The Grit Factor

The mindset, habits & heart behind unstoppable success

By Tinsley English

In career development, where various skills and strategies are praised for success, there’s a force more potent than pedigree, talent, intelligence or opportunity. That force is grit, . . . a strong determination and relentless perseverance that pushes you through challenges and setbacks, guiding you toward your goals.

Grit is often called the “never-give-up” attitude, but it’s more than just persisting. Think of grit as the stamina that helps you stay on the path to success, even when faced with difficulties, failures or distractions. This force keeps the fire of ambition burning, guiding you through tough times and challenging situations.

One misconception about grit is that it is how intensely, for the moment, you want something. Grit is for the long term, the long haul. It is staying in the game when you are bleeding, your lungs hurt and you are ready to give up.

THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND GRIT

While grit has been part of the fabric of humankind since the beginning of time, it wasn’t until Angela Duckworth’s groundbreaking book on grit was published that it became a “thing.” Her work became the focus of a TED Talk and an award-winning bestseller.

One of my favorite observations from her studies is that passion and perseverance are more important than talent. I love this finding because it levels the playing field for success.

Grit does not care where you grew up, what your IQ is or if you attended college. Grit only wants you to show up to the game and play your heart out for all four quarters and into OT for the win! The intriguing aspect of grit is that it is malleable. It’s not an anchored trait but rather a skill that can be developed and nurtured over time. Cultivating grit involves adaptability, self-discipline and, most importantly, resilience.

GRIT STRATEGY #1: ADAPTABILITY

Adaptability is the capacity to adjust and respond to new challenges or circumstances and is the first element of grit mastery. It involves being flexible and proactive in navigating uncertainties and evolving situations.

One thing I’ve come to rely on during my 25 years in business is that as a new day dawns, so do new challenges. One moment, I could have negotiated the best deal for my client, and the next hour we received word that another client’s upcoming deal was in jeopardy.

Here are three adaptability strategies I use when my day starts to go “off the rails.”

Agile thinking. Train your mind to pivot when faced with unexpected circumstances. You can practice this by reframing situations positively and brainstorming various solutions to challenges.

Experimentation and iteration. Embrace the mentality of experimentation. Test new approaches, strategies or ideas, and be open to adjusting or refining them based on feedback and outcomes.

Adapt to technology. Staying updated and proficient with technological advancements is imperative in today’s competitive environment. Technology often drives change; adapting to new tools and systems enhances flexibility. Learn how to use technology to your advantage now and you will be ahead of the curve.

GRIT STRATEGY #2: SELF-DISCIPLINE

Self-discipline entails controlling actions, emotions and habits to achieve goals by staying focused, motivated and consistent despite distractions or difficulties. Don’t we all start each day with the best of intentions? We have our day designed in our minds and plan to be uber-effective. Cue the music and the chirping birds.

At any given point, on any given day, at any given business, the client will inevitably need something from you that you had not anticipated. We must learn to expect the unexpected, account that it will take up part of our day but then learn to turn our attention back to our planned objectives.

Those colleagues I’ve seen who struggle with this let one email, call from the client, or comment from their manager, derail their entire day. Enter our friend “self-discipline.”

One of the best pieces of advice I received from a wise woman was this: “Control your day, or your day will control you.” There are a few self-discipline strategies to deploy when your day takes an unexpected turn:

1. Set specific, prioritized goals. Amidst constant changes, having a crystal-clear focus on your objectives acts as a guiding light, enabling you to direct your efforts purposefully.

Break down your goals for your week into manageable steps and create actionable plans. This approach allows you to maintain progress despite unexpected shifts, providing a roadmap to navigate changing circumstances while staying on track.

In practice, this might look like writing down the 10 most critical items you must accomplish in your week. Number the items from 1 to 10, with 1 being the most vital. Next, assign several tasks to each day of the week, ensuring that you pair high-priority and low-priority items on the same days. This balance will ensure you are not front-loading your week with all your mission-critical items.

By practicing mindful time management, you will prioritize tasks based on their importance and allocate dedicated time slots for crucial activities. This practice will enhance focus, minimize distractions and bolster discipline in shifting priorities.

2. Cultivate consistent routines and rituals. Develop consistent routines and rituals that support your objectives. Even amidst rapid changes, maintaining certain daily or weekly habits fosters stability and discipline, creating a sense of control amid uncertainty.

