Testing Grit & Ambition

To help my professional journey, I decided to test my grit and ambition to see if there was anything that could be improved. Below is my personal reflection on my weaknesses and strengths from these tests. The tests used for this were The Grit Test and Ambition Test developed my Angela Duckworth, Christopher Peterson, Michael Matthews, and Dennis Kelley.

"Balance scale" by Sepehr Ehsani is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Weaknesses

After taking and tallying the result of the Grit and Ambition Scales, my results were 4.42 and 4.2 which I found interesting to see them so similar. My lowest scores for Grit were all based on the same type of questions. I had put 3 for questions 3, 7, and 11. All of them talked about interests changing, goals changing, and frequency of changing these. I chose to grade myself 3 because I don’t necessarily look to change anything because I’m bored or wanting a new challenge. I believe that goals and interests evolve based on many factors like time, society, finances, etc. Frequently the goals you set out to achieve are not the ones at the finish line because the goal has grown as you have and changed into something better or more aligned with the outcome.

My weakest scores resonate the most with the second concept, “Occupy the perfect niche” from the Keys to Mastery. V.S Ramachandran and Yoky Matsuoka prove my point about my weakest score because as they grew, they developed their own interests and skills which opened doors to new territory to be explored. (Greene, 2013, p. 32-34) Eventually, after exploring and learning all they could their goals or paths changed when new opportunities arose. This isn’t necessarily a weakness, but a unique perspective into life that should not be abused. What I mean by not abusing it is not using this perspective as an excuse to change course or jump from one thing to another without really taking the time to make an educated decision you won’t regret later.

Strengths

What I also found interesting is just as my lowest scores all seemed to be related to each other, so did my highest scores on both assessments. For Grit, I scored a 5 on questions 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12 while for Ambition I scored 5 on questions 1 and 5. All these questions had to do with overcoming setbacks, dedication, and willingness to do hard work. Even though I felt lost for so long, I still achieved quite a bit and have always dedicated myself to whatever job I had or task I was given. I was raised on an “If you want change, then be the change” mentality and it has really been my driving force to be a positive change wherever I am. This will be helpful during my Mastery Journey because I know there will be obstacles like hard assignments, but also obstacles like sunny days with a light breeze or invitations from friends. My dedication and self-discipline will help me to accomplish my weekly assignments regardless of the distractions that may come.

I had a hard time coming up with a childhood moment that sparked my “Life’s Task,” but I had a revelation that it was because it wasn’t just one singular moment. It was through watching my parents overcome their obstacles and always striving to be better than the best at whatever they set out to do really set me up for how I am today. So, in a sense, my inspiration is similar to Daniel Everett in that it was the culture my parents had created for my brother and I growing up that really institutionalized within me my core being of how I function and look at the world. (Greene, 2013, p. 30)

Reference

Greene, R. (2013). Mastery [5]. Retrieved May 3, 2021, from Amazon