4 ms·

Showing up counts for a lot. Grit is a good, admirable trait which correlates heavily with success. I don't feel like leveraging grit works in all situations,

Showing up counts for a lot. Grit is a good, admirable trait which correlates heavily with success. I don't feel like leveraging grit works in all situations, though? Do others feel differently? For me, there are times I want to program, show up to program, and then fail to dictate the movement of pixels of light appropriately with my critical thoughts. It's not for a lack of grit. I could sit for hours making attempts to gain headway, but only build in frustration as I become increasingly aware of my failure to drop into flow state. The brain is a muscle, decision fatigue is real, and your body imposes safeguards on how much you're allowed to crunch it. There are some tasks which do not progress without a sufficiently critical mindset and require rest. You can do other, less mentally demanding tasks, and this will satiate some of your hunger to create, but, just as cleaning the house isn't a suitable replacement for that actually important chore you're procrastinating on, I don't feel that writing a blog post that just says, "I showed up." is sufficient to say you're continuing to progress in your own, personal character development? Happy to be told I'm being overly cynical here. I think I am and just need more coffee, but curious to hear other's thoughts.

shanebellone 4y ago
I do chores when I'm stuck. I strategically engage diffuse thinking to overcome my current obstacle. More often than not, I sit back down with a solution. Give it a shot :)
- rg111 4y ago
  Yes. Breaks are wondrous in problem-solving. When stuck (and when not), take breaks and do other stuff. In ~95% of the cases, solutions come to you. In the rest 5%, you reach out to someone who can help. Breaks are miracles in problem-solving. And I mean not only in case of programming/math, but also social situations.
- JustSomeNobody 4y ago
  This is one of the productivity boosts WFH has over the office. Two birds with one problem to work out.
- waprin 4y ago
  I'm similar, though not necessarily chores - usually other projects. In my goal tracker, I set high levels goals to be productive, but then about 30 different possible tasks count as productive. I track them at a low level so I can keep a good track of my time, but they all count towards the high level daily/weekly goal of being productive. That way I make sure I'm just doing _something_ productive, if not the thing I planned to do, rather than screw around surfing Reddit or something. Of course, this strategy works much better if you're a bootstrapped founder with 40 important tasks in front of you. It works less well if you have a daily standup with a project manager stressing the importance of only doing the JIRA ticket at the top of the backlog. So YMMV.
  - shanebellone 4y ago
    I typically maintain a list of tasks that can be accomplished in 6 hours or less. I pick a task based on my mood and motivation. I rarely work more than 6 hours. Usually accomplishing a small task builds enough motivation to accomplish another small task or a larger task. Getting started always seems to be the hardest part.
jameal 4y ago
I see grit as a trait expressed in the long-term. It takes grit to know when you're at that point of fatigue, to walk away and take a long walk so you can come back refreshed. And then to actually come back to it. I think that you and the author both have valid points of view that don't necessarily contradict each other.
Existenceblinks 4y ago
You've said better than my comment here. I haven't had a single tear in the past 10 years but back then it helped kickoff the process of showing up a lot. The fighting action has its reaction that eat soul. Being strong is being painful while keeping everything functioning. I wish I had ability to cry again. Idk, it's a magic to yield back energy to start a new cycle.
kayodelycaon 4y ago
Grit is defined as "the perseverance and passion to achieve long–term goals". I have a lot of mental health challenges and completely lack the reserve capacity most people have. The advice to "suck it up and do it" fails spectacularly with me. At best, I burn out mid-day. At worst, I burn out for several weeks. This doesn't preclude having grit. I work to know myself and my limits. Other people do not get to define my limitations. I know me, they don't. I will never "live up to my potential" in their eyes. To them, I lack grit in all its forms. But grit isn't about each day, it's about the long term. If I have to give up today, it's only so I can be ready for tomorrow. Every day is a chance to start again. That is the very definition of perseverance. It's a choice to keep going after being defeated.
- SeanAnderson 4y ago
  I agree with everything you're saying here. I'm sorry others do not see grit in you from their perspective. That must be a continually frustrating struggle. Are you able to speak more about your daily processes? How do you work to know yourself and your limits? How do you know if you're being lazy or recuperating? If grit isn't about each day then what psychological stat is?
  - Mezzie 4y ago
    I'm not the parent commentor, but I have MS which presents a lot of similar issues. For me, the main things I use to determine my limits are: - "Does doing this increase my odds of a relapse?": There are correlations between stress and risk of relapse, so I manage my stress very closely. - "Is doing this/pushing through sustainable, or will I need to borrow energy/sleep more/create issues going forward?": This one is hard because it involves knowing oneself and one's triggers and body very well. Like I'll down a shit ton of aspirin and Benedryl to work through migraines because I know they're brought on by either quick changes in barometric pressure or my menstrual cycle, which resolve quickly and can't spiral into worse problems. MS heat intolerance, on the other hand, means I need to stop and rest if I end up too warm because my nerves will be fried until I rest even if the weather does cool down.
  - kayodelycaon 4y ago
bad_username 4y ago
Knowing when to give up is a skill that is as valuable as grit, if not more so. Our time and energy are finite, and sometimes it is rational to redirect the resources from a goal that proved too expensive to achieve for a given benefit (e. g. due to newly found circumstances).
vsareto 4y ago
>I don't feel like leveraging grit works in all situations, though? Do others feel differently? Grit and the Sunk cost fallacy are often at odds with each other. Grit is useful when picking up a skill (programming) and sticking with it. But within that skill, you might not want to stick to something specific for too long if it's not working out, otherwise you deprive yourself of other learning opportunities. It also depends on what kind of success you want out of it. If you want to master a skill, no-matter-what, regardless of what kinds of jobs it has, then go for grit 100% to keep you working on it. If you want to try something new because you're seeking a deep passion, sticking with grit 100% will have an opportunity cost of not trying something else. Also a lot of this comes down to how hard you want to be on yourself. You can have strict goals of progress where just showing up yields no progress, so you might consider it a failure because there was no meaningful progress.
sublinear 4y ago
Yeah I think a lot of people are misunderstanding "grit" as "foolish stubbornness". These are different words for a reason. I think of grit as just not giving up and maintaining the integrity of a schedule and the quality of the work. It's a learned skill like anything else. Grit soon enough just becomes competence with experience, but you need to stop procrastinating first :)

