We Know You Have Grit
Black Finch evolved from our passion to succeed. It stemmed from our drive to persevere. Black Finch evolved with Grit.
Motivation is often the reason entrepreneurs start a new business, but motivation is not what ultimately makes them successful. “Grit” is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal.
Because we refuse to ever give anything less than 100%, we have found success in pursuing our dreams of being business owners. In today’s day and age, where there seems to be so many “overnight successes” it is important to remember that these big wins didn’t come on a whim or by a stroke of luck. Just like you spent 4-8 years in school to become the professional that you are, entrepreneurs that succeed have been working towards greatness for longer than it seems. The entrepreneurs that become a success possess similar qualities, including determination, resilience and optimism, but the one thing that sets them apart is grit.
What Is Grit?
Here is a definition of grit from psychologist and researcher, Angela Duckworth:
“Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term and meaningful goals.” – Angela Duckworth
Grit is both a skill and a trait. It’s the ability persevere when you face obstacles that don’t appear to have a solution- ones that the general public would quit before solving. It’s having direction and commitment with an intense passion to succeed. When you have this type of passion, you find ways to stay committed to a long-term goal or task that may be difficult or boring.
Along with passion, grit is about perseverance. It’s sticking with it and continuing to work hard even after experiencing a difficulty or failure. The ability to be gritty is an essential trait of success, but just because someone is talented or intelligent, doesn’t mean that they have grit.
“Even if some of the things they had to do were boring, or frustrating, or even painful, they wouldn’t dream of giving up. Their passion was enduring.” – Angela Duckworth
Why Is Grit Important?
Grit is a driver of achievement and success that is independent of what talent and intelligence contribute. Everyone can agree that being naturally smart, talented or athletic is awesome, but to truly succeed in all aspects of life, we must possess the ability to persevere. If you lack grit, being smart and talented may simply leave you on the outside of your full potential.
Duckworth’s research shows us that it wasn’t IQ and natural talent that made the biggest difference in who was successful and who wasn’t – it was all about effort. Duckworth came up with two equations to explain this concept:
Talent x effort = skill
Skill x effort = achievement.
Angela Duckworth explains that talent is how quickly your skills improve when you invest effort. Really, effort counts twice as much for what we want to achieve. Our potential is one thing, but what we actually do with it, is another.
Duckworth explains, “The attraction of thinking that people are gifted or special in a way we aren’t, call it the “X” factor or call it “genius,” is derived from our insecurity, really. Because if I say that Einstein’s a genius, then you don’t have to compete with him because he is not in your category. When you say ‘You know what? A lot of that success comes from dedicated hours of practice and thought,’ then you are a little bit responsible to see how well you can do.”
Duckworth continuously challenges that by having confidence in grit relies on us, as individuals.
How To Develop Grit?
As mentioned earlier, grit is both a trait and a skill. This means you can still acquire grit over time. It can be taught, and you can train your grit over time.
Here are three ways to develop and strengthen your grit:
Embrace challenges and failures that come with passion
Join a team
At Black Finch we are, Committed to the Gritty! Join the revolution and stop wearing scrubs and start wearing Black Finch.
A graduation is an exciting time for anyone, but for a medical, dental or nursing student it has a little more emotion behind it. This is where you are finally recognized for the dedication, determination and drive it took for you to tap into your full potential in order to complete the rigorous coursework. At Black Finch we like to say you’ve worked hard, made an impact and embraced the grind in style.
Whether you are in nursing, medical or dental school, you have sacrificed your social life, time with family and the freedom to do what you want, when you want. Now is the time to take what you’ve learned and put it into action. You’re now free to enhance the lives of others on the daily!
As you’re given your diploma and you walk down the aisle to your seat, you’re on cloud nine- just beaming with pride because you’re officially a professional in your field who gets to inspire leadership, health and perseverance! Speeches are given by students, professors and then there is one speaker who is there to simply continue inspiring the drive it takes to succeed, not only in your field, but in life.
Below is a list of Commencement speeches that continually emphasize what we believe in, which is cultivating a community of highly motivated, successful medical professionals. These speeches remind us that what we have sacrificed to be able to live in this culture every day is it worth it.
Steve Jobs – Stanford, 2005
Steve Jobs said it right!
“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.”
We wouldn’t be in this field is we didn’t love it. We wouldn’t be in this field if we didn’t expect to fail at some point. The beauty of being in this mentally challenging industry is that we thrive when life hits us on the head with a brick. We think on our feet and we’ve thought through every option and every outcome in order to ensure we stay at the top of our game.
Oprah Winfrey – Harvard, 2013
Get it, girl! You heard it from the Queen herself.
“No matter what challenges, setbacks or disappointments you may encounter along the way, you will find true success and happiness if you have only one goal, there really is only one, and that is this: to fulfill the highest most truthful expression of yourself as a human being.”
Black Finch is committed the driven and we believe that those who are driven and fulfill their purpose, are those who are living in the best version of who they are. In the healthcare industry, we spend a lot of time and energy putting everyone else ahead of ourselves, so it is crucial that we know who we are and what we stand for, so we don’t lose ourselves in our pursuit of helping others.
Admiral William T.H. McRaven – University of Texas, Austin, 2014
In Admiral McRaven’s Commencement speech he talks about making the world a better place. He says that if every individual can change the lives of 10 people within their lifetime, imagine how much better the world would be. We’ve taken this one to heart because we firmly believe that this is possible. We go out every single day with the mindset of helping others. In the medical industry there are days when we get to change the lives of 10 people in one day! There’s nothing more rewarding than knowing you changed someone or the better.
Alan Alda – Carnegie Mellon University, 2015
In his 2015 commencement speech at Carnegie Mellon University, Alan Alda speaks on the impact of uncertainty and how being uncertain will not be your downfall, but your uprising.
Please raise your hand if uncertainty devoured your mind for the majority of med school. Now raise please raise your other hand if you embraced that uncertainty and persevered through the challenges. If you have both hands up go ahead and wave them from left to right and do a little dance because you, my friend, have made it farther than most!
Jennifer Lee – University of New Hampshire 2014
You may not know who this woman is, but you will after this video. She is the CEO of Walt Disney Animations and the writer and director of the Disney hit, Frozen. In her 2014 commencement speech, Jennifer Lee discusses how releasing self-doubt will allow you to grow into the best version of yourself.
Self-doubt will be the kryptonite for anyone in the healthcare field. As medical professionals, we’re lucky. We have been taught to dismiss self-doubt. When the lives of others are literally in your hands, you don’t have the option of doubting anything. You are instinctual. You are logical. You are a doctor.
Black Finch is an organization that is committed to the driven. We believe that success comes to those who are ready to work hard and go all in, in all aspects of life. We know that what we do is not something everyone has the drive to do. We took the time to work our butts off. We chose to enter a field where most fail because our motivation and determination to make an impact on people’s lives overpowered the temptation of a nine to five job.
While we were in school, we knew that we wouldn’t be highly rewarded for what we were doing. We knew we wouldn’t even get a comfortable uniform to work in, but we did it anyways because we wanted to positively impact the lives of others. Black Finch exists because to the core of who we are, we believe that in a profession where you enhance lives and even save them every single day, you deserve to look good and be comfortable while you’re doing it. Stop wearing scrubs. Start wearing Black Finch.