{"id":39478,"date":"2024-11-15T06:30:25","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T14:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39478"},"modified":"2024-11-15T06:30:25","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T14:30:25","slug":"maybe-shes-born-with-grit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/maybe-shes-born-with-grit\/","title":{"rendered":"Maybe She\u2019s Born with (Gr)it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cStubborn Dutchman\u201d was a phrase I heard almost weekly as a child. It was applied to grandparents, aunts and uncles, my parents, siblings, and yes, to me. It seemed to be a regular explanation to a tenacity and commitment against all odds, even when the activity or hypothesis was less than iron-clad. Sometimes an insult, other times given as a badge of honour (depending on which side the accuser was on regarding the idea), it was a way of talking about the nurtured quality of stubbornness against the odds. Where does this come from? Is it in the DNA, directly related to Dutchness<\/em>? Or did it grow from a people who grew up against the odds – in a land literally below sea level. Are Dutch people born \u2018gritty<\/em>\u2019 [1], a term Angela Duckworth uses in her book, Grit: the Power of Passion and Perseverance<\/em>, or did they work at it?<\/p>\n

Duckworth, a psychologist who pivoted into education, working with elementary children who faced and prevailed against incredible odds, developed the concept of grit that contributes to success in life. It\u2019s more than IQ, SAT scores or even talent, skill or pure effort. Grit reveals that \u201cour potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another [2].<\/p>\n

I like the simplicity of her equation for how one gets from talent to achievement. It looks like this:<\/p>\n

Talent x effort = skill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skill x effort = achievement <\/strong>[3]<\/p>\n

And I think there is merit in her assessment that \u201c[w]ith effort, talent becomes skill and, at the very same time, effort makes skill productive\u201d [4]. I think this points to grit being something vital for success against remarkable odds, and pairs with concepts like tenacity, focus, and purpose. These are all things we can possess innately, but can also develop through practice. This is why Duckworth admits that \u201cgrit is \u201cin part\u201d in our DNA [5], but also confirms that with maturity, humans \u201cdevelop the capacity for long-term passion and perseverance as we get older\u201d [6]. In his work, Outliers<\/em>, Malcolm Gladwell makes this point in what he refers to as \u201cthe 10,000 Hour Rule\u201d [7]. People become proficient, even if they lack genius, by putting in the time. Carol Dweck likewise asserts that intelligence and abilities can be developed through effort, strategies and help from others [8]. <\/span>So, grit is part nature, part nurture, and part maturity.<\/p>\n

What I find missing<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like the importance of skill development, and at midlife, feel that previous effort to develop various crafts has led to an increase of unconscious competence in many areas, which require less effort than conscious competence or incompetence, and less of the clumsiness with unconscious incompetence. However, even taking the grit test and ending up with a grit score of 4.3 [9], I agree with David Denby in his critique of Duckworth\u2019s paradigm, calling it \u2018instrumentalist\u2019 [10]. The end goal of grit, as Duckworth presents it is not character formation, or existential purpose, but success in one\u2019s craft. The examples Duckworth prefers are related to military training, math, spelling bees, and apply nicely to athletics and business.<\/p>\n

I am left wondering about the importance of members of society who have little grit, who need to hear affirmation despite being perceived as weak, faint hearted, flighty, or unfocussed. As the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:10, \u201c\u2026for Christ\u2019s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong\u201d. If I had more time, I would explore how measuring grit could still marginalize those who suffer from performance anxiety or undo pressure to prove their worth through success. I am convinced, therefore, that grit has its limits. Maybe it\u2019s because of my Dutch stubbornness.<\/p>\n

_________<\/p>\n

[1] Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,<\/em> First Scribner hardcover edition, New York: Scribner, 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0Grit<\/em>, 21.<\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0Grit<\/em>, 44.<\/p>\n

[4] Grit<\/em>, 51.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Grit<\/em>, 71.<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Grit<\/em>, 76.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7] Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers\u202f: The Story of Success<\/i>, Vol. First edition, New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008, Chapter 2.<\/p>\n

[8] Carol <\/span>Dweck, <\/span>Mindset : Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> (Revised edition) UK: Robinson, 2017,<\/span>\u00a07.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]\u00a0Grit<\/em>, 52-53.<\/p>\n

[10] David Denby, \u201cThe Limits of \u2018Grit.\u2019\u201d The New Yorker, June 21, 2016. https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/culture\/culture-desk\/the-limits-of-grit, 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cStubborn Dutchman\u201d was a phrase I heard almost weekly as a child. It was applied to grandparents, aunts and uncles, my parents, siblings, and yes, to me. It seemed to be a regular explanation to a tenacity and commitment against all odds, even when the activity or hypothesis was less than iron-clad. Sometimes an insult, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2969,3324],"class_list":["post-39478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp3","tag-duckworth","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39478"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39530,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39478\/revisions\/39530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}