Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, 毅力是你对未来的坚持，日复一日，不是仅仅持续一个星期或者一个月，

but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. 而是几年甚至几十年努力奋斗着让自己的梦想变为现实。

Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint. 毅力是把生活当成一场马拉松而不是一次短跑。

A few years ago, I started studying grit in the Chicago public schools. 几年前，在芝加哥的公立学校里，我开始研究毅力。

I asked thousands of high school juniors to take grit questionnaires, 我对上千名初中生进行了关于毅力的问卷调查，

and then waited around more than a year to see who would graduate. 然后等候了一年多，来看最终哪些学生能毕业。

Turns out that grittier kids were significantly more likely to graduate, 结果证明那些更具毅力的学生在毕业的概率上占绝对优势，

even when I matched them on every characteristic I could measure, 即使是在同样可以量化的外在因素下，

things like family income, standardized achievement test scores, even how safe kids felt when they were at school. 像家庭收入、标准化成绩测验的分数，甚至是孩子们在学校能获得多少安全感之类。

So it's not just at West Point or the National Spelling Bee that grit matters. 所以不仅仅是在西点军校里或者全国拼字比赛上才需要毅力。

It's also in school, especially for kids at risk for dropping out. 在学校亦是如此，尤其是对于那些徘徊在辍学边缘的孩子们。

To me, the most shocking thing about grit is how little we know, how little science knows, about building it. 对于我自己来说，关于毅力最让我震惊的事情莫过于对于毅力我们知之甚少，在培养毅力上科学对理解的认识又是何等贫乏。

Every day, parents and teachers ask me, "How do I build grit in kids? 每天都有家长和老师来问我，“我怎样做才能培养孩子的毅力呢？

What do I do to teach kids a solid work ethic? How do I keep them motivated for the long run?" 该做些什么才能教授给孩子们真正的职业道德？又该怎样调动他们长期的积极性呢？”

The honest answer is, I don't know. 老实说，我不知道。

What I do know is that talent doesn't make you gritty. 我所知道的是，才华并不能使你坚韧不拔。

Our data show very clearly that there are many talented individuals who simply do not follow through on their commitments. 我们的数据十分清楚地表明，有许多才华横溢的人，他们都无法坚持兑现自己的承诺。

In fact, in our data, grit is usually unrelated or even inversely related to measures of talent. 事实上，根据我们的数据来看，毅力通常与其他因素无关，甚至与才华的衡量标准背道而驰。