Here we look at the Grit Grid, a simple scoring system created by Angela Duckworth to measure our level of grit, which she has found to be a critical factor in success. We’ll also look at the Grit Scale.
In short, grit is the combination of perseverance and passion. The more perseverant and passionate (AKA grittier) you are in your projects, the greater your chances of succeeding.
These tests are a simple way to evaluate whether you’re gritty or not, compare your levels of grit to those of the average person, and shine a light on why things are going well for you or otherwise.
If you’re curious to find out more about grit and why it’s important, keep reading after you complete the Grit Grid and the Scale. For now, let’s get right to the assessment.
The Grit Grid
The Grit Grid is perfect for school- and university-age students, because it uses levels of engagement and success in extracurricular activities as an estimate for grit. These can include anything from sports to hobbies to volunteering to paid work.
That said, you can also evaluate yourself retrospectively to give you clues about your current level of grit.
For each extracurricular activity (up to a maximum of two), the student scores zero points if they undertook it for one year or less, one point if they undertook it for multiple years, two points if they also made a clear gain or improvement, and three points if they also made an exceptional gain.
Here is the Grit Grid:
| Activity | 1 year = 0 point |
2+ Years = 1 point |
2+ Years & Gains = 2 points |
2+ Years & High Gains = 3 points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | ||||
| 2. | ||||
| 3. |
source: angeladuckworth.com
The maximum score is six points. How did you fare?
Duckworth points out that higher levels of grit in our high-school years correlates with low university dropout rates and with longevity in our professional role. This may be because perseverance builds grittiness, that already gritty people have greater perseverance, or both.
Let’s turn to the second scoring system.
The Grit Scale
This is a questionnaire that anyone can take to determine their level of perseverance.
Your grittiness predicts your chances of staying in a job, succeeding in higher education, and of graduating from West Point. All highly successful people have bucket loads of it, regardless of whether they shocked initial promise or not. And luckily for us, it’s pretty easy to measure.
Below is the Grit Scale, and it’s pretty self-explanatory. Read each statement in turn and give yourself a mark of 1 to 5.
Once you’ve given yourself a mark for all ten statements, add up your score and divide by ten. The result is your Grit Score out of a possible 5.
Tip: be honest in your responses, but don’t overthink them.
| Statement | 5=Very Much Me | 4=Like Me | 3=Somewhat Me | 2=Not Me | 1=Really Not Me |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones. | |||||
| 2. Setbacks don’t discourage me. I don’t give up easily. | |||||
| 3. I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one. | |||||
| 4. I am a hard worker. | |||||
| 5. I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete. | |||||
| 6. I finish whatever I begin. | |||||
| 7. My interests change from year to year. | |||||
| 8. I am diligent. I never give up. | |||||
| 9. I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest. | |||||
| 10. I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge. |
Source: angeladuckworth.com
How Do You Compare?
If you like, you can compare your Grit Score to that of the average person by using the following bands, derived from real data:
| Percentile | Grit Scale Score |
|---|---|
| 10 | 2.5 |
| 20 | 3.0 |
| 30 | 3.3 |
| 40 | 3.5 |
| 50 | 3.8 |
| 60 | 3.9 |
| 70 | 4.1 |
| 80 | 4.3 |
| 90 | 4.5 |
| 95 | 4.7 |
| 99 | 4.9 |
To clarify: if you score, say, a 3.9, you’re grittier than 60% of the population. If you score a 4.4, you’re grittier than 80-90% of the population.
If you’re like me, you’ll find this shines a light on your personality and can help you identify where to change your character so you’re more disposed to success.
More on Grit
You can think of grit as a psychological measure of how likely it is that you’ll be successful in your projects.
Angela Duckworth and her team have studied grit in a number of contexts, and have repeatedly found that it’s a reliable measure of success in many walks of life.
I like to use it as a pocket-friendly summary of our disposition to achievement in long-term pursuits. Your grit score may well shine a light on why you’re having success, or otherwise.
I love the concept because it’s very empowering. Duckworth isn’t telling us to rely on talent or luck. Instead, all 10 factors in the Grit Grid are personal qualities that we can develop to reach excellence. What we want is within our reach so long as we gently push our scores in the above dimensions towards 4s and 5s.
Duckworth’s work aligns very well with the four factors that researcher Catherine Cox found to separate eminent people from average people, and the exceedingly eminent from the moderately eminent. I’m quoting from her:
- “degree to which he works with distant objects in view. Active preparation for later life. Working towards a definite goal.”
- “tendency not to abandon tasks from mere changeability. Not seeking something fresh because of novelty.”
- “degree of strength of will or perseverance. Quiet determination to stick to a course once decided upon.”
- “tendency not to abandon tasks in the face of obstacles. Perseverance, tenacity, doggedness.”
Sounds a lot like grit, right?
Let me leave you with some of my favourite quotes on Grit, persistence and success.
the highly accomplished [are] paragons of perseverance.
the highly successful had a kind of ferocious determination that played out in two ways. First, these exemplars were unusually resilient and hardworking. Second, they knew in a very, very deep way what it was they wanted.
from the very beginning to the very end, it is inestimably important to learn to keep going even when things are difficult, even when we have doubts.
in big ways and small, we get knocked down. If we stay down, grit loses. If we get up, grit prevails.
Angela duckworth
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