Grit
I'm finishing up this book. It has taken rather a bit of Grit on my own part to read it.
Addendum: I finished it. Thoughts.
1. She refers to herself as a paragon of grit. Is she being self-deprecating? Why do I think not?
2. All her examples are of people at the absolute top of the world, and a lot of them were born at third base and thought they hit a home run.
3. Beyond that, the sections on parenting for grit and the grit culture are good and I'm glad I slogged through all the anecdotes about her own successes to get to that.
4. So, what about my own grit? No one's business. Her grit scale would not measure the ways that a person with my life would be gritty, but I think my career has shown some grit. Earning three graduate degrees, teaching for over 40 years, staying married for almost as long, finishing seven novels and five other books probably says something. I know lots of others who aren't CEOs of Fortune 500 companies but they had grit in their own way--taking care of a disabled child, for one (my mom).
5. However, and I don't think I'm the only person with this problem, I am very guilty of getting distracted on new projects and leaving one to sort of simmer on the back burner way too long. . . So this book has kicked my hiney about that. I'm not going to start another book until I finish the other ten I'm currently reading. I'm not going to start another research project until I write the paper on gratitude and teaching, which is great stuff. I've got the starts of five novels and books, so I need to focus on one and get it done. To say nothing about the work I get paid for. Grit for me is finishing one of the many projects and not getting pulled off it, and I don't think I'm alone there.
So, do I recommend the book? No, watch the TedTalk. Also David Yeager's, whom I heard speak at an AASCU conference and was quite impressed by.
Addendum: I finished it. Thoughts.
1. She refers to herself as a paragon of grit. Is she being self-deprecating? Why do I think not?
2. All her examples are of people at the absolute top of the world, and a lot of them were born at third base and thought they hit a home run.
3. Beyond that, the sections on parenting for grit and the grit culture are good and I'm glad I slogged through all the anecdotes about her own successes to get to that.
4. So, what about my own grit? No one's business. Her grit scale would not measure the ways that a person with my life would be gritty, but I think my career has shown some grit. Earning three graduate degrees, teaching for over 40 years, staying married for almost as long, finishing seven novels and five other books probably says something. I know lots of others who aren't CEOs of Fortune 500 companies but they had grit in their own way--taking care of a disabled child, for one (my mom).
5. However, and I don't think I'm the only person with this problem, I am very guilty of getting distracted on new projects and leaving one to sort of simmer on the back burner way too long. . . So this book has kicked my hiney about that. I'm not going to start another book until I finish the other ten I'm currently reading. I'm not going to start another research project until I write the paper on gratitude and teaching, which is great stuff. I've got the starts of five novels and books, so I need to focus on one and get it done. To say nothing about the work I get paid for. Grit for me is finishing one of the many projects and not getting pulled off it, and I don't think I'm alone there.
So, do I recommend the book? No, watch the TedTalk. Also David Yeager's, whom I heard speak at an AASCU conference and was quite impressed by.
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