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When I was 27 years old, I left a very demanding job in management consulting for a job that was even more demanding: teaching.

我 27 岁那年，辞去了管理咨询这份高强度的工作，转而去做一份更累人的工作——教书。

I went to teach seventh graders math in the New York City public schools. And like any teacher, I made quizzes and tests and gave out homework assignments.

我去纽约市的公立学校教七年级数学。和所有老师一样，我出小测验、出考试，还布置家庭作业。

When the work came back, I calculated grades. What struck me was that IQ was not the only difference between my best and my worst students.

作业交上来后，我给学生打分。让我震惊的是，智商并不是我最好和最差学生之间唯一的差别。

Some of my strongest performers did not have stratospheric IQ scores, and some of my smartest kids weren't doing so well.

有些表现最出色的学生，智商分数其实并不高；而有些最聪明的孩子，成绩反而不太理想。

And that got me thinking. The kinds of things you need to learn in seventh grade math, sure, they're hard: ratios, decimals, the area of a parallelogram.

这让我开始思考。七年级数学要学的东西确实不简单：比例、小数、平行四边形的面积。

But these concepts are not impossible, and I was firmly convinced that every one of my students could learn the material if they worked hard and long enough.

但这些概念并非学不会，我坚信只要学生足够努力、花足够长的时间，每个人都能掌握。

After several more years of teaching, I came to the conclusion that what we need in education is a much better understanding of students and learning from a motivational, psychological perspective.

又教了几年书后，我得出一个结论：教育界需要从动机和心理层面，更深入地理解学生和学习本身。

In education, the one thing we know how to measure best is IQ. But what if doing well in school and in life depends on much more than your ability to learn quickly and easily?

在教育领域，我们最擅长衡量的东西就是智商。但如果在学校和生活中表现出色，靠的远不止是学得快、学得轻松呢？

So I left the classroom, and I went to graduate school to become a psychologist. I started studying kids and adults in all kinds of super challenging settings, asking: who is successful here and why?

于是我离开了课堂，去读研究生，成为一名心理学家。我开始在各种极具挑战性的环境中研究孩子和成年人，每次都在问：谁在这里获得了成功，又是为什么？

My research team and I went to West Point Military Academy. We tried to predict which cadets would stay in military training and which would drop out.

我和研究团队去了西点军校，试图预测哪些学员能坚持完成军事训练，哪些会中途退出。

We went to the National Spelling Bee and tried to predict which children would advance farthest in competition.

我们去了全美拼字比赛，试图预测哪些孩子能在比赛中走得最远。

We studied rookie teachers working in really tough neighborhoods, asking which teachers would still be there by the end of the school year — and who would be most effective at improving learning outcomes.

我们研究了在艰苦社区任教的新老师，想知道哪些老师能坚持到学年结束，其中又有哪些能最有效地提升学生的学习成果。

We partnered with private companies, asking which salespeople would keep their jobs and earn the most money. In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success.

我们还和企业合作，研究哪些销售员能留住工作、赚到最多的钱。在这些截然不同的场景里，都有一种特质突显出来，成为成功的重要预测指标。

And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.

不是社交能力，不是外貌和体能，也不是智商——是「坚毅」（grit）。

Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina — sticking with your future day in, day out, not just for a week or a month, but for years.

坚毅，就是对长远目标持续的热情和坚持。坚毅是一种持久力：日复一日地坚守自己的未来，不只是一周、一个月，而是好几年。

Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.

坚毅，就是把人生当作一场马拉松，而不是一次短跑冲刺。