Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor, and I'm excited to share today's episode, which is all

about how to cultivate that mystical quality that helps us persevere when things get hard.

Let's talk about grit.

Michael Jordan, J.K. Rowling, Oprah Winfrey.

What do these names have in common?

Fame and fortune? Yes.

But also a tremendous number of setbacks, rejections, and failures on their resumes.

Jordan didn't make the high school varsity team. Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers who missed the magic of Harry Potter. Winfrey was fired from her first ever television anchor job.

And yet, they kept on going, somehow magically knowing they would succeed in spite of the odds

stacked against them. In hindsight, we're glad they did, but in those moments of devastation,

what is it that kept them from admitting defeat? Angela Duckworth, professor of

psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, might point to grit as a leading force behind

their sticking to it. Duckworth coined the term in her 2016 book, Grit, the power of passion

and perseverance. And it's been a buzzword in the professional

world ever since. Companies want to hire and promote people with grit, and we all want to

demonstrate it. But what actually is grit? And how can you cultivate yours? Let's tackle this

together. Let's start with what grit is. Grit is passion and perseverance

for long-term goals, says Duckworth. Grit isn't talent. It isn't luck. Grit isn't how intensely for

the moment you want something. Grit is the quality that allows an individual to work hard and

maintain focus, not just for weeks or months,

but for years. In other words, it's that will, commitment, and perseverance to keep pursuing

excellence at something even in the face of setbacks. How does grit drive your success?

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