My curiosity went into overdrive when I read how grit is considered one of the obvious but overlooked element that can help women get ahead.
Why has no one told us until now we’ve been missing out on the value of grit?
Why Grit?
University of Pennsylvania psychologist, Angela Duckworth, conducted research across different age groups and professionals looking for what more accurately predicts success.
What she found is that qualities of I.Q., talent, financial resources, popularity or good looks are not the best success predictors.
Instead, Duckworth identifies a key predictor she calls “grit” as having a kind of growth mindset for long-term and meaningful accomplishment.
What’s Really Grit?
Grit can be understood as the following:
Acronym: guts, resilience, initiative, tenacity
Psychological definition:
- “… a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s passion for a particular long-term goal or end state, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective.
- This perseverance of effort promotes the overcoming of obstacles or challenges that lie within a gritty individual’s path to accomplishment, and serves as a driving force in achievement realization.
- Commonly associated concepts within the field of psychology include “perseverance”, “hardiness”, “resilience”, “ambition”, “need for achievement” and “conscientiousness”. (Wikipedia)
Duckworth’s predictor of success:
A facet of conscientiousness where there’s a growth mindset for passion and purpose, stamina and the ability to deal with failure and rejection “to start over with lessons learned.”
The Advantages of Grit for Women
According to author, Robin Koval, who includes grit as one of the Most Obvious But Overlooked Qualities That Help Women Get Ahead, the advantage is its non-gender specific quality. The value for women is in using it to meet the challenges and obstacles in male-dominated professions and dealing with competitors.
What does Grit Mean to Predicting Success for Online Women?
The more I read about grit, the faster I came to the conclusion that this isn’t a skill we need to acquire. We already have it and our success is inevitable.
- When you consider it, we’re a conscientious group.
- We’re out there every day taking the initiative to create new content.
- We have the guts to stick it through until we find something valuable to say.
- We have the resilience to put out another blog post or offer when the last one didn’t get much response.
- We have the tenacity to keep going because we’re got a passion for what we do and want to share it with others.
- We’re already in a growth mindset by continuing to explore our areas of interests.
- We have the stamina because we can index what we’re already published to know how far we’ve already come.
- We know failure and rejection well when the computer crashes and there are no backup files, when readers get sent to a 404 error page, or the PayPal account is showing no sales.
While professional women are being told, they need to develop grit skills, I think it’s safe to predict that we online women already have grit and are well on our way to being successful.
What’s your grit quality that you see as the key to your success?
Sources:
The Most Obvious But Overlooked Qualities That Help Women Get Ahead
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/05/12/why-angela-duckworth-thinks-gritty-leaders-are-people-to-emulate/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/conscientiousness
Image: Pixabay 1848695
A must read post for anyone working in the online world, Joyce. Thanks for the insightful post. Come to think of it, we are all born with grit, and I know I have it. Maintaining our motivation while working in the online world tests the strength of that grit, far more than in the corporate world where one had a better idea of what one was facing. Happy Sunday!
A good observation Vatsala about having the strength of grit for the online world. I remember starting out and how easy they made it sound. Well, they forgot to mention “grit” but we learned anyway and we’re all still here!
Grit it is. I absolutely agree. These distinctions mark if one will succeed in life and actually in anything that one endeavors. Imagine not following through to what you have promised others, and much more to yourself. That would be a cause of delays and failure in the long run.
Following through on a promise is one sure fire way to not only get things done but also to challenge ourselves to find out what else we can do. So, grit it is!
A very interesting article. And I totally agree, I think the GRIT factor is very important to get ahead…especially initiative and tenacity. To never give up etc.
I do believe that grit has merit in our businesses and, like you, I believe that most women already have it. Grit give us greater focus , which translates into fewer failures.
Rachel, well put that grit gives us greater focus. Women have a long history of fighting for acknowledgment and grit is a real testament to our commitment. Thanks for commenting.
This is a great article, Joyce – very thought-provoking! This is actually something I have thought quite a lot about in the past. Exactly what is it about someone that makes them succeed? I believe that grit is something that is necessary in order to keep fighting and get ahead!
Right you are Mindy! Success that is true and lasting is what is earned.
As someone that has kicked cancer’s butt 4 times, gone through unexpected caregiving, divorce, financial ruin, and more… I think my tenacity and resilience are key traits that help me overcome, push through and be successful.
WOW, Tandy! You certainly can teach us a thing or two about grit. Thanks for sharing a very personal part of your life. Success comes in many forms, and I’m sure more of them are on your agenda to achieve.
Initiative and resilience are definitely something I have and have seen blossoming in myself in my couple of years of blogging/health coaching. I guess I don’t typically think of it, but it is there and many blogger friends are the same way.
Sounds like you’re in a community that supports you and helps each other thrive. That’s important because at times this can be a lonely business.
Oh you know I have grit… I have the guts and the tenacity like nobody’s business… often times it can be mistaken from bossy, bold, brazen and not necessarily a good thing… but hey, don’t care… I’m going to keep on rocking it!
I figured that out when you responded to my post that mentioned lace gun holders. You got to be at home in Texas!