I’ve had the honor of coaching young colleagues over the years, and one common theme I’ve found is that without a solid daily system in place, your day will likely run you rather than you running your day. While your manager or team lead can list assigned duties or tasks that must be accomplished daily, you have absolute control over when you perform them.

I can recall a time in my early 30s when I managed a large book of accounts and felt the wave of work beginning to crash down on me. It was not a good feeling; I could not get caught up no matter how hard I tried, and each day felt like it was worsening. Looking around me, I noticed some women were in the same boat, paddling in circles. Some had resigned themselves to the feeling that this was their lot in life and had become accustomed to uncertainty. However, some women navigated the choppy waters day after day with the same amount of confidence and efficiency.

These women intrigued me. What was their “secret sauce”? It wasn’t just years of experience. Some women who were masters of their desks were younger than me. It wasn’t that any of the women had degrees in project management either. As I studied them daily, I realized what they had, which I had yet to possess: a system.

Remember, as you develop systems around self-discipline, ensure they are adaptable frameworks rather than rigid structures. Design systems that can accommodate changes and adjustments without compromising your overall objectives.

3. If you can’t get out of it, get into it! I vividly remember stepping into a new role and inheriting a desk that was mentally abandoned by my predecessor months before her departure. Her exit left behind a labyrinth of unresolved accounting issues and a backlog of tasks. I realized quickly that the only way out was to roll up my sleeves and dive in.

I dedicated myself to untangling the mess for months, day after day, nights and weekends. There were no shortcuts or magical solutions. Just sheer determination and relentless effort. Slowly but steadily, the chaos began to unravel.

With attention and commitment, I transformed the disarray into an organized and coherent book of accounts. The satisfaction of witnessing delighted clients ultimately made every sacrificed hour worthwhile.

Reflecting on that challenge, I realized no secret formula or unique shortcut existed. It was solely the investment of dedicated time and unwavering attention that paved the way to success.

GRIT STRATEGY #3: RESILIENCE

Resilience signifies the capacity to endure setbacks and recover from challenges. It involves withstanding pressures and difficulties and leveraging these experiences to bounce back, learn and grow stronger. Resilience enables you to navigate uncertainties or changes while maintaining focus.

If you have researched grit, resilience will be a concept you already know. I consider it the most essential element of grit. Without resilience, setbacks or failures might significantly impact your overall motivation, potentially leading to discouragement, decreased perseverance or difficulty maintaining consistency in your pursuits.

Let’s review a few strategies for cultivating resilience:

1. Prioritize self-care. Do you ever get to work and realize you are wearing two different black boots or only one earring? How many mornings have you sustained yourself on cold coffee alone? When was the last time you got eight hours of sleep? What about that annual doctor’s check-in you’ve rescheduled three times? Whether you are a mom, a dog mom or a caregiver for aging parents, we are often the last item to take care of on our to-do lists. Sadly, many have learned to live in this fully caffeinated, blurry-eyed state.

I am here to tell you that no one else will do it if you do not care for yourself. We can define self-care as doing things to take care of your body, emotions and mind. Self-care is not selfish. It has been clinically proven to diminish the effects of anxiety and depression, reduce stress and increase happiness.

To have a balanced and satisfying life, it’s crucial to understand self-care and make it a regular part of your routine. Whether essential daily habits or more memorable things, self-care is all about activities that help you relax, feel refreshed and grow.

2. Cultivate social support and connection. Building a robust support system of friends, mentors and colleagues is essential to resilience. Establishing connections and seeking support from others during challenging times bolsters emotional well-being and provides a sense of community.
3. Establish boundaries. Setting clear boundaries will protect your well-being, whether you call it “work-life balance” or “work-life integration.” Learning to say “no” is as important as saying “yes” to safeguard your mental and emotional resilience.

Here are a few ways to help:

Time management. We all know that stress can wreak havoc on your mental state, but did you also know it can affect your physical condition? One encounter with stress landed me in my local physician’s office. I had been under a great deal of stress for a prolonged period, which resulted in a horrible case of hives covering my upper body.

The rash would subside overnight but reappear like clockwork as I started to work each day. When I shared this illness with my internist, she stated, “You might not need anti-anxiety medicine; you might need to look for another job.”

The comment was a wake-up call that prompted me to reevaluate how I was working and that I had not set healthy boundaries with my employer. I had let work creep into my nights and weekends. I was taking it home with me, mentally. I lay in bed recounting everything I had done that day and the impact it would have had if I had not performed it flawlessly.

