Resilience is the optimism to keep bouncing back from failure.
Grit, which is our passion and perseverance towards reaching a long-term goal.
Grit is awesome!
I’ve seen dear friends who go from couch potato to running marathons. I’ve seen broke friends build million-dollar businesses. I’ve seen single friends date half of New York City until they found the right partner for them.
…That takes Grit, people!
But, can you have too much grit?
“Absolutely. When you drive forward to the detriment of yourself and others, I call that ‘stupid grit,’” explains best-selling author and positive psychology coach, Caroline Adams Miller. “It’s what happens when athletes play through pain and ruin their careers. It occurs in workplaces when people become too rigid around ideas or practices and fail to pivot when the market changes. In mountaineering, it’s called summit fever. In scuba diving, it’s called the rapture of the deep.”
I’ll introduce you to "Stupid Grit", Grits ugly step sister. I’ve personally met her several times.
Stupid Grit surfaces during the times I’ve stayed in roles that didn’t fit me for far too long. Or worked for people I simply didn’t align with. The job responsibilities were not ones that I enjoyed. I stayed in certain roles that exceeded their threshold, when this didn’t serve me, my manager, or my employees.
“The overuse of anything good can do harm to yourself and others,” As a result, Miller suggests that we would do better to pursue authentic grit. She defines this as: “The passionate pursuit of hard goals that causes one to emotionally flourish, take positive risks, live without regret, and awe and inspire others.”
We know mindfulness helps us become more resilient, but it also helps us return to the present moment, to know when we are using grit or stupid grit.
This month in my Mindful Membership, we'll review how to use a proven and specific methodology to recognize when we’re spending time with ‘stupid grit.’ On Feb 27th, we'll be holding a FREE webinar with Dr. Eric Frazer to learn more about how to develop grit with proven psychological research to drive high performance results.
Banish burnout by learning how we can put our energy toward meaningful and fruitful goals, instead of 'stupid grit'.