Summary: Grit by Angela Duckworth

     Grit is a book and a concept I've heard a lot about over the last few years, and has been on my to-read list for a while. Fortunately, my mom bought me this book by "In a Nutshell Publications" that summarizes each chapter in a couple pages and gives bullet points at the end of each chapter summary. So rather than taking the better part of a day to read, I breezed through this little thing in an hour! I even went back a couple times to review the bullet points, which I never have the time or energy to do with a full length book. It was the kind of direct download of information to my brain I've been looking for, and I plan to read much more of these type of summary books in the future.

     The downsides of these types of summaries are minimal, and the upsides are huge. Most self-help, self-improvement, business, parenting, and other pop sociology books readily distill down to several main ideas, and the stories and other fluff that makes up the rest of the book are there simply to make up enough pages for a book the publishing industry and author can make money on. Of course, this does not apply to fiction or other narrative works such as biographies, but it's true for every self-improvement book I've ever come across.

    Without further ado, here are my top 16 points from the "Key Takeaways" list at the end of each chapter:

• Talent alone cannot accurately predict success in any field
• Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance
• Truly successful outliers possess three traits: outstanding ability, exceptional zeal, and a capacity for hard labor
• Humans innately believe more in natural talent than hard work
• Talent x Effort = Skill, then Skill x Effort = Achievement. Effort counts twice.
• Enthusiasm is common, perseverance is rare. 
• Grit is dependent on having a coherent and cohesive goals hierarchy, and being willing to commit to the low- and middle- tier goals in order to achieve the top-tier goals.
• Interest, practice, purpose, and hope are key assets that help form grit
• Interests and passions are not "love at first sight." They are kindled by repeated interaction with an activity, object, or idea.
• Daily, deliberate practice is necessary for developing grit
• The three stages of grit are self-oriented interest, self-disciplined practice, and other-centered passion
• An optimistic, growth mindset (rather than a limiting, fixed mindset) is also essential for developing grit, and having mentors with this mindset is very important
• Both kindness (respect and support) and sternness (high demands) are key to developing grit in a child
• Extracurriculars provide the key combination of fun and challenge, and develop the key trait of follow-through
• Everyone in the family should follow the "Hard Thing Rule," which requires everyone to pick one thing they will practice daily for an entire season or year
• Viewing yourself as a gritty person will actually make you grittier

      Many of these concepts were already sitting somewhere in my brain, but they are so important that I was grateful for the opportunity to dust them off and add to them a bit. I consider myself a gritty person in many areas of my life, and always hearken back to high school track and cross-country as the grittiest episode of my life that continues to pay gritty dividends even now. But I can also identify areas of my life that could stand a little more grit and discipline. I plan to cultivate a passionate, growth, gritty mindset in those areas-- what about you?