Grit Can Be Learnt

Balls. Guts. Bravado. Brilliance. Boldness.

Grit.

There is one thing in all of us. We all have tremendous potential, but we're all limited by ourselves. We all have some amount of self-doubt within us. If we were able to translate 100% of what we know into a useful business output, we'd all be rich.

But there's one thing that's mentioned time and time again that's needed in creating your own successful company: grit.

We need grit to push our idea out in the real world. To stick with our idea when things look hard.

A lot of people talk about grit as if it's perseverance. Or it's the ability to let problems and set back wash off you like they were nothing. And in a way, yes, that's right. But I see those qualities as the symptoms of grit, not the cause. Because the way I see grit is as the vehicle to get your idea from conception to production.

What are the implications when I say that grit is the vehicle for your idea to become profitable? Well, I mean that we might have the best idea in the world, but we might not know what to do with it. We might not know the steps - legally, financially, technically and marketing-wise - that we need to take that idea through in order for it to succeed.

And knowledge is power.

Perseverance is the symptom of knowing that what you're doing will come out alright, because you have a vision of the steps you need to go through to succeed. Problems solving skills are a symptom of knowing techniques to tackle those problems.

Of course, you can THINK you know what you're doing. You could be unconsciously incompetent. But that will reveal itself fairly quickly and the poor misguided individual will be lead back to be shown that they need to learn a bit more before thinking they can be adept with certain skills.

"Okay", I hear you saying, "that's all good and well, but where can I LEARN this information, then?"

Here's my break-down of the soft skills you need to know and be aware of to have grit:

1. Knowing what market & skill area you should invest yourself into
Some people follow their passion and fail because they don't have the business acumen. Some people follow their skills and "sell their soul", doing work they don't enjoy. Some people find a way to do both. I'd invite you to read: So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport to learn why skills are important. Then I'd invite you to read The Element by Sir Ken Robinson for the "passion" view. The trick is in finding something that you love, that you're good at. Then, finally, read Where Good Ideas Come From by Stephen Johnson to know how and when you can catch that money-making idea.

2. Financial literacy
If you want to be financially successful, you need to be financially literate. This means assessing your money flow critically, know assets and liabilities, knowing value added, business value added and no value added activities. There are TONS of places that you can learn financial literacy, and you may want to study a few different things to get different perspectives. I'd invite you to read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert T Kiyosaki to start you off.

3. Being emotionally intelligent
Emotional intelligence can be learnt, and it's a skill you need to be successful. Reading list:
How To Make Friends And Influence People - Dale Carnegie
Awareness - Anthony De Mello
Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Power Of Now - Eckhart Tolle
The Antidote - Oliver Burkeman

4. Learning how to learn
What do you know? What don't you know? What are the things you don't know you don't know? Study philosophy and psychology - especially the four stages of competency.

5. Learning your own biases
We all have biases and flaws in our analytic thinking. Even the best of us. But the best of us catch 99.9% of those flaws, because they understand when they happen and how they happen. I'd invite you to read Thinking: Fast And Slow by Daniel Khanman and The HEAD Game by Philip Mudd.

6. General business acumen
This one is the most nebulous of skills. Getting into the head of successful businessmen is useful. The Snowball, about Warren Buffett, and When I Stop Talking You'll Know I'm dead by Jerry Weintraub are both good.


Excel in those 6 areas and you're well on your way. Of course... they you'd need to use your technical knowledge to come up with an idea that you can use grit to transport. Good luck.