After six years as an assistant professor at the Western University of Health Sciences College of Podiatric Medicine and working in our Patient Care Center, I can announce we have finally, amazingly, unprecedentedly… bought a podiatric grinder!

“Big deal, Shapiro,” You say. “Most podiatric offices have a grinder.”

My answer to you would be, “Yes. I know that’s true.” I would also answer your next question (“How can a college clinic not have a grinder – what are you teaching your students?”) with a large shrug of my shoulders. I can only say that the wheels of academia move incredibly slowly.

Making this happen has been an ongoing struggle for my medical director, whom I have been hounding since about the time I started working in this clinic six years ago. Like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill only to have it roll back down, my director and I have persevered. As silly as this whole thing sounds, it has been a thorn in my professional side for a long time, and it took tenacity and not a little patience (something I have very little of – especially for foolishness) to make it happen. In short, like the sandpaper on the grinding wheel, it has taken grit to get this far.

And, that, my friends, is what I want to talk about: grit.

I recently read an excellent book called Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by social psychologist Dr Angela Duckworth. In short, Dr Duckworth boils down her years of research and experience with this subject into a highly readable and informative exploration of something so many people lack.

Grit, or what my mom used to call “stick-to-itiveness,” is that character trait many of the most successful individuals in our society possess. It is that resilience and strength that gets us through difficult times, the discipline to go the extra distance to succeed.

I found this book to be so informative, especially when I consider some of my students and residents - or even my own children. I’ve dealt with many students over the years who seem to have difficulty rebounding from failure. Some people I’ve met want to quit too soon. Those of you who have been around a while know that we don’t succeed when we give up. Reading this book had me thinking of a lot of different people I’ve met who could have benefited from the wise research and reporting of Dr Duckworth.

How to Grow Grit

One of the major sections of the book – and a useful highlight – was her discussion about how to grow grit in oneself. She discusses four major ways to do this...

Discovery Leads to Interest

True interest, or passion, she says, develops from a stepwise approach of discovery first, leading to development of that passion, and then deepening expertise over time.

Deliberate Practice

Experts develop their skills through deliberate practice, a method I have reported on in the past in this editorial series. Dr Duckworth provides many strong anecdotes as well as scientific literature, demonstrating how deliberate practice works. First, set a goal above one’s current level of performance. Next, strive to reach that goal with focus and effort. Then, the expert seeks immediate and constructive feedback, focusing not on what was done well, but rather what could be improved. Finally, the expert repeats this process. Deliberate practice, she has found, does not necessarily feel good and is usually viewed as effortful.

Purpose Comes from Intention

Purpose is the intention to contribute to the well-being of others. We should consider how what we do in our current work or activities enhances its connection to our core values. Clearly, we’re more likely to stick with something we feel has a larger importance.

Hope Must Be in Our Mindset

How open we are to this process (hope) seems to depend on what type of mindset we have. This concept of a growth versus fixed mindset has gained significant traction in today’s popular culture. Someone with a fixed mindset believes qualities like talent and intelligence are built in and cannot be changed. A growth mindset, on the other hand, is a more optimistic view in which we are capable of change and improvement in all aspects of our lives. Dr Duckworth convincingly asks us to take on a growth mindset by focusing on actions and not fixed attributes, analyzing setbacks to learn from them rather than giving up, practicing optimistic self-talk, and asking for help.

Life is full of challenges and setbacks, and the older I get, the more I realize that success is all about attitude, and this is essentially what Angela Duckworth is leveraging in her book about grit. Her combination of science and anecdote provides a highly readable and useful exploration of a subject I wish I had known about when I was much younger. Read this book and see if you’re a paragon of grit and, if not, don’t worry. After reading this you’ll know just what to do.

*Approved for 16 CME/CECH Credit Hours

PODIATRISTS: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the standards and requirements for approval of providers of continuing education in podiatric medicine through a joint provider agreement between the New York College of Podiatric Medicine and PRESENT e-Learning Systems.

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