A professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Duckworth investigated what type of person succeeded in the most challenging settings and why. Her studies showed that “1 characteristic emerged as the most significant predictor of success. It wasn’t social intelligence, good looks, physical health or IQ.”

“It was Grit.”

So what is Grit?

She describes it as

Sustained Passion (the ability to not be distracted by new ideas or passions) coupled with Perseverance (the ability to not be discouraged from setbacks and to finish what you started).

I thought I lacked talent. But Prof. Duckworth states that talent and success are inversely related. The more natural talent you had, the lower your rate of success. She proves this with her study on The National Spelling Bee.

The National Spelling Bee

Everyone thinks you need to be a genius to win in the Spelling Bee. But Prof. Duckworth says that’s wrong. Surveying 175 finalists in the 2005 National Spelling Bee, the children were subjected to

A verbal IQ test and A Grit Measuring Survey

At the end of the competition, the scores of the two tests were compared with how far they advanced. The results were astonishing.