Tuesday December 1, 2015 #776
“Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work, body and soul.”
~Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton
While it is important to know what capabilities are needed for a particular pursuit, and to match your talents appropriately, talent alone never wins the day. And if you are a leader and responsible for placing talent where it is required, again talent alone will not produce excellence. The key ingredient to ensure success is zeal or grit. These are far more difficult to see and can usually be found only through observation and experience. We must try to understand what creates gritty behavior and zeal for a project or outcome. It is only when we find this in ourselves and the people we lead that we will achieve sustained success. What is grit?
As stated by Angela Lee Duckworth on a recent TED Talk, “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Find your grit, your zeal – and look for it in others. It is the “secret sauce” to success.