Lim Swee Heong on Reading Angela Duckworth's Grit with Curiosity and Care

Motivational books often promise that a single idea will change everything, and the better ones are more honest than that. In this piece, I, Lim Swee Heong, who also writes online as bullbearnme Swee, look at Angela Duckworth's Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, a popular psychology book that is genuinely useful when it is read as a set of thoughtful ideas rather than a magic formula.

What the book is

Grit was published by Scribner in 2016. Its author, Angela Duckworth, is a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Before her research career she worked as a management consultant and taught mathematics in public schools, and she has said that teaching is where she first noticed that the students who did best were not always the ones who seemed most naturally gifted. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2013, and her TED talk on grit, given the same year, became one of the most widely watched talks on the platform.

The book is narrative nonfiction mixed with research summary. Duckworth defines grit as a combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals, and she argues that it can matter as much as, or sometimes more than, raw talent. She draws on her own studies and on interviews with people who have reached a high level in their fields, from athletes and musicians to scientists and business leaders. She also introduces the Grit Scale, a short questionnaire she developed, which readers can try for themselves.

Separating the research from the storytelling

It helps to read Grit with two hats on. The first is that of a reader enjoying stories about effort and commitment. The second is that of a careful reader asking how strong the evidence is behind each claim.

Duckworth's research includes studies of cadets entering the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she looked at who completed a demanding summer training programme, and of children competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. In these settings, her grit measure helped predict who would persist, alongside other factors. Those findings are real and published, but they are correlations within particular groups, not proof that grit alone causes success.

Later research has added useful context. A 2017 meta-analysis led by Marcus Credé in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that grit overlaps heavily with conscientiousness, a personality trait psychologists have studied for decades, and that its ability to predict performance was more modest than some popular coverage suggested. Duckworth herself has publicly said that grit is one of many factors that matter and has cautioned against turning it into a slogan or a test used to judge children.

Knowing this does not make the book less valuable. It simply puts it in the right place: a well-written, research-informed argument for valuing sustained effort, rather than a complete explanation of achievement.

Effort counts twice

One of the most memorable ideas in the book is Duckworth's simple model of how talent, effort, skill and achievement relate. In her framing, effort helps turn talent into skill, and then effort again helps turn skill into achievement. That is why she says effort counts twice.

The model is deliberately simplified, and it is not meant as a precise equation. Its value is in what it encourages people to notice. Natural ability is easy to admire because it is visible and immediate. The slow work of practising, revising and showing up again is less visible, yet it is often what separates a promising start from a finished result.

For a reader, this can be a quietly encouraging idea. It suggests that feeling behind at the beginning of something, whether learning a language, a sport, an instrument or a new skill at work, is not the same as being incapable. What happens over months and years often matters more than what happens in the first week.

Passion as something that develops

A common misunderstanding of grit is that it means forcing yourself through something you dislike. Duckworth's account of passion is more interesting than that. She describes passion less as a sudden discovery and more as an interest that is discovered, then developed and deepened over time.

She outlines four psychological assets that tend to support grit as it grows: interest, practice, purpose and hope. Interest comes first, often through playful exploration. Practice follows, especially the focused kind that targets weaknesses, an idea she connects to the work of psychologist Anders Ericsson on deliberate practice. Purpose grows as people see how their work matters to others. Hope, in her sense, is the expectation that effort can improve things.

This framing is helpful for anyone who feels they have not yet found their passion. It suggests that waiting for a perfect calling is less useful than trying things, noticing what keeps drawing you back, and then committing to getting better at it.

Perseverance without stubbornness

There is a reasonable worry that a book about grit could encourage people to keep going with goals that no longer make sense. Duckworth addresses this by distinguishing between top-level goals and lower-level goals. The broad purpose behind someone's effort can stay steady, while the specific routes to it can and should change.

This is one of the most practical ideas to take away. Persistence is not the same as refusing to adapt. Changing a method, a plan, a course or even a job can be part of a gritty approach if it serves a deeper aim. The opposite habit, quitting at the first difficulty without reflection, is what the book cautions against.

It is also worth adding a point that the book touches on but that readers should take seriously on their own. Rest, health, relationships and circumstances all affect what a person can sustain. Grit is not a reason to ignore burnout, and the same effort does not produce the same results for people facing very different obstacles. A balanced reading keeps that in mind.

Practical ways to apply the ideas

Grit is easy to read quickly, but it rewards a slower approach. A few simple habits can turn it from an inspiring read into something useful.

Take the Grit Scale as a moment of reflection rather than a verdict. The questions can prompt honest thinking about how often you switch interests or abandon projects, but a score is not a fixed label, and the book itself treats grit as something that can grow.

Choose one long-term interest and write down what deliberate practice would look like for it. That might be a specific weakness to work on, a short daily routine, or a way to get feedback.

Notice the difference between goals and methods. When a plan stalls, ask whether the method needs changing before deciding the goal is wrong.

Look for purpose in ordinary effort. Duckworth's examples suggest that connecting work to how it helps others can make sustained effort feel more meaningful, whether that work is paid, volunteer or simply helping family and friends.

Duckworth also describes a family practice she calls the Hard Thing Rule, in which each family member chooses something that requires deliberate practice, and is not allowed to quit it in the middle of a season or commitment. Readers do not need to copy it exactly, but the idea of finishing what you start for a defined period, then choosing freely again, is a gentle and flexible way to build persistence.

Pairing Grit with other reading

Grit works well alongside books that show perseverance through real lives or vivid stories. Biographies and memoirs offer examples of long effort, while research-focused books on habits, practice and motivation can deepen the evidence side. Reading a counterpoint, such as articles discussing the 2017 meta-analysis and later research, is a good way to keep the ideas in balance.

Why it is worth reading

Grit is not the final word on success, and it does not claim to be. Its lasting value lies in shifting attention from what people seem to be born with toward what they keep doing over time. Read with curiosity and a healthy dose of care about the evidence, it offers an encouraging message: interests can be developed, practice can be improved, setbacks can be absorbed, and steady effort often matters more than a dazzling start.

If you enjoy reading reflections like this, you can find more of my writing on Medium at https://medium.com/@bullbearnmeswee

A statement from Lim Swee Heong

Related: Lim Swee Heong: Protecting Personal Information in Investment Communities

I'm Lim Swee Heong, a cloud database architect in Singapore who enjoys cycling, sightseeing, travel, reading and gaming on Nintendo Switch and PS5. I also go by bullbearnme Swee online.