Grit and Tenacity Will Take You Far
If life is long and adversity is inevitable, how do you get through these moments?
In terms of natural talent, some people are more gifted than others. We admire them as they exhibit their talents with flair and grace. We cheer them on in competitions. We root for them to succeed. We wish we had such talents because if we did, maybe we would be more interesting, appealing, and attractive.
Talent — on its own — is not enough to gain any significant success in life. My mother taught me that you need to work hard to get whatever you want in life, talent or not. You need a strong will, grit and tenacity.
For the sake of clarity, grit can be defined as “courage and resolve; strength of character.” Tenacity is “the quality or fact of being very determined; determination.” Talent gives you a good chance to achieve great success but grit and tenacity are what get you through periods of adversity. Adversity is inevitable so you can’t gain any significant success without some adversity. But you can be successful without having any natural talent!
The Essence of Grit and Tenacity
The journey of life is long and contains different phases: childhood, teenage years, adulthood and my least favourite, old age. Each phase comes with its lessons and challenges and they are unique for every individual. I think of challenges as growth opportunities and you improve as a person, if you’re able to surpass them.
If life is long and adversity is inevitable, how do you get through these moments? How do you stay focused on your goals and keep working on them daily? What sustains your drive even when things are not working as you expect? Grit and tenacity.
No one has ever achieved anything great without grit and tenacity. I don’t believe it was easy when Srinivasa Ramanujan was trying to publish his contributions to mathematics without any formal education and limited opportunities. The great Albert Einstein faced challenges and even pushback when he tried to make contributions to physics. In recent times, Mark Zuckerberg cracked the social network puzzle on a global scale with Facebook. He had built other things before Facebook but they didn’t obtain its scale or reach.
Nothing is handed to you in life. Grit gives you the courage and resolve to take on the adversity life throws at you. Tenacity gives you the drive to keep working and looking for a solution, no matter how long it takes.
The Importance of Grit and Tenacity
There has never been a time in history — more so than now — that the need for grit and tenacity is more relevant. We are in a world where things move very quickly: trends, viral posts, social media, fast food, AI, and more. It’s the microwave generation: we are wired to expect instant feedback and services. Instant gratification is the order of the day. It feels like so much is going on and it’s hard to not get distracted.
We are constantly bombarded with an endless stream of media that we’ve built a false sense of expectation. This is why when many people, especially young people, don’t get what they want and get it instantly, there’s a lot of frustration, loss of confidence and dissatisfaction. In many facets of life, things take time. This is especially true when it comes to growth and development. These things take time and effort to build and time for the results to show.
There’s a false sense of “pressure” many young people feel to “make it.” It pushes them to the points of low self-esteem, lack of confidence and depression. This is a reminder if you’re in that situation: growth takes time, keep working on yourself, keep putting in the work and eventually, you’ll reap the rewards of your hard work.
Cultivating Grit and Tenacity
The first step is to push out the constant stream of “noise” coming from external sources: social media, the internet, and people who are not trying to better themselves. There’s a saying that iron sharpeneth iron so you truly benefit from surrounding yourself with high-quality people.
Next, you need to think about what you want to achieve in life. Deep down, there are things you have a flair for and maybe even untapped talents that have been lying dormant. Take some time and think about what you want in life.
Then set goals and actionable plans to achieve them. Work towards your goals one day after another. You will get setbacks, you will make mistakes but remember, this is inevitable. Don’t beat yourself too much about it. Pick yourself up and keep on working. As you get to each goal, your confidence and self-esteem will increase. Your grit and tenacity are reinforced to go after the next goal. And the next one. And so on. Just keep on pushing. I’ll see you at the top.
