7 gritty ideas for adaptable millennial workers

I read so many reviews about Angela Duckworth's book "Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success" that I couldn’t postpone reading it any longer.

I must confess that I approached the book with a certain level of worry though. I was concerned that the concept of grit may be too much out of my comfort zone and too far from the idea of adaptability.

In the end, reading this book flowed as naturally and effortlessly as Angela Duckwork's message is commensurately though and effortful. And that’s the beauty of her book and the beauty of grit.

So here are the 7 key ideas that, as adaptable millennial workers, we can all learn from the studies around grit

1- Talent is not enough, it needs effort to achieve “Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another. […] as much as talent count, effort counts twice"

2- We need 1 compass guiding our way and multiple lower-level goals (and detours) to bring us in the right direction “doing what you love, but not just falling in love - staying in love [...] What I mean by passion is not just that you have something you care about. What I mean is that you care about the same ultimate goal in an abiding, loyal, steady way [...] giving up on lower-level goals is not only forgivable, it’s sometimes absolutely necessary. […] On any long journey detours are to be expected"

3- Our character is a work in progress and this includes how gritty we are “we develop the capacity for long-term passion and perseverance as we get older”

4- It takes Interest + Purpose + Practice + Hope to achieve “The most common sequence is to [a-] start out with a relatively self-oriented interest, then [b] learn self-disciplined practice and, finally, [c] integrate that work with an other-centered purpose [...] People perform best at work when what they do interest them [...] For most people, interest without purpose is nearly impossible to sustain for a lifetime. [...] [Grit paragons] explain events optimistically”

5- We need to look for culture, not only for a job “If you want to be grittier, find a gritty culture and join in. If you’re a leader, and you want the people in your organization to be grittier, create a gritty culture”

6- We need to take the time to experiment (especially early in life) “Interests are not discovered through introspection. Instead, interests are triggered by interactions with the outside world. The process of interest discovery can be messy, serendipitous, and inefficient.”

7- Ask for (negative) feedback! “As soon as possible, experts hungrily seek feedback on how they did. Necessarily, much of the feedback is negative. This means that experts are more interested in what they did wrong - so they can fix it - than what they did right. The active processing of this feedback is as essential as its immediacy."

So why should you care about grit if you are interested in work adaptability?

Putting grit next to adaptability may seem like a paradox, but I don’t believe it is. Quite the opposite.

The concept of work adaptability is strictly linked to the idea of having a higher goal in life which goes beyond one single role or a job title. It is about continuous personal improvement which comes from trying, applying, seeking feedback and re-adjust. And it is highly dependent from being in a culture and creating a culture which values and encourages growth.

All these things you can find in Angela Duckworth's work.

Grit alone won't make you adaptable. Character is plural. Grit will add another piece to the jigsaw puzzle which is your life and your achievements.

In the end, I can only but recommend this book and, if you haven't read them yet, also search for Carol Dwek’s work on growth mindset and Brené Brown’s work on vulnerability.