shanebellone 4y ago

I do chores when I'm stuck. I strategically engage diffuse thinking to overcome my current obstacle. More often than not, I sit back down with a solution. Give it a shot :)

rg111 4y ago
Yes. Breaks are wondrous in problem-solving. When stuck (and when not), take breaks and do other stuff. In ~95% of the cases, solutions come to you. In the rest 5%, you reach out to someone who can help. Breaks are miracles in problem-solving. And I mean not only in case of programming/math, but also social situations.
JustSomeNobody 4y ago
This is one of the productivity boosts WFH has over the office. Two birds with one problem to work out.
waprin 4y ago
I'm similar, though not necessarily chores - usually other projects. In my goal tracker, I set high levels goals to be productive, but then about 30 different possible tasks count as productive. I track them at a low level so I can keep a good track of my time, but they all count towards the high level daily/weekly goal of being productive. That way I make sure I'm just doing _something_ productive, if not the thing I planned to do, rather than screw around surfing Reddit or something. Of course, this strategy works much better if you're a bootstrapped founder with 40 important tasks in front of you. It works less well if you have a daily standup with a project manager stressing the importance of only doing the JIRA ticket at the top of the backlog. So YMMV.
- shanebellone 4y ago
  I typically maintain a list of tasks that can be accomplished in 6 hours or less. I pick a task based on my mood and motivation. I rarely work more than 6 hours. Usually accomplishing a small task builds enough motivation to accomplish another small task or a larger task. Getting started always seems to be the hardest part.

jameal 4y ago

I see grit as a trait expressed in the long-term. It takes grit to know when you're at that point of fatigue, to walk away and take a long walk so you can come back refreshed. And then to actually come back to it. I think that you and the author both have valid points of view that don't necessarily contradict each other.

Existenceblinks 4y ago

You've said better than my comment here. I haven't had a single tear in the past 10 years but back then it helped kickoff the process of showing up a lot. The fighting action has its reaction that eat soul. Being strong is being painful while keeping everything functioning. I wish I had ability to cry again. Idk, it's a magic to yield back energy to start a new cycle.

kayodelycaon 4y ago

Grit is defined as "the perseverance and passion to achieve long–term goals". I have a lot of mental health challenges and completely lack the reserve capacity most people have. The advice to "suck it up and do it" fails spectacularly with me. At best, I burn out mid-day. At worst, I burn out for several weeks. This doesn't preclude having grit. I work to know myself and my limits. Other people do not get to define my limitations. I know me, they don't. I will never "live up to my potential" in their eyes. To them, I lack grit in all its forms. But grit isn't about each day, it's about the long term. If I have to give up today, it's only so I can be ready for tomorrow. Every day is a chance to start again. That is the very definition of perseverance. It's a choice to keep going after being defeated.

SeanAnderson 4y ago
I agree with everything you're saying here. I'm sorry others do not see grit in you from their perspective. That must be a continually frustrating struggle. Are you able to speak more about your daily processes? How do you work to know yourself and your limits? How do you know if you're being lazy or recuperating? If grit isn't about each day then what psychological stat is?
- Mezzie 4y ago
  I'm not the parent commentor, but I have MS which presents a lot of similar issues. For me, the main things I use to determine my limits are: - "Does doing this increase my odds of a relapse?": There are correlations between stress and risk of relapse, so I manage my stress very closely. - "Is doing this/pushing through sustainable, or will I need to borrow energy/sleep more/create issues going forward?": This one is hard because it involves knowing oneself and one's triggers and body very well. Like I'll down a shit ton of aspirin and Benedryl to work through migraines because I know they're brought on by either quick changes in barometric pressure or my menstrual cycle, which resolve quickly and can't spiral into worse problems. MS heat intolerance, on the other hand, means I need to stop and rest if I end up too warm because my nerves will be fried until I rest even if the weather does cool down.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago

bad_username 4y ago

Knowing when to give up is a skill that is as valuable as grit, if not more so. Our time and energy are finite, and sometimes it is rational to redirect the resources from a goal that proved too expensive to achieve for a given benefit (e. g. due to newly found circumstances).

vsareto 4y ago

>I don't feel like leveraging grit works in all situations, though? Do others feel differently? Grit and the Sunk cost fallacy are often at odds with each other. Grit is useful when picking up a skill (programming) and sticking with it. But within that skill, you might not want to stick to something specific for too long if it's not working out, otherwise you deprive yourself of other learning opportunities. It also depends on what kind of success you want out of it. If you want to master a skill, no-matter-what, regardless of what kinds of jobs it has, then go for grit 100% to keep you working on it. If you want to try something new because you're seeking a deep passion, sticking with grit 100% will have an opportunity cost of not trying something else. Also a lot of this comes down to how hard you want to be on yourself. You can have strict goals of progress where just showing up yields no progress, so you might consider it a failure because there was no meaningful progress.

sublinear 4y ago

Yeah I think a lot of people are misunderstanding "grit" as "foolish stubbornness". These are different words for a reason. I think of grit as just not giving up and maintaining the integrity of a schedule and the quality of the work. It's a learned skill like anything else. Grit soon enough just becomes competence with experience, but you need to stop procrastinating first :)