#Ted talk grit how to

When it came to graduating from West Point in four years, grit and physical ability were each better predictors of success than was cognitive ability.įor the past century, most research on achievement has focused on cognitive factors, the authors note. But grit was more influential than cognitive or physical ability when it came to making it through Beast Barracks: Cadets a standard deviation higher in grit than their peers had 54% greater odds of making it through this initiation period without dropping out.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the researchers found that cognitive ability was a strong predictor of academic grades. The researchers measured success in several ways, including grades, graduation within four years and completion of the cadets’ initiation training, known as “Beast Barracks” - a rigorous six-week training course described in the academy’s handbook as “the most physically and emotionally demanding part of the four years at West Point.” The longitudinal study followed more than 11,000 cadets from nine classes to see how cognitive ability, physical ability and grit affected the cadets’ success. 47, 2019).įor the new study, the researchers revisited West Point with two primary goals: to see if their earlier results could be replicated in a much larger sample of cadets and to take a broader view of the characteristics that predict success. Now, a new study exploring the trait in the context of other factors that influence success is finding further support for the power of grit: Duckworth and colleagues have found that grit is important - but it’s just one of the ingredients necessary for success ( Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. Skeptics, however, were not as impressed with Duckworth’s theory of stick-to-itiveness, arguing that grit’s contribution to success has been overstated.

#Ted talk grit how to

In 2016, she wrote the book “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” and the theory caught on among the public, as audiences from elementary school teachers to army generals wanted to know how to make their charges more “gritty.” Military Academy at West Point ( Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. In it, they concluded that grit was a better predictor of success than IQ or conscientiousness in a variety of populations, including cadets at the U.S. The University of Pennsylvania psychology professor and 2013 MacArthur Fellow published the first paper on the topic with colleagues in 2007. In 2013, Angela Duckworth, PhD, became a TED Talk sensation for her theory of grit - a facet of conscientiousness defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals.