They call it "Grit?"

Reading the Sunday Boston Globe this morning, I came across the Ideas section and the title story, "The Truth About Grit." I saw the word "grit" in the title and at that point I'm thinking it's going to be some kind of article of dirt and how it's not so bad to have germs because it increases your immunity and where the idea of being dirty came from, etc. etc. So maybe I'm a little slow and this word is something everyone is familiar with, but I had no idea that it is a quality in people, which is an ability to work hard and persevere.

Turns out that intelligence isn't the main factor in success but it's this grit idea that is the true indicator. Sure, it helps to be smart and you can't really accomplish too much, no matter how hard you work, if you don't know anything. What it comes down to is that people who have been successful in their life, and I'm not sure how they define success in the article but the way I understood it as is job promotion, project completion, tangible goal reaching (made enough money to buy a house), etc.

You can read the article for yourself so I don't need to continue describing it. Basically, I feel like I could work harder. I've been flying under the radar enough that I know I need to change my habits or else my "slacking" will start to catch up with me.

I want to enroll in some Spanish classes this year to begin formally learning the language I picked up bits and pieces of when I lived in Spain. I also want to stick to a running regime.

I can say all of this and it doesn't really mean anything. I just need to start acting on things like this, things I know to be true and want to change.