Angela Duckworth, author to “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance”, says grit is passion and sustained persistence applied toward long-term achievement, with no particular concern for rewards or recognition along the way. Resilience, ambition and self-control are the ingredients to grit.

During 15 years of sales experience, I have concluded too much time is spent talking about the outcome, and not enough time focused on the process and grit behaviors required to achieve these outcomes. In sales, you can make one call on a Monday, set up a demo on Tuesday and close a deal on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a colleague of yours makes a hundred calls over that same amount of time and sets up three meetings.  Which situation is celebrated? The sale. Your colleague, who built pipeline, identified the decision-maker, and had relevant conversations, did not close a deal. Many of us realize the relationship between scenario number one and scenario number two.  Scenario number one only occurs because of the grit required to engage in scenario number two behaviors.

Unfortunately, many still view sales similar to weight loss and their sales efforts mirror the need for quick wins. Every January 1st, many people sign up for the gym, in an effort to lose as much weight as quickly as possible. When they don’t see immediate results, they quit and put on more weight. Again, grit means that we have the habits and rituals necessary to hang in there long enough to experience scenario one, in the case of sales; number of calls made, emails sent and pipeline built.

I’m a recovering runner. I have run thousands of miles (including 15 half marathons and 7 marathons). I’m slow and I dislike running for many days.  However, I ‘grit’ through a run for the discipline, accountability, and accomplishment.  It is important for me to wake up early, get a run in and get to the office before everyone else not because I’m going to be compensated for doing these things but because I’m ‘building the grit muscle’ to achieve ‘long term success.’

Can you identify and improve your grit? Duckworth lays out four factors that gritty people share.

  • Interest (When we enjoy the task, were more engaged and feel more rewarded). Ex: Have had several careers to find out what I enjoy and then focus on improving those strengths.
  • Practice (According to research by Anders Ericcson (2007), “deliberate practice is a key to continuous improvement”). Ex: Make more phone calls to ‘hone my craft’ by coming in early, staying late or taking a shorter lunch.
  • Purpose (Contributing to you personally & the benefit of others). Ex: Take extra trainings, listen to teammate phone calls & share tips with my team.
  • Hope (Persevering, working hard and engaging in positive self-talk to stimulate results). Ex: Read books, listen to podcasts & take courses to help my growth.

Regardless of where you are now, I believe by utilizing this four-step method, grit can be developed. If you resolve to “outwork” yourself each and every day and hold yourself accountable to a higher standard, regardless of how your KPI’s/managers measure success, you will develop a higher level of grit and are more likely to be successful.