Recently, I read these two books almost together (maybe because one book referred to the other and I ended up buying them at the same time)
The books make two fascinating arguments that seem contradictory on the face of it.
Quit talks about the need to not feel guilty about the act of quitting. Citing the example of some climbers who chose to 'quit' (and who were not celebrated by any media) their climb to the summit of Mt Everest when they were delayed near the summit, the book argues that we are culturally wired to celebrate those climbers who go ahead inspite of the risks and die than celebrate those make a rational decision to abort/quit to retry on a later day.
Grit on the other hand talks about the impact of resilience, passion and deliberate practice in getting good or great at anything. Citing studies across fields from sports to spelling to arts the book argues that persistence eventually helps meet long term goals.
As an Entrepreneur, who has been at it for a few years now, the books offered great insights and made me think about my journey so far.
I have been a believer that there are some journeys where the destination is more important than the journey itself. And there are some journeys where the destination does not matter that much.
It is also possible that within one journey there can be these two phases - one where getting to the destination is important and one where it is not.
While the books did not help me find any specific resolution, I loved the closing comments in the last couple of pages of "Grit". If I have to ever remind myself about the need to get better at something everyday, I will keep revisiting these closing lines of the book.
The challenge of writing Is to see your horribleness on page. To see your terribleness And then to go to bed.
And wake up the next day, And take that horribleness and that terribleness, And refine it, And make it not so terrible and not so horrible. And then to go to bed again.
And come the next day, And refine it a little bit more, And make it not so bad. And then to go to bed the next day.
And do it again, And make it maybe average. And then one more time, If you're lucky, Maybe you get to good.
And if you've done that, That's a success.
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