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Grit, Finishing and Genius

Angela Duckworth, in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, stated, "Grit specifies having a passion to accomplish a particular top-level goal and the perseverance to follow through. Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare" (Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, 2016, 250). Let me repeat the last part. "Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare."

Angela Duckworth also wrote in the same book, "Grit grows as we figure out our life philosophy, learn to dust ourselves off after rejection and disappointment, and learn to tell the difference between low-level goals that should be abandoned quickly and higher-level goals that demand more tenacity" (Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, 2016, 86).

Concerning those who fall short, John Greenleaf Whittier's words seem particularly fitting: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, / The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'" (John Greenleaf Whittier, "Maud Muller").

Lastly, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin shared the following from the Second Encyclopedia in his October 1987 general conference talk:
Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it; so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success? A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed a hopeless failure may turn into a glorious success.... There is no defeat except within, no really insurmountable barrier save one's own inherent weakness of purpose. (Author unknown, Second Encyclopedia, ed. Jacob M. Brand, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1957, 152)
BYU Idaho Devotional, Jeff Morin, http://www.byui.edu/devotionals/jeff-morrin
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