In all those very different contexts, one characteristic emerged, as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, physical health, and it wasn't I.Q. It was grit. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint.

在這些非常不同的背景下，我們發現有一個特質能夠很好地預測成功。它不是社交能力。不是美麗的外貌，不是健康的身體，也不是智商。而是意志力。意志力是面對長遠目標時的熱情和毅力。意志力是有耐力的表現。意志力是日復一日依然對未來堅信不已 不只是這週、 不只是這個月，而是年復一年。用心、努力工作來實現所堅信的那個未來。意志力是將生活看作是一場馬拉松，不是短跑。

What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty. Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments. In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent.

我所知道的是，有才華不意味著就有意志力。我們的資料非常清楚地揭示有很多才華橫溢的人並不能堅持到底，實現承諾。事實上，我們的研究發現，意志力通常與才華無關，有時甚至成反比。

We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them. We need to measure whether we've been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned.

我們需要拿出我們最好的想法、最強的直覺對他們進行檢驗。我們需要衡量我們是否取得了成功，我們必須願意失敗、願意犯錯、願意吸取教訓並從頭開始。