Jocelyn Glei, 99U talks Grit

Posted on by Nicola Balkind

jocelyn-glei


First up, Jocelyn Glei had some thoughts on one of her main drivers of success: Grit. 


We all believe that small is beautiful, but more specifically, Glei believes that small focus is beautiful. There is a lot of beauty in continuously executing and iterating on a single idea – so what does that mean for us? We must point our attention where we want it, and keep it there. But there are so many obstacles that this is more difficult than it sounds. Obstacles like…


Temptation – Do you hate email? asked Glei. But do you check it more than 3 times per day? Probably. What about your Mother in Law – do you like her? If not, do you call her 3 times a day? Probably not. Glei cited Dan Ariely (TED Talk), who explores why people make poor decisions and behave irrationally. Small distractions like email keep us from doubling down our attention on the stuff that actually matters. She also cites Lewis Hyde's take on the creative process. The takeaway: the creative process, and our day-to-day labours that make it up, cannot and will not be rushed. The best thing we can do is lay the groundwork and not get sucked into distractions.


Self-Control – Glei urges that you learn to keep your eye on the prize – because if you don't, nobody will do it for you. We know what's tempting us, so the next step is to resist that temptations. Take the Walter Mitchell marshmallow test: an experiment in which children are given 1 marshmallow, left alone, and told that if they wait 15 minutes, they can have 2. The resisters – those who favoured the delayed gratification of 2 marshmallows over 1 – used strategic distraction techniques. Follow-up research showed that this test is a good predictor of self-control. But, in reality we're presented with trade-off decisions all day long. It's our ability to resist our daily marshmallows – Twitter, email, chat – that ultimately determines our success.


The Secret Ingredient – Taking the marshmallow technique to its farthest conclusion, Duckworth's follow-up research (TED Talk) determined factors for success. The most important for Glei is grit: perseverance and passion for a long-term goal. In the marshmallow study, the higher the grit scale rating of the child, the more likely that person was to succeed. In fact it is a stronger predictor of success than intelligence or talent. What does this mean for us? Talent and intelligence are overrated. To quote E.B. White: "Creation is in part merely the business of forgoing the great and small distractions."


Glei signed off thus: "Grit can make up for almost any shortcoming. Stay strong. Stay Focused. Stay gritty."


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Watch Jocelyn's talk:


Jocelyn K Glei from Small is Beautiful on Vimeo.
 

 

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