Is Long Term Recovery Possible?
How does someone predict who will be successful in life? Years ago professionals thought it was all about IQ. A person’s intelligence level determined their future success. Then they recognized that was not always the case. Research then turned a corner and identified that social intelligence or EQ was a large predictor of success.
In 2013 psychologist, Angela Lee Duckworth presented a TED Talk on Grit. She studied individuals and measured different groups of people to see who would succeed and who would fail. She found that the key to real success across all areas of life, was grit. She said, “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals, having stamina, sticking with your future, day in day out for years. Working really hard to make the future a reality. It is living life like a marathon, not a sprint.” She found that individuals who learned about the brain and how it changes and grows in response to challenge were much more likely to persevere when they fail because they don’t believe failure is a permanent condition. What does this mean?... You can grow your grit!
How does this relate to recovery and being able to achieve long term recovery? Is long term recovery possible? Grit can make it possible for anyone! Recovery is a long-term goal that needs to be sustained over time. Sounds like the kind of thing Duckworth studied. How can we forecast who will achieve long term recovery? By assessing a person’s grit and how they increase it over time.
The big question now is, how do I build it?
1. Pursue your interests. If you are doing something you don’t like or doesn’t interest you, it will be difficult to push through the hard stuff. Get out and try everything. Find what you are passionate about and do it more.
2. Practice. Gritty people want to improve and working at it is how that is done. Practice may not make perfect, but it makes permanent. Our ability to learn isn’t fixed. Don’t give in when things are hard and increase your mental toughness. In study after study, Duckworth found that “where talent counts once, effort counts twice.”
3. Find a higher purpose. It is not just about finding something that interests you. It is about understanding that your interest contributes to the well-being of others.
4. Foster hope. To reach your goals you must believe it is possible. Research has shown that it is possible to change your brain and learn throughout your lifetime.
5. Surround yourself with gritty people. When you surround yourself with gritty people, the way they do things becomes the way you do things. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Athletes, achieving long term recovery is absolutely possible. Being able to heal from addiction can be done. What hope that gives. Everyone can be better and achieve more in life. Now get out there and work on increasing your grit today.