Although I would not necessarily see myself as having ‘grit’, if it is defined as “guts, resilience, initiative, tenacity”, then I have to say I resonate strongly as being a person who has exhibited these traits throughout my life. It is probably the only reason I am still here and why I transformed my life or death health issues. As far as in the online world, that I am not sure about. I prefer to be offline and be in the world, so maybe I will need to develop a bit more ‘cyber’ grit to excel in that space too! Thanks for the great article, Joyce. As always.
Beverley, I’m going to anoint you as having grit online. Not anyone can consistently put out a post every week, comment on every post, respond to comments, remind others who have failed to comment, and fix Twitter handles definitely has Grit. So be it!
Get knocked down, get back up. That’s how we keep moving forward.
Totally agree, never look back and keep moving forward.
I’ve read Professor Duckworth’s research and seen her presentation. Grit is yet another byproduct of the research that began with resilience nearly five decades ago. There is also lotus of control, hardiness, and self-efficacy just to name a few. The theory of inner strength, for example, began as a gender-based study on women dealing with major illnesses, particularly cancer, and the term became so popular it’s now used as a broad generalization covering everything from confidence to dealing with every imaginable type of adversity.
You are so right Joyce about grit not being a skill we need to acquire because we’re each born with a measure of “inner strength” but that will naturally vary from person to person depending on a variety of circumstances. Many view the notion of doing the work to increase one’s capacity for this characteristic like preparing for a crisis that may or may not ever occur. They would rather assume that when and if they need that extra bit of strength it will be there, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.
A wonderful comment, Marquita. The ideas of resilience, positive thinking, and motivation theory have done a lot to help our understanding about survivorship and self-actualization. I was always intrigued as to why some get stuck in fear or are unable to achieve despite their skills and education. While others seem to have more obstacles in their life go on to surpass expectations. In my hypnosis practice, I would see how much subconscious beliefs and attitudes played a role in how people perceived success. For most, but not all, positive suggestions were effective in changing beliefs and attitude which were not supporting their potential. We live in a fascinating time as we explore how the human mind works.
I love Ted Talks. I’ll have to ponder the word “Grit.” What I have often thought what motivated women was “Passion.” Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for commenting Candess, I love Ted Talks too and being able to have access to an array of information from people all over. What I liked about Duckworth’s grit is that she makes us think about others qualities besides passion that keeps us going. Sometimes we don’t recognized our inner strengths.
Loved this blog post! As women we are a hell of a lot stronger than we think or give ourselves credit for. Awesome reminder for all women lady!
We’re on the same page, April. We need to pat ourselves on the back for the awesome job we do.
After reading your post Joyce I am definitely a women who really has grit! Loved it!! Awesome share!
Joan, thanks for adding to the recognition that we already have it. We just need to give ourselves credit for it.
“Grit isn’t a skill we need to acquire.” Oh, how true! We women have so many skills that we don’t even realize, but are quick to disavow as being part of our toolkit. For example: Negotiations. Yes, women negotiate all the time, but often don’t realize it. And we’re damn good at it, too.
Jackie, thanks for adding your voice in coming to the realization of the inner talents we have. Yes, we’re damned good at a lot of things we don’t give ourselves credit for.
I love this post! And I agree completely. We all have the grit needed to create our successful online business. It’s all about the tenacity and passion, right?
This is why I know all the women in our group are going to be successful. We’re not giving up!
Angela’s talk is one of my all-time favourite Ted Talks. I think we all need grit. Men and women. Online and offline. Great post Joyce.
Hey Clive, thanks for chiming in with a male perspective. Yes, you’re absolutely right. Grit is a quality for everyone at any time. We need to keep spreading the word on how valuable this is.
I started my career in a male-dominated world, and learned the value of grit in the “school of hard knocks”. Living in a world of online sellers, I see daily that grit separates the wheat from the chaff, and I like like being the wheat:)
Good for you Robin! When I started out, I use to say they paid me to be the observer. Watch and learn and then add it to your bag of tools, because you never know when it will serve you well. A round of applause for wanting to be the “wheat.”
An acronym for GRIT. I love this and it makes an even more applicable term to use!
Agree, and it’s so easy to remember!
I’m trying to decide if I think we were born with grit or if it is an acquired trait as a result of life circumstances? Maybe it’s a bit of both! Loved your article. Made me feel inspired, strong, and not so alone. I’d describe myself as grit with a side of sassiness. 😉
Love how you see yourself with grit and sassiness. With all that strength, a little rebellion is a good thing.
What a wonderfully positive post celebrating the true grit it takes to work online towards a specific goal. I agree, anyone doing this must already have grit or they would have given up within weeks of starting. A great read to start my day. Thank you.
I’m sure we’ve all felt like giving up at times. But, hey you’re still here and putting out fantastic blogs each week. So, give yourself a big pat on the back Tami!
True Grit. That’s me. I learned it the hard way, maybe the slow way – and yet, I think I always had it too in some areas of my life. It is part of me.
I believe that all of us who have been sharing our blogs have this quality of grit. Sounds like it’s been serving you well.
Wow, Joyce, I love this! I can definitely attest that it takes grit in my world to find success. But I always love when a study proves it!
Thank you for this.
Your welcome, Susan.
It seems I have grit and I respect all the women around me who have it too. It’s a big bad world out there and you need that grit to get you through tough times, in both business and life.
Exactly right, Sonya. Grit is what going to get us through life and business. That’s great that you’re already part of a group of women with grit.