Some of the Science Behind Grit (#91)

Kelly McGonigal, PhD, is a psychology instructor at Stanford and the author of The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works. The book is a great guide to increasing your willpower. I have adapted some of her thoughts on the brain, physiology, and muscles to my ideas on grit.

Grit is that thing that gets us to run one more mile, climb one more rung of the corporate ladder, or throw the baseball with our kids after a long day at work. I define grit as “the will to persevere to achieve long term goals.” You can think of a person’s grit being built upon a goal, their perseverance, their resilience to deal with setbacks, their courage to deal with the fear of failure, and their drive. I talked more on personal grit in Post #87.

The Brain

The human brain is an amazing organ. Making up 12 percent of the average three-pound brain, the prefrontal cortex is the bedrock of your personal grit. Located directly behind the forehead, the prefrontal cortex is the outer layer of the front part of the brain. It plays a role in planning complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, moderating social behavior, and moderating certain aspects of speech and language. More importantly, the prefrontal cortex orchestrates thoughts and actions in accordance with internal goals.

Another important function of the brain involved with grit is dopamine. When the brain recognizes an opportunity for a reward, like eating candy, it releases a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine tells the rest of the brain to act to get to the reward. When released, the dopamine causes a feeling of alertness and arousal – it is a feeling of the anticipation of happiness. If you can link your dopamine release towards achieving gritty goals or positive habits it is an exceptionally powerful tool.

Finally, the brain helps us exercise self-control in the pursuit of long-term goals. Many people believe that being tough on themselves is the only way to accomplish anything. Interestingly, research shows that self-criticism is consistently associated with decreased motivation and poor self-control. Instead, compassion such as support, forgiveness, and encouragement tends to result in better motivation and self-control, boosts personal responsibility, and improves learning.

Physiology

Grit has biological characteristics. When you need to exercise grit, it sets in motion a chain of activities in your brain and body that helps you make a tough decision or resist temptation. Suzanne Sagerstrom, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky, has termed it the “pause-and-plan response.” You can think of it as the opposite of the “fight-or-flight response.”

When your mind recognizes a threat to a long-term goal, it tries to help you make the right choice by invoking the pause-and-plan response. First, the prefrontal cortex tells your body to send energy to the brain. That way the brain has the energy to make the decision. Second, it puts the body into a calmer state by slowing the heart rate, keeping the blood pressure the same, and by slowing your breathing. Finally, your body relaxes a little so it can make the decision.

On the other side is the fight-or-flight response. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) kicks into gear when people respond to stress. When your pulse quickens, pupils dilate, mouth dries out, and breathing increases your ANS is working to deal with stress. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a measurement that tracks the time between heartbeats and helps to identify how well your body is dealing with stress. The more variability, or difference in time, between beats the better your body is dealing with stress. Higher HRV is also a key indicator of better willpower and grit. The Whoop, Oura Ring, Apple Watch, and Garmin Watches all provide you the ability to track aspects of your HRV. Once you are tracking your HRV you can see trends over time as your HRV goes up and down. Fortunately sleep, recovery from tough workouts, good nutrition, eliminating alcohol, and mindfulness can help increase your HRV, your physical performance, your ability to deal with stress, and your grit.

The pause-and-plan response is more subtle than the flight-or-fight response. Nevertheless, your brain and body work together to help make tough decisions. It isn’t always enough to resist eating that cookie and breaking your diet, but it helps.

The Grit Muscle 

Muscles are amazing. Go to the gym and deadlift. The muscle breaks down, responds to the stimulus, and grows. Do too many deadlifts and your core will be tired and sore for several days. Skip three weeks at the gym and you won’t be able to lift the same amount you did the last time you worked out.

Grit is in many ways like a muscle. At the beginning of the day your grit is strong. Use it to make decisions or make progress towards a gritty goal and it tires, gradually losing its ability to help you make tough decisions. Get a good night’s sleep and your grit will bounce back the next day. In light of this, it may be helpful to schedule tough decisions in the morning when your grit is close to full strength.

Fortunately, grit “muscle” can be trained, and the development is transferable to other gritty tasks. Small, consistent, gritty acts, like avoiding sweets, balancing your checkbook every month, flossing your teeth every night, and writing a to-do list every day, can increase your overall grit. Although these small gritty activities seem insignificant, they contribute to increasing grit for the areas that are more important to you. Be on the lookout for small, gritty tasks to add to your daily routine to help grow your grit muscle.

Your brain, the physiology of grit, and the grit muscle all are part of the science behind grit. Go on the offense in 2021, apply some of the science behind grit to building it, and grow your grit.