Is That You, John Wayne?: The Meaning of True Grit

"I have not failed. I've just found a thousand ways that don't work." - Thomas Edison

            In historical times, alchemy was the quest to find the universal solvent, the mysterious formula that would transmute a base element into a rarer, valuable one. To turn average lead into solid gold. In the modern day, a similar quest is underway, one to turn a base idea into golden success. And yet, unlike the alchemist's pursuit, the formula for success may indeed be something quantifiable. The secret ingredient, the link between the figurative base metal and the gold, is a potent combination of psychological make-up. Determination. Perseverance. Focus. Also known as "Grit". But is it attainable by everyone? Can the common person use grit to push themselves to new heights? Those hoping the formula may act as a shortcut to their own success may find themselves disappointed.

            Noted physicist Richard Feynman ostensibly possessed grit. His drive to analyze, solve and understand problems, from simple word games to complex physics equations, is grit in its rawest, truest form – the need to know. As Feynman himself puts it:

"I can't just leave [a problem] after I've found out so much about it. I have to keep going to find out ultimately what is the matter with it in the end. That's a puzzle drive. It's what accounts for my wanting to decipher Mayan hieroglyphics, for trying to open safes."(Feynman 21)

Feynman embodies true grit, utilizing it in minor puzzles like his experiments in radio repair as a young child, to genuine world-changing problems of nuclear physics during the Manhattan Project.

            Yet the question remains - what is it? Can it be measured? Analyzed? Explained? And once we know enough about it, can anyone utilize it? Angela Duckworth, one of the pioneers of the concept of grit, doesn't think so. "Nobody is talented enough to not have to work hard, and that's what grit allows you to do"(Groopman, Cohen 54). The study of grit in itself is not without its own irony - one could accuse Duckworth herself of possessing true grit in her determination to find out what it is, even in the face of other presumed benchmarks such as IQ tests or SAT scores. Another irony is perhaps the unaware nature of this single-minded determination. In the example of Richard Feynman, he became so determined to figure out problems posed to him that he couldn't see the inconvenience of others adapting to them - his innovations in the running of the hotel ultimately led to frustration from his co-workers and superiors. Perhaps his aunt's frustrations of "What are all these papers doing? Why is the telephone on this side? Why don't you...raaaaaaa!"(Feynman 28) are representative of the exact inverse of grit, that the status quo is what's best - go with what you know, regardless of whether it's right. Of course, that's not a solid definition – Feynman himself exhibits an exception when trying to come up with more logical mathematical symbols:

"I thought my symbols were just as good, if not better, than the regular symbols […] but I discovered later that it does make a difference. Once when I was explaining something to another kid in high school, without thinking I started to make these symbols, and he said, 'What the hell are those?' I realized then that if I'm going to talk to anybody else, I'll have to use the standard symbols" (Feynman 24)

            Though it is a relatively new concept, there have been attempts to make a standard measure of grit - the so-called "Short Grit Scale". Though the chief proponents acknowledge that such a scale is not without its flaws, identifying that "it is possible that respondents [to the scale questions] answered positively to items on the Grit–S in anticipation of future achievement"(Duckworth, Quinn 173), or, in other words, the respondents may falsely believe themselves to possess grit that they have yet to utilize.

            Ultimately, such scales, while not without merit, are not definitive measures. Grit is, I feel, something intangible and unquantifiable. It is a combination of factors - a potent mixture of intelligence, perseverance, passion and to some extent basic common sense (modern physics would tell us that no amount of grit will turn lead into gold, for example).  Yet, society yearns for quantified, measurable levels of success - a formula for that elusive x factor that separates the commoner from the genius, the average person from the world-changer. The quest to identify and measure grit is, therefore, a self-defining act. Grit is that which causes people to continue pursuit of the "why", of knowing the unknowable, of not being satisfied with accepting defeat, of shrugging your shoulders and answering "I don't know".

Works Cited

Duckworth, Angela Lee, and Patrick D. Quinn. "Development And Validation Of The Short Grit Scale (Grit-S)." Journal Of Personality Assessment 91.2 (2009): 166-174. Academic Search Complete. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.

Feynman, Richard P., Ralph Leighton, and Edward Hutchings. "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.

Groopman, Jerome E., and Jesse Cohen. The Best American Science Writing, 2010. New York: Ecco, 2010. Print.