The title of Grit is a little ironic, given that the word seems to imply a character trait, but Duckworth herself would argue that what is necessary for success in life is not one character trait or another, but something else entirely. So the title points to the first misunderstanding, that although we all know in theory that "grit" may lead to success, we all secretly believe that "grit" was something we were born without. Duckword writes this book as a defiant challenge to the reader to take their success more seriously, and to be strategic about how we go about pursuing our dreams.
The single greatest challenge to our success, in Duckworth's opinion, is that people can be dishonest with themselves about what they believe. If you make people answer the question, "What is more important, talent or disciplined, continual effort?" people will say effort, but secretly, Duckworth's statistic research shows that people have a bias toward believing that successful people are given some secret divine gifting to be successful. It is hard for humans to fathom that if we work to improve our skills in a patiently, strategic way, and if we commit ourselves to fulfilling our dreams, that it will work. It is easier, says Duckworth, to simply believe that we are perhaps inferior by nature, so we can excuse ourselves from trying.
That's what grit is all about for Duckworth. Grit is not about overcoming one's self, or enslaving yourself to a life of meaningless toil—grit is about having the honesty to look within one's self, to admit one's motivations, to accept responsibility for one's performance, and then, says Duckworth, if they can get a picture for what they want their life to look like, then if they can just habituate daily, strategic practices that move them toward those goals, they can live a happy, meaningful life in the meantime, and eventually, they will succeed.
