Researchers suspect grit isn't all it's cracked up to be
Grit is the new buzzword used to explain why some people become overachievers.
Those with self-discipline and determination can achieve more than those with a high IQ or natural talent, the theory goes. But two Harvard researchers believe success is more complicated than that, the Washington Post reports.
Researchers Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education say proponents of grit’s role in success are using averages across occupations or populations. But the theory doesn’t take into account the different ways of achieving success, they say.
Rose and Ogas interviewed more than three dozen people who achieved success in their fields, and found that obstacles helped them find a different path to success.
Ogas and Rose offered some examples in a Washington Post interview. A wine connoisseur was unable to pass a test to become a master sommelier despite hours of study. “Then he realized he was able to recognize wines through his facial reactions when he tasted them,” Ogas said. “When using this method, he aced the test and spent a fraction of the time studying.”
A top poker player also took a roundabout path to success. She obtained a Ph.D. but had a nervous breakdown before an interview for an academic job. She ended up moving to Montana and playing poker at a local casino, where she “quickly became a star on the poker circuit,” the Post says.
“In each case,” Rose told the Post, “what we found is that they started down one path because they thought that was what they were supposed to do, and then at some point they realized that they didn’t like that path at all.”
Rose and Ogas plan to test their theory of success with a larger group of achievers. They also intend to develop principles from their findings. They already drafted this principle: It’s better to make short-term rather than long-term goals because the most successful people rarely plan that far ahead.
