Grit

When I was studying to be a teacher, we learned a lot about lesson plans and how to create a great learning environment, but we also spent a good deal of time studying psychology. One of the things that stuck out to me was the idea of grit. Grit is an individual’s capacity to persevere when things get tough. It is an innate quality that, research suggests, is more indicative of a student’s success or failure than intelligence or other traditional indicators.

I have no grit. Or at least very little. Where some people would bear down and keep at a project or task until it is done, I get distracted at the slightest impediment or provocation. This wasn’t a problem in school because I was intelligent enough and enjoyed learning enough to stick with it. Even now, if it is something I am interested in, I can usually focus enough to complete whatever it is I am doing.

Revisions are not interesting. Revisions are not fun. To an extent, any writing past the first draft (sometimes just the outline of an idea) is a chore. It can be too much for a gritless person like me.

This is not good. This is why I have notebooks and folders full of ideas but never get around to actually writing. This is why my novel has been gathering dust, waiting for revisions, while I flit from one project to the next. This is why I might never become the published author I aspire to be.

Might never. What is it G.I. Joe says? “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” Something like that. I know I have no grit. I know I will always find something else to keep me away from the keyboard (except in those brilliant, manic moments of inspiration). Knowing that, how do I change it?

I haven’t figured it out yet, but I will keep trying. With posts like this and a little more self-discipline, maybe I can find my way back to the keyboard and all the stories waiting to be told.