GRIT

I'm sure that many of you watched the Super Bowl of all Super Bowls last night. Even if you didn't watch it, by now, either via social media or the news, you've heard about the greatest comeback ever! While Tom Brady will go down as the greatest quarterback in history (so far!), why do you think that is? What makes him so different and such a standout? In my opinion it's Grit.

What is Grit? I've been reading a book about this-Grit-The Power of Perseverance and Passion by Angela Duckworth. Very interesting book and provides an opportunity to do a lot of self-reflection on where you are on the Grit scale that Angela has created. (get the book if you want to do a self assessment) Understanding your own Grit profile that includes your level of passion and ability to persevere can provide you a lot of answers on why you are successful, or not so much, in any given area of your life. This knowledge provides you with the real ability to achieve your goals by understanding whether or not it's something you really want and what you are willing to do to make it happen.

If you set a goal because you believe it's something you have to do, it's likely that there is no real passion behind it and therefore, you may not persevere in accomplishing the goal. Conversely, if you are deeply passionate about the goal, you will have a stronger chance of persevering and succeeding. I'm pretty sure that Tom Brady and the Patriots really wanted to break the record of number of Super Bowl wins for a quarterback-to be a part of that history. Very strong passion to the goal and they found a way to persevere and make that happen. Down 28-3, without that deep passion, they could have easily just made it through the rest of the game. That's real Grit in action.

Take a look at your goals. Which are you most passionate about? Compare those to the rest of your goals. What difference are you experiencing in reaching the end goal? How does perseverance come into play? Low or no passion = low perseverance = unsuccessful results. To quote the author "To be gritty is keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight." How do your goals stack up?

Make it a Gritty week all!