Passion Purpose Practice Resilience

These are the four key ingredients for a happy, successful and fulfilling life. And, best of all, they’re all achievable

- Sharon Walker

Talent versus tenacity

We’re all fans of talent. We think of it as that ‘magic’ ingredient, a sprinkling of fairy dust bestowed upon the lucky few. But what if, in fact, it’s not so much talent that sets life’s great achievers apart, but something else? When Angela Duckworth taught maths to high-school students, she noticed it wasn’t the brightest, most talented students who excelled, but those who worked the hardest. Of course, talent – the ability to improve quickly – does matter, but without practice and stamina, talent is useless.

Angela refers to this as ‘grit’ – the power to keep going through ups and downs. Grit means not giving up, but here’s the nub – not because you have to do something, or you said you would, but because you want to do it. It’s about doing it like you mean it.

So it’s not talent we need in abundance, but effort, passion and tenacity. Any one of us can grow grit.

1 Nurture your passion

Ask any successful individual what drives them on, whether that’s author Salman Rushdie or fashion designer Nicole Farhi, and what you’ll hear time and time again is that they love what they do.