This is a summary of the podcast between Shannon Hoffman, former army helicopter pilot and Curt Nickisch for HBR Ideacast episode 756
Grit has become a popular term in recent years. It's easy to discuss it when you are flying high but its quite another to discuss it when you are stressed out and experience setbacks.
Shannon is the youngest woman to climb Denali, the highest mountain in North America. She is one of the earliest women to fly the Apache helicopter for the US Army. She has written a book - Grit factor - Courage, resilience and leadership in the most male-dominated organisation in the world.
The first thing she says is to think of Grit as a series of small pieces. She defines it as a dogged determination in the face of difficult circumstances. Angela Duckworth, who wrote one of the first books on Grit titled Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance has defined grit as passion and perseverance towards goals.
Sharing her experiences on the football field, she learnt that one should be willing to go into something that one is afraid of knowing that it would be difficult and that it would hurt and be willing to do it anyway.
First and foremost, grit is deciding that you are going to be the person who will decide what your future is going to be. You will decide how you are going to do it. You cannot choose the raw material but you can decide how you are going to use the raw material.
Focus only on the end goal and focus on what your purpose is. Grit is really about focusing on your story and drilling down into its core purpose. When you are focused on your core purpose with total dedication then you are bound to succeed., contribute in a meaningful way and worry too much about the obstacles on the way.
Go back, make sense of your own stories, understand the places where you grew, understand your strengths, understand how you overcame the obstacles and use this to overcome your future challenges. This also helps you understand that this was the raw material you were given, how you were able to overcome it and make something meaningful out of it. You can borrow fro the strengths of the past, understand your values, understand how to go forward in connection with those values in a way that it strengthens you.
Drilling down deep into your core purpose is very important. This becomes the reason for doing something specific which is more than what drives you. Ask yourself the five whys also called root cause analysis and ask yourself why you are doing something? Drill down why drill down deep not the specific work or task but something that is connected to you as an individual because you have to make that personal connection before you apply it to the work/task on hand. have the courage to ask for what you want, to ask again and again and at every single opportunity. Of course earn it first by being the best in the work you have been assigned, doing it better than it has ever been done before and earn recognition for it.
Second, is to learn, develop your team, understand that to achieve what you have planned it is necessary to have a team to help you and to back you up, that you can depend upon.
As she learnt in the Army resilience training program, to get better at doing hard things, one has to do hard things. Take one step forward at a time, challenge yourself a little bit more next time and so on and you gradually build a muscle for grit and resilience.
All these things cannot happen if you do not take care of yourself too. You cannot sustain this dogged determination every moment without taking adequate rest as well.
When you are doing the hard things every day, you are building a muscle. You are getting better, stronger and this allows you to negotiate challenges better. In short, the mindset that stresses enhanced performance can enhance performance. The second part of a mindset is grounded optimism.
Grit is engaging in the present, doing this internal work and looking towards the future. You may not know when you will get through in the future but you must believe that you will get through. That's crucial. the future may be hazy, the timelines not clear but there must be a total belief that you will come through.
To Build Grit, Go Back to Basics
HBR IdeaCast / Episode 756
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