Self-Tracking Tools to Measure Grit

Each week I receive an email where LinkedIn Pulse pushes some select content to me directly.  This week a post written by Dr. Travis Bradberry titled, "Do You Have Grit?" caught my interest.  

Definition of Grit

"that 'extra something' that separates the most successful people from the rest. It's the passion, perseverance, and stamina that we must channel in order to stick with our dreams until they become reality."  - Dr. Bradberry

Dr. Bradberry offers 11 signs that can lead to "grit":

1. You have to make mistakes, look like an idiot, and try again, without even flinching
2. You have to fight when you already feel defeated
3. You have to make the calls you're afraid to make
4. You have to keep your emotions in check
5. You have to trust your gut
6. You have to give more than you get in return
7. You have to lead when no one else follows
8. You have to meet deadlines that are unreasonable and deliver results that exceed expectations
9. You have to focus on the details even when it makes your mind numb
10. You have to be kind to people who have been rude to you
11. You have to be accountable for your actions, no matter what

For me, these are great starting places for a self-management project because the items above lead to a wealth of potential rewards.  Sometimes it's a little unclear where to start though.  Here's an example of the tools available to start such a project, and how to start using them: 

A Framework for Measuring Grit

The Standard Celeration Chart (SCC)

This visual tool allows a user to graph anything that a person does that occurs at a frequency of once per day, to one thousand times per minute. The standardization of the tool allows for comparisons across different responses to compare results with others (or more typically, standard norms for a skill), as well as place values to change measures (e.g., doubling in frequency each week is indicated by a “X2” meaning twice the growth per week). 

The reason the company I helped co-found, the Institute of Meaningful Instruction, and I myself utilize the SCC as the primary tool for all data collection is because of the flexibility inherent in the tool (e.g., graphing any behavior that a person does in a day) and because the change measures have been empirically shown to predict future progress more accurately. This means that personal goals, such as obtaining more "grit" all the way up to large-scale societal issues can be tackled and solved with a greater degree of confidence – potentially saving resources and increasing efficiency.

The Fair Pair Rule

The first step to beginning to use the SCC is to identify the behavior that you would like to either increase or decrease (perhaps pick one of those suggested above by Dr. Bradberry).  If you select a behavior to decrease, follow the fair pair rule:

For each behavior that you would like to decrease, select one or more behaviors to replace the target selected for decrease.  

For example, if my goal is to "keep my emotions in check" (from above), I may select to decrease the number of times that I speak before first thinking about how my words may comes across to others (specifically, negative emotional responses from others).  As a replacement, I would likely choose to track the number of times that I speak and then realize that I have first thought about my response. To do that,  I would track the number of times that I thought about how my words or emotions may be perceived.  

 Data

Below are some hypothetical data. The dots indicate thoughts before speaking up, the Xs are instances of speaking up that result in negative emotional responses from others or oneself. Dots should increase, while Xs decrease below the dashed lines (they indicate how long one tracks their targets for in a day) if the self-management program is successful. This is an example of an effective self-management program, because the Xs are on a decreasing trend, with the dots on an increasing trend. 

What's next?

Support networks are often key in the success of self-management programs. Try out the SCC on your own for free by heading over to Chartlytics and then check out more on the Standard Celeration Society (SCS) if you want to learn more about the community that uses the SCC and the success that they have in a variety of industries (e.g., education, business, self-help). You can join their listserv here if you are looking for a support community that uses the SCC.