Certain Habits

In the Boston Globe’s idea section for August 2, Jonah Lehrer describes research that explores the role perseverance plays in success. The idea that success is tied to hard work isn’t new. What did interest me, however, is: a) that psychologists are calling this quality “grit”; b) that it’s (somewhat) measurable; and c) the outcomes of some of those studies.

For example:

Consider, for instance, a recent study led by Duckworth that measured the grittiness of cadets at West Point, the elite military academy. Although West Point is highly selective, approximately 5 percent of cadets drop out after the first summer of training, which is known as “Beast Barracks.” The Army has long searched for the variables that best predict whether or not cadets will graduate, using everything from SAT scores to physical fitness. But none of those variables were particularly useful. In fact, it wasn’t until Duckworth tested the cadets of the 2008 West Point class using a questionnaire — the test consists of statements such as “Setbacks don’t discourage me” — that the Army found a measurement that actually worked. Duckworth has since repeated the survey with subsequent West Point classes, and the result is always the same : the cadets that remain are those with grit.

In 1869, Francis Galton published “Hereditary Genius,” his landmark investigation into the factors underlying achievement. Galton’s method was straightforward: he gathered as much information as possible on dozens of men with “very high reputations,” including poets, politicians, and scientists. That’s when Galton noticed something rather surprising: success wasn’t simply a matter of intelligence or talent. Instead, Galton concluded that eminent achievement was only possible when “ability combined with zeal and the capacity for hard labour.”

The key to measuring grit happens to be the focus on long term perseverance. There’s even a survey you can take.

One of the main obstacles for scientists trying to document the influence of personality traits on achievement was that the standard definition of traits — attributes such as conscientiousness and extroversion — was rather vague. Duckworth began wondering if more narrowly defined traits might prove to be more predictive. She began by focusing on aspects of conscientiousness that have to do with “long-term stamina,” such as maintaining a consistent set of interests, and downplayed aspects of the trait related to short-term self-control, such as staying on a diet. In other words, a gritty person might occasionally eat too much chocolate cake, but they won’t change careers every year. “Grit is very much about the big picture,” Duckworth says. “It’s about picking a specific goal off in the distant future and not swerving from it.”

After developing a survey to measure this narrowly defined trait — you can take the survey at www​.gritstudy​.com — Duckworth set out to test the relevance of grit. The initial evidence suggests that measurements of grit can often be just as predictive of success, if not more, than measurements of intelligence. For instance, in a 2007 study of 175 finalists in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Duckworth found that her simple grit survey was better at predicting whether or not a child would make the final round than an IQ score.

Their advice? Find one thing you like to work at and stick to it. At one level this advice verges on cliché. You are more likely to persist doing things you enjoy. At another level, this advice sounds a lot like Andrew Carnegie: “The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.”

However, while joy in a task encourages grit, I think it’s a mistake to attribute the resulting success to grit alone. Rather, I taking joy in a task improves performance in and of itself. Josh Kaufman made that point recently:

Coach Joe Vigil has been studying peak performance in distance runners for decades, and has trained several Olympians. Over the years, he’s come to the conclusion that optimizing biomechanics can only do so much. To become world-class, you’ve got to enjoy it.

One of the things that struck me while reading Born to Run was the section in which Coach Vigil talks about the influence of sponsorship money on distance running. Long distance running started as something a few crazy people did just for fun. As the sport gained attention, sponsorship dollars starting flowing, with a surprising result: performance suffered. For many people, running stopped being fun and started being work.

One of the first things Vigil does is encourage his runners to make running fun again. Here’s his perspective on how sponsorship deals stack up against enjoying yourself:

“There are two goddesses in your heart: the Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks that they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you.” Wise words from a wise man.