Today’s episode of PT Reading Corner will feature Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, a book dedicated to helping readers achieve the pinnacle of success. Duckworth has a decorated resume, being a teacher, management consultant and now, a research psychologist. Grit takes a look at some of the most challenging encounters that people face and provides a background regarding the traits that successful individuals possess.
Let’s take a look at some of the traits and see if we can apply them to physiotherapy practice:
1) Passion is a Must
The first step in having grit is to have a great deal of passion. Chances are that if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably quite passionate about physiotherapy. How do you determine if you have passion for something? According to Duckworth, your true passion should be present in each and every facet of your life. More importantly, it is crucial to stay loyal to your craft. After all, in order to sustain your passion, you have to deal with certain aspects that are not always comfortable and pleasant.
2) Practice your Passion
Secondly, it is paramount to practice your passion. For example, if you’re a physiotherapist who is passionate about being a great clinician, you need to take time to analyze your strengths and weaknesses. It is not enough to simply go through the day hoping that you will improve your skills over time. Rather you must fully commit yourself to mastery by focusing on your weaker points. Once you’ve identified them, you need to spend countless hours doing deliberate practice for days, months and years. This has to happen for significant improvement to occur.
3) Handle your Failures
Finally, being gritty means being able to withstand failure. Duckworth highlights that toddlers tend to fail repeatedly when they are first learning to walk. However, they are undeterred and continue to make an effort to improve. Meanwhile, adults seem to view failure as shameful and embarrassing, rather than as an opportunity to learn. This results in people making safe decisions and avoiding truly challenging activities. In life, we all tend to get knocked down, whether in school or in our careers. However, the true display of grit is being able to stand back up and keep on pushing the boundaries.
To summarize, grit is not an innate personality trait possessed by successful individuals. Instead, anyone can learn how to be gritty by staying passionate and persevering towards their goals. Success is dependent on having a growth mindset, and grit is a tool that you can use to help cultivate that mindset of continuous improvement. Overall this book was a fantastic read and we, at PT Business Corner, would like to thank the Movement PT’s, Dalton and Will for this wonderful recommendation. We hope you read this book and learn the immense value of having grit!
