Be the best version of yourself. Become the Most Powerful Version of YOURSELF | GRIT book SUMMARY

Hey friends, look at this photo!

This is not just a tweet, that Ed Sheeran posted on 31st July 2011. He wrote, 'Give me a few years, I've got big plans'. If we see it broadly, it seems just a big thing, which he said.

But actually, it is not a big thing this is a commitment. A decision or you can call it grit also. Grit, due to which, around 10 years later Sheeran became one of the best-selling music artists.

His dream of becoming one of the best singers he achieved because of grit. And this is not about odd one out, that it is done by just Ed Sheeran.

You know, all the people who do big things whether they are Olympic athletes

Nobel prize-winning scientists billionaires or investors, grit is found in all of them.

And if you have to do big things in your life then you would also have to make a decision, that you bring grit in your life. See, talent is valued the most in our society!

It's not about just India, you see it in the whole world

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All of them have tried to run behind talent. They value talent a lot. Many shows get made on talent. World's got talent, India's got talent, America's got talent.

What happens because of focusing on talent, is they forget a thing behind that talent, which is effort. I think, instead of India's Got Talent we should make a show named India's Got Effort. Because in the end, talent comes out of effort.

And only I am not saying it. When the author Angela Duckworth was in her 20s she had become a school teacher where she noticed a weird thing.

For example, the smart kids in her class were very sharp-minded and if you see, they should get the highest marks, but it never happened in her class.

Maximum smart people didn't get good marks. Whereas other students who had grit, they might not understand the concept the first time, but still, they used to score the highest. She observed it in all the people not just in class, when after some years, Angela Duckworth had become a psychologist and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania still, she was obsessed with this question, why some people are more successful?

She did so many studies to find out its answer. She researched on National Spelling Bee Champions. Elite military training graduates Olympic athletes, top leaders of the corporate she researched all those people. To understand how much is talent important, and how much are efforts important?

And she has named the findings of that research GRIT, which is the mixture of two things, first is passion. One thing which you are passionate about. And second, is perseverance. Such a thing in which you can stay for a long time. And the combination of both is grit, which takes people to their highest potential. The author says in her book GRIT 'Effort counts twice'.

Maximum people are not able to understand this sentence, which she explains and tells that 'If you are talented in something since childhood then you won't be able to go forward based on just talent.

You would have to mix efforts. When you multiply both, you get the skill.

First, now again when you put effort into this skill only then you get the achievement. If we see the example of Ed Sheeran people think that Ed Sheeran was a talented kid.

No! Maybe he had a little talent for singing but because of that talent, he was able to become one of the biggest artists, the reason behind it was GRIT. You know, he used to sing in a local church at the age of 4. At the age of 11, he learnt to play the guitar, which needs effort not just talent. And he started writing songs with his high skills.

His dream was to be of the world's best singers. For which he took more than 10 years.

Continuous efforts for 10 years. Only then do we know this person! So if you also want to be the best version of yourself and want to take your human capabilities to the highest then you would have to add GRIT to your life.

And for that, the author tells a process of three steps. Which I will share with you!

And I will also share four psychological parameters, which are very important for you to bring to life if you want to move forward with GRIT. First, let's talk about that 3-step process, in which let's see....

Step No. 1:

Author Bill Burrnet says 'Until you know where you have been till then you can't know where you are going'. Whether it is about your health, your financial condition your relationship or your happiness. Like there is software, if you want to improve that software, want to make it the best then first you have to know the current functionalities of existing software, and what its code is the more you understand the existing code, only then you would be able to make version 2.0 by solving that problem. Similarly, if you are in the 1.0 version currently to make the 2.0 version you will have to know, where you are right now. If you go to the gym and hire a good trainer, then he won't ask you to do exercise. Maybe he would ask you to do exercise, but first, he will try to know your current weight, height, your measurement and lifestyle. And then he will give you a diet accordingly. Which you can maintain and can healthily reduce your weight. That's why if you want to know where you want to go, then first find out, where are you. And then apart from that, create a vision. And this is your step no. 1.

What is vision?

That you can look into the future, where you've reached, where you have to go, and how you want to look. And for this, you have to perform a dreaming exercise.

Like for example, you have to imagine yourself in 4 areas. First is your health! Go,

stand in front of the mirror, and look at your body! Analyze, how fat or thin you are.

If you are thin, then you have to do cardio in the gym. All these things won't make sense. Your vision is to develop good muscles, and it won't be good for you as others are doing. But yes, first look yourself in the mirror, evaluate yourself, where are you! And then imagine your perfect body avatar. What do you think your weight should be, how your muscles should be? Start imagining, try to imagine your perfect shape in the mirror.

How would clothes suit you, try to imagine that! Imagine how tired you would be while doing a workout. How you would walk physically, what you would eat imagine all these things. Create a vision, of your perfect avatar.

Second: Do this for your wealth!

