Grit Study Guide

Grit − Passion = Drudgery. Duckworth’s work became widely popular after Grit’s publication, and schools around the U.S. started formulating new curricula to boost academic performance by teaching grit. But Duckworth was critical of many of these efforts, which she argued overemphasized perseverance to the exclusion of passion. The goals that schools want to achieve—like higher test scores—are simply not interesting or purposeful to most young people, Duckworth argued, so they have little to do with grit.

Practice Makes Perfect. The six-minute TED Talk that Duckworth describes painstakingly preparing, practicing, and delivering in her book is now one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time.