedly or rehearsing a single golf swing—sharpens core skills.
Constructive critique from mentors or coaches is invaluable. Even with abundant free online resources, direct, personalized guidance often provides the final push toward excellence.
Gritty individuals learn to tolerate the sometimes mundane nature of practice by celebrating incremental improvements.
Step 5: Create a Supportive Environment
Contrary to the myth of the lone genius, gritty individuals often lean on peers, mentors, and teams for motivation and backup.
When you’ve poured your heart into a project, it’s normal to reach moments of near-exhaustion. Positive relationships and shared goals help pull you through inevitable low points.
Surrounding yourself with people who believe in your vision and can offer specialized help accelerates progress and magnifies impact.
⚡Important: True grit doesn’t imply you must do everything alone. Collaboration fuels motivation and often leads to broader achievements, reinforcing your passion in a virtuous cycle.
3. Leadership Lessons Informed by Grit
For professionals leading organizations or teams, grit transcends personal goal-setting. It shapes how you guide others to tackle demanding projects and maintain morale over extended timelines. Several leadership lessons emerge from grit-focused research, each reflecting practical ways to inspire a shared sense of determination:
Set Specific Goals but Connect Them to a Broader Vision
In workplaces, it’s not enough to simply assign tasks. Linking everyday duties to a larger purpose amplifies commitment.
Many leaders cite the famous “I’m not mopping floors; I’m putting a man on the moon” anecdote to emphasize how framing tasks within a grand mission can transform mindset.
Clear, challenging, publicly declared goals have a powerful psychological impact, often propelling people to follow through more consistently.
Communicate the ‘Why’ at the Right Time
After a setback, reiterating the destination can reignite hope. When momentum is high, focus on the journey to maintain a sense of collective flow.
Effective leaders tailor their message—be it a vision pitch or a rallying cry—according to the emotional state of the team.
Constructive Feedback: Forward-Looking and Personal
Asking for advice rather than generic feedback often yields more actionable insights. “Advice” prompts forward-focused, solution-based suggestions.
Credibility matters. Team members respond better if they believe the source is both knowledgeable and aligned with their aspirations.
Adopt a Balanced Mindset to Prevent Burnout
Gritty individuals, precisely because they care so deeply, can push themselves to exhaustion. Whether managing a high-stakes startup or a dynamic corporate environment, be vigilant about signs of burnout.
Encourage regular rest and self-care within your team structure. Sometimes, setting new goals or realigning priorities can reinvigorate motivation.
❗Tip: If you notice that your team or colleagues are consistently hitting a wall, it may be a signal to re-evaluate the complexity of your goals. Aim for stretching but achievable targets to keep morale and grit strong.
Grit is often described as a marathon, not a sprint. Staying committed through obstacles calls for self-awareness, strategic pivots, and openness to growth. While some individuals might discover a life’s calling quickly, many need multiple experiments or “false starts” before landing on a domain that captures their imagination long-term.
Interests, Values, Strengths, and Market Demand
True passion often lies where these four elements intersect. If your professional goals align with personal values and market needs, you’ll likely sustain effort longer.
Strive to understand not just what you love doing, but also how it can solve real-world problems.
The Hot Streak Phenomenon
Research from institutions like Kellogg suggests that many individuals experience a “hot streak” period in their career—a phase of unprecedented creativity or productivity.
This surge doesn’t necessarily correlate with age or formal milestones. It often appears when circumstances, preparation, and grit align.
Once a hot streak passes, some struggle with a motivational lull. Setting fresh, meaningful goals can help reignite that spark.
Group Flow and Collaborative Grit
Team success occasionally hinges on “group flow”—a collective immersion where everyone pursues a shared objective with laser focus.
Aligning individual passions with group deliverables requires thoughtful leadership. Effective leaders clarify roles, mediate conflicts, and sustain common purpose.
Encouraging synergy can multiply the effect of each member’s grit, turning personal determination into a robust organizational force.
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Overcommitment
Grit should not be confused with blind persistence. If a strategy repeatedly fails in the marketplace or leads to detrimental outcomes, pivoting may be essential.
Knowing when to adapt is a hallmark of experienced leaders. Grit remains key, but it’s best directed toward refining methods or exploring new angles rather than doubling down on flawed approaches.
5. Applying Grit to Real-World Leadership
For entrepreneurs and established executives alike, the power of grit shows up daily—negotiating investor deals, motivating teams through challenging milestones, or redefining a brand’s market strategy. Below are tangible ways to apply grit concepts to everyday professional scenarios:
Map Out a Grit-Focused Strategy
Draft a “north star” goal, then break it down into short-term objectives that align with your core vision.
Create a timeline with checkpoints. Revisit these checkpoints regularly to gauge if you’re still on course or need an adjustment.
Foster a Culture of Experimentation
Encourage team members to propose ideas and explore new interests that might benefit the organization. This mimics the initial “nurture interests” phase of grit on a collective scale.
Offer resources for continuous learning, from workshops to online courses. When employees sense that curiosity is welcome, they’re more likely to discover personal passions that contribute to the company.
Offer Mentorship and Coaching
Provide or recommend skilled mentors who can give precise, constructive critiques. Having a feedback loop is indispensable for meaningful skill-building.
Celebrate small wins to illustrate progress. Acknowledging incremental improvements helps individuals see the value of consistent effort.
Prepare for Rebounds After Setbacks
In business, setbacks are almost inevitable. Having contingency plans that maintain your broader vision can keep morale intact.
Reinforce the mindset that each challenge is a stepping stone, not a dead end. Share stories of how past failures guided you or others to stronger strategies.
Regularly Assess Work-Life Balance
Intense dedication, especially in high-stakes environments, can be as draining as it is rewarding.
Schedule personal downtime and encourage the same for your team. Sometimes, creative insights emerge precisely when you allow your mind—and your people—to rest.
The Bottom Line
Grit serves as a critical driver for those determined to excel in business or any high-achievement setting. It combines the persistent climb of perseverance with a powerful sense of purpose. While not everyone chooses—or needs—to live by the tenets of grit, those who do often discover new depths of resilience, innovation, and leadership potential.
Fostering grit involves nurturing multiple interests, then zeroing in on what resonates most. It demands rigorous, sometimes repetitive practice and feedback, fortified by a network of supportive peers and mentors. Grit isn’t just a personal attribute; it’s a powerful asset that can transform teams, sharpen leadership perspectives, and deliver remarkable results over the long haul. By committing to these principles, you’ll be better equipped to shape not only your personal trajectory but also the broader impact you leave on your organization and industry.