See, what is your income right now? What is your worth per hour?

In the worst-case scenario, it would be zero. If it is zero, it is fine.

But what is the vision? Where do you want to go?

How much do you want to earn every month? When you put your bank ID in your mobile, through the app, then what your balance should be, how many digits should be there, and which car you would be driving, imagine that! Imagine, where you would be travelling. How many properties you would have, how many stocks you would have,

how many YouTube channels you would have, and how many followers you would have imagine all these things, and create a vision of your perfect wealth.

You have to do the same thing for your relationship! Your family, friends, and partner imagine, how should perfect like look with everyone. And do it for your happiness also. How you would stay happy and how happy you want to live you have to imagine in every area. Have to see a vision. And when you would see and create a vision then you have to come to step 2.

Step No. 2:

'Set right plan, goals and strategy'. A movie named 'Dune' was released in the year 2021, in which there was very good dialogue 'Dreams make good stories

but everything important happens when we are awake because that's when we make things happen'. Neil Armstrong's dream of going to the moon

would have been a dream only, if he wouldn't done work, studies or tough training on becoming an astronaut.

The vision of reaching the moon was okay, but how many things they had to do to reach there we don't know them. Similarly, how hard you will have to work to achieve your goal how goals and strategies you would have to make you would have to create that. For this, you can do an exercise. Brian Tracy also tells for himself, 'Make a 5-10 years plan for yourself and then do reverse engineering. Like, the weight of your ideal body is 70kgs, or 80kgs, or 90kgs, whatever it is.

What kind of yearly goal you should create to reach there, what monthly goal you should set, what weekly goal you should set, what daily goal you should set, write down all these things.

The more right plan, goal or strategy you make the higher the chances that you would achieve that goal. Psychologist Gail Matthews did a study in 2015.

According to which those who write a clearly defined goal there are 33% more chances that they would achieve this goal. Many researchers says big number about it.

Those who note down the goals and make plans their chances of getting success keep increasing. So, you also start defining. That is what you can do for weight loss, you can go to the gym, can watch swimming lessons, how your diet should be, what you can do for relationships, like, reading. 'How to win friends and influence people', reading '5 love languages' book which 3 books you can read in coming 3 months. What you can do for business, maybe you have to find out a partner, you have to make a prototype of a business idea, you have to make an MVP, Minimum Viable Product, have read 'The Lean Startup book. What actions you can take today, this week or this year try to write those things which can take to your goals in the coming years.

You can do one more exercise, which is called 'My Perfect Day'. How your perfect day should look like, what is its vision start writing that! When you want to wake up in the morning. What you want to do after that, start writing them one by one. And remember, how you write is your vision! You will take a lot of time to reach there. You would have to see failures many times. Like I have also set goals many times. Have written good things. But I was not able to do all those things. But does it mean that I quit? No! I keep trying even today to reach the perfect vision! This is what you have to do while remembering step 3.

Step No. 3:

'Set the new standard by reminding yourself of the great purpose'. Three people were doing a job of putting bricks on a construction site.

When the first man was asked, what are you doing? He said I am putting bricks.

When the second one was asked, he said I am making a church. When the third person was asked, he said I am building the house of God. You tell me, whose work has more meaning? Who is working with more purpose? Whose work, do you think, can be best? Who would be working with passion? third, Because see, this is true your work should have passion and perseverance but there would be passion, perseverance and Grit when you have a higher purpose.

For example, the author surveyed 16,000 Americans. Where she wanted to see, who shows the most GRIT. Who gets the most pleasure from his work, or who is fulfilling a purpose from his work? After the research, she found

no matter what the GRIT level is everyone was getting pleasure from their work but for those who had more GRIT all of them had a higher level of purpose, which they were serving. You can see this graph!

It shows that all the high achievers who can reach their best versions they can push themselves more than others. And if they can push, then they have Grit. And there is a reason behind this grit which is purpose. Purpose means, why are you doing that work, what is the emotional reason behind that? There is a very good example of Grit,

David Goggins. There are four psychological assets in these three steps.

Paragons of grit, which I told earlier, which I was calling parameters. The author says that there are four psychological assets of paragons of grit, which you should have. First is, Interest in the passion which we have already seen.

The second is practice. Means how much practice you are doing. Third is the purpose, which I have explained now. And then the fourth is very important, which is hope!

No matter how much interest you have no matter how much practice you do

you would be able to practice better when you would have a purpose, and you would have hope with purpose, that I would get the results of the hard work I am doing.

I will get the best version of myself. Bring all the four things in your life. Interest, practice, purpose and hope. A person has all these things. There is a person who inspires me a lot, and he has a lot of grit. By seeing that grit, it comes into me also.

By listening to his story! The name of that person is David Goggins. You must read or listen to his story once. Trust me, whenever I listen to his story then, I run for 20 minutes even if I have to run for 10 minutes.

I get so much grit, after listening to his story. See you in the next blog, bye!