The situation prompted me to get a better grasp on my time and the management of it. I realized I could still give my all during working hours, but the time I had after that belonged to myself and my family, and I should show that time as much respect. And, by the way, I did find another job.

Work-life balance vs. work-life integration. This leads me to the concept of work-life balance. Work-life balance involves maintaining a clear boundary between work and personal life, ensuring each gets their fair share of time. Henry Ford popularized this concept in the early 1900s, stating, “It’s high time to rid ourselves of the notion that leisure for workmen is either lost time or a class privilege.”

Ford understood that his men were more productive when they worked shorter hours. One challenge that Mr. Ford was not up against was connectivity. The dawn of the almighty email meant we could rapidly respond to our clients’ needs. During the pandemic, the days seemed to blur into one long work day where most people were “on” and ready to address concerns.

Enter the work-life integration concept, where personal and professional responsibilities are expected to be harmonious. Work-life integration emphasizes blending work and personal life to complement each other, allowing for more flexibility and fluidity. The pandemic redefined how and where people work. Many companies offer fully remote positions, enabling staff to work from anywhere.

This is one area I have had to learn to live in as I get older. As a self-pronounced and recovering people pleaser, my hand will shoot up to volunteer before the question is even asked. I’ve learned that you will do nothing well if you try to do everything. You will end up overscheduled, overworked and exhausted.

While your goal might be to add value by taking on additional responsibilities, the result could be several incomplete projects that are not reflective of your excellent work ethic.

4. Learn from failures; there is no quit in grit. I’ve had a close relationship with failure my entire life. As kid, my attempts to discover the one sport I was good at was a challenge. The sign-up fees were immense, from karate to softball, swimming to dance.

I got comfortable being the last picked for any sport at PE and knew I would be the last to finish the fitness mile we were required to run each semester. The great news was this: failure was encouraged in my house as it meant you were trying. My mother would sit in the stands and cheer me on as I struck out or let the ball slip past me way out in right field.

She’d console me on the way home: “At least you were trying and smiling.” This support allowed me to continue exploring my interests without fearing rejection from my loved ones.

What if we applied this principle to a career? A first attempt at a new task or role could present a significant challenge, followed by what you might perceive as a vast public failure. But what if we begin to socialize the idea of failure?

As with developing any new skill, there is the process of trying and failing. I want you to get comfortable applying failure to every aspect of your life. If you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying.

Consider all the activities you tried as a child, and ask yourself: Did I excel or struggle with this activity? Did I have fun or labor through the activity? Did I let the outcome of the activity (winning a game or successfully playing a piece of music) define who I am?

If your list is anything like mine, it would be long and riddled with many failed attempts. However, in the grand scheme, I had fun with each new experience and always kept the outcome from defining who I was.

As entrepreneur and author Steven Bartlett has so eloquently put it: “Failure is feedback. Feedback is knowledge. Knowledge is power.”

Now that we’ve explored several strategies for cultivating your grit, let’s dive into what benefits you’ll receive from learning to stretch and strengthen this muscle.

You’ll be a more valuable contributor. Grit transforms individuals into indispensable and invaluable assets in the workplace. Adapting, persevering, and overcoming challenges make you an essential resource to your organization and industry.

You’ll be more relevant. Gritty people stay relevant by embracing change, staying informed about developments in their industry and actively seeking growth opportunities.

This relevance enhances your professional longevity. You’ll be better equipped to face challenges. Every industry has its challenges, requiring individuals to navigate complex scenarios regularly. Grit equips us with the mental fortitude needed to face these challenges head-on. Rather than being overwhelmed, we approach obstacles with a determined mindset, increasing our chances of success.

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Tinsley English is a corporate executive, best-selling author, leadership coach, and speaker who connects with women at every stage of life and career. Through her signature programs, G-Force Code™ Leadership Series, and Grit, Growth and Gumption Podcast, she equips women to lead with confidence, clarity, and impact. Known for her authentic voice and electrifying presence, Tinsley inspires action, sparks growth, and empowers women to thrive personally and professionally.  A wife of over two decades to her best friend, Steve, and a proud girl mom to her daughter, Ella, she brings her own journey of leadership, family, and faith to every message she delivers. This article is adapted from her book Grit, Growth and Gumption for Women: Three Keys to Lead Yourself and Others with Confidence. Her new book, Leading Through the Pause: A High Achiever’s Guide to Staying Confident Through Menopause, will launch in January 2026.