Interpersonal character includes gratitude, social intelligence, and self-control over emotions like
anger. These virtues help you get along with—and provide assistance to—other people. Sometimes,
these virtues are referred to as “moral character.” David Brooks prefers the term “eulogy virtues”
because, in the end, they may be more important to how people remember us than anything else. When
we speak admiringly of someone being a “deeply good” person, I think it’s this cluster of virtues
we’re thinking about.
And, finally, intellectual character includes virtues like curiosity and zest. These encourage active
and open engagement with the world of ideas.
My longitudinal studies show these three virtue clusters predict different outcomes. For academic
achievement, including stellar report card grades, the cluster containing grit is the most predictive.
But for positive social functioning, including how many friends you have, interpersonal character is
more important. And for a positive, independent posture toward learning, intellectual virtue trumps
the others.
In the end, the plurality of character operates against any one virtue being uniquely important.
I’m often asked whether encouraging grit does children a disservice by setting expectations
unreasonably high. “Careful, Dr. Duckworth, or children will all grow up thinking they can be Usain
Bolt, Wolfgang Mozart, or Albert Einstein.”
If we can’t be Einstein, is it worth studying physics? If we can’t be Usain Bolt, should we go for a
run this morning? Is there any point in trying to run a little faster or longer than we did yesterday? In
my view, these are absurd questions. If my daughter says to me, “Mom, I shouldn’t practice my piano
today because I’ll never be Mozart,” I’ll say in reply, “You’re not practicing piano to be Mozart.”
We all face limits—not just in talent, but in opportunity. But more often than we think, our limits
are self-imposed. We try, fail, and conclude we’ve bumped our heads against the ceiling of
possibility. Or maybe after taking just a few steps we change direction. In either case, we never
venture as far as we might have.
To be gritty is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. To be gritty is to hold fast to an
interesting and purposeful goal. To be gritty is to invest, day after week after year, in challenging
practice. To be gritty is to fall down seven times, and rise eight.
I was interviewed recently by a journalist. As he was packing up his notes, he said, “So, it’s
obvious you could have talked all day. You really love this subject.”
“Oh, gosh. Is there
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