Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Educational Researcher
44 (2015): 237–51.
“work in East Africa”
:
Jeffrey Gettleman, East Africa bureau chief for the 
New York Times
, in an interview with the author, May 22,
2015.
“it was the easiest to fulfill the requirements”:
Abigail Warren, “Gettleman Shares Anecdotes, Offers Advice,” 
Cornell
Chronicle
, March 2, 2015, 
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/03/gettleman-shares-anecdotes-offers-advice
.
“I wanted to make it a part of my life”
:
Gettleman, interview.
“who wants to work for a boring newspaper?”
:
Max Schindler, “New York Times Reporter Jeffrey Gettleman ’94 Chronicles His
Time in Africa,” 
Cornell Daily Sun
, April 6, 2011.
“I was pretty lost academically”
:
Gettleman, interview.
“have a life philosophy”
:
Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, in an interview with the author, June 2, 2015.
they have ever been done before
:
For more on Pete’s perspective, see Pete Carroll, 
Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a
Champion
(New York: Penguin, 2010). Some of the quotations in this section, and later in the book, are from interviews with the
author between 2014 and 2015. Others are from Pete’s book or public talks.
“drive all my actions”
:
Carroll, 
Win Forever
, 73.
“and filling binders”
:
Ibid., 78.
goals in a hierarchy
:
Material in this chapter on the hierarchical structure of goals from Angela Duckworth and James J. Gross, “Self-
control and Grit: Related but Separable Determinants of Success.” 
Current Directions in Psychological Science
23 (2014): 319–25.
On goal hierarchies more generally, see Arie W. Kruglanski et al., “A Theory of Goal Systems,” in 
Advances in Experimental Social
Psychology
34 (2002): 331–78. And, finally, for a review of goal-setting theory, see Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, “Building a
Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation: A 35-Year Odyssey,” 
American Psychologist
57 (2002): 705–17.
an “ultimate concern”
:
Robert A. Emmons, 
The Psychology of Ultimate Concerns: Motivation and Spirituality in Personality
(New York: Guildford Press, 1999).
when he retired in 1987
:
Ira Berkow, “Sports of the Times; Farewell, Sweet Pitcher,” 
New York Times
, June 23, 1987.
“day after day, year after year”
:
Pat Jordan, “Tom Terrific and His Mystic Talent,” 
Sports Illustrated
, July 24, 1972,
http://www.si.com/vault/1972/07/24/612578/tom-terrific-and-his-mystic-talent
.
“then I eat cottage cheese”
:
Ibid.
“help me be happy”
:
Ibid.
“positive fantasizing”
:
Gabriele Oettingen, “Future Thought and Behaviour Change,” 
European Review of Social Psychology
23
(2012): 1–63. For a terrific summary, and practical suggestions, on goal setting and planning, see Gabriele Oettingen, 
Rethinking
Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation
(New York: Penguin, 2014).
reportedly gave his personal pilot
:
James Clear, “Warren Buffett’s ‘Two List’ Strategy: How to Maximize Your Focus and Master
Your 
Priorities,” 
Huffington 
Post
, 
originally 
posted 
October, 
24, 
2014, 
updated 
December 
24, 
2014,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-clear/warren-buffetts-two-list-strategy-how-to-maximize-your-focus-_b_6041584.html
.
a more important end
:
For instance, in one study, young adults wrote down their high-level, mid-level, and low-level goals; over the
next two weeks, they reported on daily frustrations. People whose goals demonstrated a more organized, hierarchical structure
subsequently demonstrated greater resilience in the face of daily frustrations. In particular, when confronted with frustrating
experiences, they maintained a sense that they were in control of attaining their goals. In a related study, a more hierarchical goal
structure predicted feeling less anger and annoyance in the face of daily frustrations over the next two weeks. See Michael D.
Robinson and Sara K. Moeller, “Frustrated, but Not Flustered: The Benefits of Hierarchical Approach Motivation to Weathering Daily
Frustrations,”