“Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.” – Sophia Loren

Much has been written and talked about having grit and using that to accomplish your goals, dreams, and vision. In her TED talk Angela Duckworth shares her experience as she was teaching seventh grade math at a school in New York how she realized that the brightest and the most gifted students were not always the best performers in her class.

Her subsequent work with many different professions, including the cadets at the military academy, and her research with those who succeeded in their endeavors in their adult life led her to conclude that the adult success is based not on EQ, IQ, your looks, or even your ability to influence others through your persuasive powers, but it is directly correlated to your grit.

Angela Duckworth defines grit as passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. It is sticking with your future. Grit is living your life as if it were a marathon and not a sprint!

How does grit, then, translate into career success and how does one become “gritty”?

Although some studies have shown that grit is partially a trait that you possess from your childhood, it is not as innate as perhaps what natural intelligence is (IQ). Some studies have shown that children who are able to practice delayed gratification are more likely to pursue their mission with more long-term view of their life’s purpose (marathon, not sprint).

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell cites a study that was started in early the 1900s by Lewis Terman, a Stanford psychology professor. This study involved thousands of highly gifted (IQs >140) children and following their lives by how they went on to lead their lives. Almost all of them throughout this 100-year long study did not go on to accomplish anything of significance, despite their gifted IQs. This study challenges the premise that high IQs are correlated with adult success.

In my own career coaching practice I often encounter very accomplished clients who come to me feeling defeated because their academic credentials and pedigree did not help them with their adult achievements that they thought were implicit in their early successes. I have several IIT gold medalists who have come to me because they remained in their first-level manager role even in their late careers, even after graduating from Harvard, Stanford, MIT, or other such top schools. They complain that their boss barely graduated from a local community college and did not even have an advanced degree. Then they use discrimination as their last refuge to justify their plight. The reality, in my view, is quite different.

In matters related to managing one’s career what are some of the practices you can adopt to embrace this “grit mindset”? Here is my list:

1. If you graduated with a great GPA or from a top school learn to leave that behind you as you enter your professional life and learn anew how to earn your stripes in the working world (away from the academic world) with a different mindset.
2. Early in your career work hard to master something you decide is your duty, even though it may not be your calling or your dream job. It is not always possible to land a job that aligns with your inner passions right out of college. Learning to apply yourself and mastering it is part of how you develop your grit mindset. Later on as you find your sweet spot in your endeavors, or even your passion if you are lucky, you can use that discipline to further your mastery of your area of work. This disciplined approach to mastering something you pursue will shape you to deal with any challenge you face in your life, even when it does not have anything to do with you area of work.
3. Do not do anything without knowing why you are doing it. Finding the purpose behind your actions is at the heart of how you engage yourself in all that you do. Grit and purpose are tightly coupled, so always find purpose before you apply yourself to any task on hand.
4. Develop a growth mindset. In her book Mindset Carol Dweck exhorts its readers to understand how fixed mindset can severely limit your possibilities. It is, again, a matter of adopting the right attitude to embrace the growth mindset; it is not nature, but nurture.
5. Learn to take risks early in life and develop the confidence that it is merely a matter of applying your resources in the right way to overcome the obstacles you face when you embrace these risks. Taking risks late in life can be both dangerous and self-defeating.

As is anything else in life, if you want to pursue something in your career, in your business, or in your personal life, you have to work at it and persevere. Developing and building your grit can go a long way even when you are not endowed with talents that come naturally to others.

Good luck!