More on grit and especially perseverance.

Officially grit is “perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Implied in that is perseverance i [Coach Tony]( Coach Tony [@tonystubblebine]( Officially grit is “[perseverance and passion for long-term goals](.” Implied in that is perseverance in the face of adversity. Otherwise what is there to persevere against? So when I’m coaching for grit, I focus on what you do when you face adversity. ___ Practice grit with a cold shower. Cold showers are a simple, accessible habit to manufacture adversity in order to train grit. It’s also a popular practice with hardcore gritty people, for example: The [unexpected benefits of cold showersÂ](… makes you feel like you can conquer the world (or at least your day). ~ [May Pang](. A gritty decision is when you jump right into the water even though you know it’s going to be awful. You don’t gradually change the temperature, you don’t dip a toe in and then gradually move your body in. You see the task at hand, see that it’s not going to feel good, and you just do it. This is along the lines of the David Goggins concept of “[Do one thing every day that sucks](.” Note, cold showers might not be tied to any of your long-term goals, but they are an evocative way to experience a mindset of “It had to be done so I did it.”  I’m using it here as an example of [deliberate practice](, i.e. breaking a bigger skill down into components that you can practice. ___ One aspect of Grit is Dependability Think of the cold shower exercise as an exercise in dependability, especially dependability to yourself. When you set a long-term goal, can you depend on yourself to just do the things you need to do to achieve that goal? Grit is a lot of small, but hard decisions over a long period of time. According to Duckworth, of the five personality traits, conscientiousness is the most closely associated with grit. However, it seems that there are two types, and how successful you will be depends on what type you are. Conscientiousness in this context means, careful and painstaking; meticulous. But in a 1992 study, the educator L.M. Hough found the definition to be far more nuanced when applied to tenacity. Hough’s study distinguished achievement from the dependability aspects of conscientiousness. [From 5 Characteristics Of Grit — How Many Do You Have?]( ~ Margaret Perlis ___ Another aspect of Grit is how you treat failure. Lying about failure is my biggest nit with the self-improvement industrial complex. Since every guru is overselling their solutions as “magical, works for everyone, 100% effective” it causes people to give up when that advice fails. And even the best advice fails for most people. That’s why I tell people instead that most advice works for some people, but there is [only a 10% chance]( it’s going to work for you. It’s worth trying if you have the mindset to try and adjust. Get up from failure quickly, adjust, move forward. The best article I’ve seen on how to respond to failure uses the concept of anti-fragility to deal with failures. An antifragile way of life is all about finding a way to gain from the inevitable disorder of life. To not only bounce back when things don’t go as planned, but to get stronger, smarter, and better at continuing as a result of running into this disorder. From [Live like a hydra]( by [Buster Benson](. So if you want to be a grittier person it’s a twofold focus. One is to learn to depend on yourself to just do the work, no matter how unpleasant. And the other is to depend on yourself to get up quickly after a failure, learn your lesson, move forward. ___ Who do you admire for their grit? I’m using your answers for TikTok Tuesday. Don’t miss out on the other issues by Coach Tony [Become a member for $5 per month]( Did you enjoy this issue? [Yes]( [No]( [Coach Tony]( Coach Tony [@tonystubblebine]( Tips, inspirations, and knowledge on productivity, happiness, health, and making an impact on our world. Official email of the Better Humans publication on Medium. (@bttrhumans) You can manage your subscription [here](. If you don't want these updates anymore, please unsubscribe [here](. If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe [here](. Created with [Revue by Twitter](.