Grit Exercises: 21 Discussion Questions

Who finishes what they start? Angela Duckworth spent years asking that question as a teacher and later as a psychologist. Her answer surprised many readers. Talent matters less than we think. Passion joined with long effort matters more.

These questions help you look at your own staying power. Use them alone, with a friend, or with a group that wants to grow.

Grit Exercises

Duckworth defines grit as passion and perseverance for long term goals. She says effort counts twice. Effort turns talent into skill, and then it turns skill into achievement. The book also covers interest, practice, purpose, and hope.

We created seven exercises with 21 discussion questions.

Exercise 1. Talent and effort

We often praise talent and overlook the work behind it.

1. Think of someone you admire. How much of their success do you credit to talent, and how much to effort?
2. When you fail at something, do you blame a lack of ability or a lack of practice?
3. How would your goals change if you believed effort counts twice?

Exercise 2. Find your interests

Duckworth says passion starts with curiosity, then deepens over time. It rarely arrives in a flash.

1. What topics hold your attention for hours without trying?
2. What have you tried and dropped too soon because it felt hard early on?
3. How could you spend a month exploring one interest more deeply?

Exercise 3. Set a top goal

The book describes a goal hierarchy. Low level goals serve mid level goals, which serve one top level goal. Grit needs that top goal to stay pointed in one direction.

1. Write your top level goal in one sentence.
2. Which daily tasks connect to it, and which do not?
3. Where are you spreading yourself too thin across too many goals?

Exercise 4. Practice on purpose

Duckworth describes deliberate practice. You set a stretch goal, focus fully, get feedback, and then repeat until you improve.

1. Pick a skill you want to improve. What is one specific part you struggle with?
2. Who could give you honest feedback on it?
3. What would a 30 minute focused session on that weak spot look like?

Exercise 5. Find your purpose

She notes that gritty people often tie their work to how it helps others.

1. Who benefits from what you do? Have you ever heard it from them?
2. What would make your current work matter more to someone else?
3. If your effort had no audience, would you still do it? Why or why not?

Exercise 6. Try the hard thing rule

Duckworth asks each person in her family to do something hard. You must finish the season or the term before you quit. You choose the hard thing yourself.

1. What hard thing are you doing right now?
2. If you wanted to quit today, what would be your honest reason?
3. What would a good time to quit look like, and how is that different from a bad time?

Exercise 7. Grow hope

Hope in the book means believing your effort can change your future. Duckworth links it to a growth mindset.

1. Think of a setback. What did you tell yourself afterward?
2. How could you talk to yourself the way a good coach would?
3. Who around you shows the kind of hope you want? What do they do differently?

Ideas worth remembering

Duckworth is a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Her early research looked at who stays in demanding programs, including the summer training at West Point that cadets call Beast Barracks. She found that a short grit survey predicted who would stay better than talent scores did.

The book uses two simple equations. Talent times effort equals skill. Skill times effort equals achievement. Effort shows up twice, which is why she says talent alone cannot carry you. She also draws on Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset, the belief that ability can change with work.

Where readers get stuck

Some readers hear grit and think it means never quitting anything. Duckworth does not say that. She separates the top goal you care about from the lower goals you can drop when they stop serving it. Quitting a small thing can protect the big one.

Others worry that grit blames people for circumstances they do not control. It is fair to ask that. Grit is one factor among many, and having supportive teachers, coaches, and family helps most people stick with hard things.

How to use these questions

Try the Grit Scale from Duckworth's website before you begin, and note your score. Then work through the exercises over a few days. Come back to the scale after a month and see whether anything shifted.

In a group, a great way to use these is to share your hard thing from Exercise 6. Saying it out loud to others makes you more likely to finish it.

Parents and teachers can use the same questions with older kids. Ask what the child chose, why it matters to them, and what would make it easier to stay with it.

Putting it into practice

Pick a stretch goal for the next 30 days. Make it specific, so you can tell at the end whether you hit it. Then plan a daily practice session and put it on your calendar.

Find one person who can give you honest feedback. Ask them to watch you practice or read your work once a week. Feedback is uncomfortable, and it is also how skill grows.

When you hit a wall, go back to your answers on purpose and hope. Remind yourself why the goal matters and that effort still counts twice, even on the days it feels like nothing is happening.

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