How to Have True Grit
[Applause]
picture this
as i come across the finish line my
heart was pounding
my legs were screaming at me and no
breath seemed to have enough air
my body was made of up of lactic acid
and the voice
in the back of my head was starting to
ask why zack
why this sport but i knew there was no
turning back now
i had to face my fear of defeat and step
into the fire
pushing what i thought was my body’s
limit
but as i came closer and closer to the
finish line i realized that more and
more of my potential was revealed
and so i crossed that finish line faster
than ever before
this feeling of surpassing myself is
something i strive for every day and
what i believe many others do too
the feeling of not only proving others
wrong but proving myself wrong
whether it’s getting that great on a
test or starting a new hobby
people have always found redefining
their abilities a source of motivation
in life
or what they thought was impossible at
first
impossible has been redefined many times
it was done when the first sub 4 minute
mile was ran in 1954
or when mount everest the mountain that
seemed impossible to climb
was ascended in 1953
or even me standing in front of you
today
impossible has been redefined
good evening good evening my name is
zach
and i’m here today to motivate you to
redefine your impossible
now i’m not here to tell you to go out
and break world records or go to the
next olympics
but i’m here to remind you that you
achieve you
accomplish your goals in life and i
believe that the key ingredient to
accomplishing
your goals in life comes from grit
but what exactly is grit well grit
is the perseverance and passion for a
long-term goal
it’s the ability to keep moving despite
adversity
basically when things get hard you’re
going to need to work harder
angela duckworth the world’s leading
expert on grit state that grit
may be more important than iq or talent
in predicting success
so now that we know what grid is how do
we develop grit
well i believe that grit is a simple
three ingredient recipe
just like my morning toast you have the
bread
you have the peanut butter and you have
the banana
now although the ingredients to grit may
be harder to purchase once you get hold
of them
you are way more likely to achieve your
goals in life
so i believe that the first ingredient
to developing your grit
is finding an intrinsic motivation
i like to call this the eye of the
panther because a panther is fierce
proud and brave it is motivated to catch
its prey and will do so
you can imagine your goal as your prey
and you’ll need to be motivated
to catch it you need to believe in
yourself
because those that believe they can get
better realize
that efforts make them stronger you need
to set a long-term goal and find that
motivation to accomplish
it you need to make sure that this
motivation comes from within
because if you’re doing it for the money
you’re probably doing it wrong
lionel sanders a canadian triathlete is
a clear example of the importance and
power of finding that internal
motivation
as he went from a college drug addict he
wanted to change his life around
and found a goal of wanting to become
one of the best triathletes in the world
only five years later he was able to
accomplish this goal
his motivation comes from his motto no
limits in which he believes that if you
work for it
you can achieve whatever you set your
mind to
like lionel sanders believing in
yourself is a huge factor in resilience
believing that you can get to that
finish line will help you work for it
however
you must realize that this finish line
might not come today
and that this finish line might not come
tomorrow
and maybe one day you’ll start
understanding that there’s no such thing
as a finish line
but more like water stops along the way
where you get to fuel up
hydrate and keep moving through life
all right now that we’ve toasted our
bread we need to add our peanut butter
the second ingredient to increasing your
grit is to make sure that you’re
fulfilled with the right
surroundings you need to surround
yourself with people that believe in you
people the people that want the best out
of you and will motivate you to become
the person you want to become
however as we all know this often comes
with hard choices
but what we seem to forget is that our
behavior changes not only through
pressure
but also happens unconsciously in which
we tend to uphold the values of the
group we identify with even
when we aren’t around them this means
that it’s important
important to surround with yourself with
good people because they shape your
behavior
if we look at these two men i love this
picture edmund hillary and tenzing
norgay on top of the world for the first
time
when we look at this picture we tell
ourselves these guys have done it they
have climbed mount everest they have
reached the pinnacle of success
but let me tell you this expedition
wasn’t just two guys trying to reach the
top
no this involved a team
a team who believed they could bring
these two guys up there a team who
believed they could be the first and a
team who believed
they could achieve and that is what we
should all do we need to surround
ourselves with people that care about us
and want the best out of us
all right the third ingredient it’s
probably one of the most important
important ones it’s the one that makes
this peanut butter toast so good it’s
the banana
the third ingredient is finding a
purpose in what you are doing
this involves having dreams and goals to
motivate you and help you work for
things
it’s the fuel in your fire it’s
something beyond what you have done
or created it’s something that will get
you out of bed in the morning and tackle
these challenges every day
and go to bed satisfied but it’s also
about taking a step back
and understanding how what you are doing
helps contribute to the well-being of
others
because at the end of the day i believe
that we’re not here for ourselves
but rather for others if we look at this
man
bill gates multi-billionaire we all know
him he found a purpose in building one
of the biggest
softwares ever created microsoft however
he wanted to redefine its purpose and
create a different global development
dev development foundations in which he
donated 95
or 17 billion dollars of his income to
these charities
or greta thunder a seventeen climate
activist with a purpose
of motivating governments to act on
climate change
and all these people have different
purposes
so let me ask you what is your purpose
the third ingredient is often the
hardest one to find
it takes time it grows and it can
develop and it often changes
but it’s it’s important to acknowledge
that it’s there because the purpose
is what will bring you through the other
side at the end of a dark tunnel
it’s what will help you persevere to
those passions and those goals you want
to achieve
in this year in a pandemic where
everything seems to be uncertain it’s
important that we have our grit
that we persevere in challenging times
where we all socially distance where
we’re all wearing masks
we need to persevere and see this light
at the end of the tunnel and we can do
so by having grit
so to conclude my ted talk today i want
to remind you that you are capable of
achieving whatever you set your mind to
that you have no limit what you need to
remember
to find that internal motivation
surround yourself with great people
and find a purpose in what you’re doing
because greatness
is within all of us thank you