The Single Biggest Predictor of Success

The answer is probably not what you think

There is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania named Dr. Angela Duckworth. She has studied kids and adults in all kinds of challenging environments:

• Kids in the South Side of Chicago
• West Point Academy
• Kids participating in the National Spelling Bee
• Newly hired salespeople

She then tried coming up with predictors that could determine the following:

• Who was going to be able complete high school in the South Side?
• What West Point cadets were going to graduate?
• Which Bee contestants are going to go deep in the competition?
• Which salespeople are going to have the higher sales and which are not going to make in sales?

Through her research, she found one parameter that was a strong predictor above all the others. Care to guess which one?

Here are some hints. It wasn't:

• Intelligence
• Emotional intelligence
• Household income
• Race
• Physical prowess
• Motivation

Okay, here it is. The best predictor of success or failure across all these environments was:

• Grit

She defines grit as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals." But I believe grit is different than passion or motivation.

Mike Tyson famously said he didn’t much enjoy training for fights. But he also has a great quote:

"Discipline is doing what you hate to do, but doing it like you love it."

In tech, there are great examples of this. There is no doubt that Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs are brilliant men. But, there are plenty of technologists smarter than them. But one trait that they did have in common with each other and that may not be as developed in others is this unwavering belief that they were going to succeed. And it showed. Some examples:

When Tesla was unprofitable and there were some questions about whether it could produce cars at scale and even if the company would survive, Musk slept on the factory floor and rarely left the factory.

After getting fired from Apple, Steve Jobs didn’t give up, he went on to create NeXT. NeXT computers were not a big commercial success, but he then took the lessons from NeXT to his next endeavor. We all know how that turned out.

All three of these company founders are not known for their warm and loving disposition. In fact, the "a" word is sometimes used to describe them.

But many of the people that have worked for them and left, spend the rest of their career trying to chase the high they experienced when they were working at Tesla, Microsoft, or Apple. Many former employees miss being part of building something big and meaningful like the iPhone or Microsoft Excel.

How do you develop grit?

Is grit something we’re born with, or can we develop it?

Angela Duckworth suggests several strategies to develop grit, which generally fall into two main categories:

• Fostering a passion for what you do
• Improving your capacity for perseverance.

Here are a few specific strategies:

Developing Interest: The first step in cultivating grit is discovering and nurturing your interest. Try new things, explore different fields, and give yourself permission to take the time to discover what truly engages you.

Practice, Practice, Practice: Once you've identified your passion, deliberate practice is key. This means purposeful and systematic practice with the goal of improving performance. Set specific goals for each practice session and solicit feedback to ensure continual improvement.

Cultivate a Growth Mindset: Believing that you can learn and improve is an essential part of developing grit. This idea, known as the growth mindset, was developed by psychologist Carol Dweck and is considered a crucial component in the ability to persevere through challenges.

Embrace Failure: Learn to see failure not as a statement about your inherent abilities, but as an opportunity for learning and growth. Each setback is a stepping stone toward achieving your goals.

Purpose: Align your work with a greater purpose. Duckworth's research suggests that the grittiest individuals are deeply committed to what they do because they believe it matters in a broader sense.

Develop a Habit of Perseverance: Start by setting small goals that require some persistence to achieve, and gradually increase the scale and scope of these goals as your capacity for perseverance grows. Work on small improvements every single day. Frequent and consistent small improvements eventually turn into big improvements.

Surround Yourself with Other Gritty People: Grit can be influenced by the company you keep. By surrounding yourself with people who embody grit, you're more likely to emulate those same behaviors. Not all of us get a chance to work with Elon Musk but many of us know gritty people. They're not hard to spot. They are the ones that don't know the meaning of the word "quit".

In conclusion, grit isn't about never falling down, but about getting up every time you fall. It's important to give yourself the grace to make mistakes and learn from them as you develop your grit.

Let's close with a quote from the great David Goggins.

"You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential."