Grit takes you to success like the sea moves toward the shore.

We can call it “determination”, but more specifically: the determination to see something through.

My friend started working in a big hotel as a receptionist. She has a degree in Marketing but she couldn’t get a job in her field of study. So, she applied anywhere and everywhere.

She’d been working on this hotel for some months. They’d even changed her position as head of a guest’s department. Because she is a hard-working person. But she told me she quit her job.

Quitting her job is not a problem. The inability to stick to what she started is.

I know my friend. She has an excellent GPA on her degree. She works hard. She is a decent human being. She is beautiful.

The downside though is that she would often leave a job only after a few months stay because of some reason. Which I don’t understand: 

you have to stick to something to see its fruit.

For unrelated reasons, she and I lost touch for a bit as we got busy with life.

A month ago, I got this text from her, “Hey …I want to talk to you.”

“Everything OK?”

She said, “Yeah about that …. I’ve resigned from my last job. Where do you think I should apply?”

Well, it turns out she changed four jobs in one year time.

She had been going on a rampage, looking for jobs that she could stay on.

But — alas — this is one of the most common things that make us unsuccessful. And I’m sure at least a few of you reading this will relate.

Working hard is good. It’s wonderful. When I work hard I feel I am accomplishing something. When I feel motivated I feel I can do anything.

But what about when motivation deserts me?

What about when I am tired of working hard or just bored of working hard?

That is when grit comes in.

Grit is the opposite of comfort.

In a new start-up, motivation will come out swinging and full of enthusiasm. This feeling won’t stay long. It will disappear when the going gets tough.

It will abandon you when you need it the most.

Grit will not relent.

Where there is grit, you do — not just try

You come home after a long, tiresome day. Whatever you feel like doing, you still act out of your desire to commit to your work. You have grit.

The road ahead is full of hurdles. It is not as you expected. You are being challenged on your every step. But, you still choose to step forward. You have grit.

Things go south and you know deep in your heart that you want to pass through this road. You choose to treat your mistakes and failures as lessons. You have grit.

Motivation does not do that. Hard work does not do that. Education does not do that. Ability does not do that. Grit does.

Motivation just means you have a little spark when you started. Hard work means you work hard more than others. Education just means you start a few steps ahead.

Perseverance is where it’s at.

When I started blogging, my writing was so crappy that it makes me cringe when I read it now.

I was not paid a single cent.

My blog had only 100 Email subscribers for the first four months. A year and a few months later, I have more than 50,000 subscribers to my blog.

I got here because I showed up. Every single day. You can ask my mother how many times I came to her on the verge of tears. Frustrated that publications did not accept my articles.

But I stuck with it.

Some of my friends think that writing is not even a skill. They don’t realize that I choose to improve my writing skill every day — just like I would do for any other skill. They asked how I did it when they Googled my name and my articles came up.

Duh….

I stuck with it.

Grit is being tough enough to ride the waves of trying, failing, and trying again

And being committed. No matter what the outside world throws at you.

Having grit is saying goodbye to comfort

Whenever someone tells me they want to feel safe, warm and protected, I tell them: so do I. But these blankets of saturation will not make me accomplish anything in life.

If I write whenever I feel like writing — I would not have published more than 300 articles on my blog in one year.

Dreaming, hoping, wishing, and waiting to be something “someday” at some point in life is just a mirage.

It is not real.

What is real is grit.

It is tenacious, constant, and persistent.

To your inspirations,

Banchi