It turns out that a person’s grittiness is the best indicator of success at West Point.
According to the New York Post, the study of more than 11,000 cadets over a decade by Angela Duckworth and her team determined grit was the most important quality when it came to graduating from the famous military academy. It came in above brains and strength. In the study, grit is defined as “passion and perseverance for long-term goals of personal significance.” (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
The study looked at how they handled basic training upon arrival to West Point and all the challenges of the next four years.
I wish you could all see the smile on my face right now. Anybody who knows anything about getting through life knows grit trumps everything.
Now, I’m not going to compare myself to West Point grads, but I’ve been through a few trials and tribulations in my life over the past 27 years.
That’s what happens when you’re born into the cold Wisconsin winters and molded by the unforgiving landscape of rural America.
You can be smart and succeed. You can be strong and succeed. However, you can be both and still fail. When it comes to your level of grit, there’s no failure once you’ve got a full tank.
Grit is what drives you. Grit is what pushes you to the next level. Grit is living with a 4th and goal mentality on every day of life. Grit is being in a shootout with the puck on your stick blade as the stadium stands on their feet.
You either score or the game is over. That’s gritty.
I’ll take the guy who has grit over the brainiac and meathead any day of the week. I can teach you multiplication tables. I can get you in the weight room.
I can’t teach you grit. Your parents either passed it down in your DNA or they didn’t. Luckily for people from my background, grit is all we’ve ever known.
Grit is in our DNA, in our land and in our lifestyles.
Sound off in the comments with your thoughts. I think most of you will agree.