Skills + Confidence = Action. Action + Grit = Success
It begins with skills. You have to have them to get the job, and you have to have them to keep the job. Skills are quantifiable. They can be measured, tested, and tracked. But when you possess skills, something else happens. Skills give you confidence. When you learn by doing, you experience this directly. You build something, and you directly experience what you’ve built. This experience is powerful. It lifts you, it empowers you, it motivates you.
“The Nanodegree program got me to where I wanted to go. It not only gave me the skills I needed, but it gave me confidence in those skills.” —Ryan Waite, Udacity Graduate, describing his journey to becoming a web developer
When you combine skills with confidence, you get action. Without skills, you’re not as likely to take a risk, you’re not as likely to go for an opportunity, you’re not as likely to undertake a new challenge, because you’re not equipped to succeed. If you lack confidence, all these same truths apply; in short, you won’t go for it, because you don’t believe you’ll get it.
“I wish I was more confident earlier.” — Jess Lee, CEO of Polyvore, in conversation with Sebastian Thrun, Udacity Talks
But skills and confidence together are a winning combination. When they combine within you, they produce action, and excitement.
“Go and do the thing that you’re most excited about, because that’s where you’ll do your best work. And that’s where you’ll really make a difference.” —Makinde Adeagbo, Founder at /dev/color, speaking at Intersect 2016
Action is powerful. It is exciting. It is literally pro-active. But action is only half the equation. The world is the other half. When you act, you act upon the world, but the world doesn’t always play nicely when it acts back. This is when failure can happen.
“The world has no reason to include you and no reason to exclude you. Believe in yourself.” —Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, X, in conversation with Sebastian Thrun, Udacity Talks
You develop skills, and you gain confidence. You feel motivated, and you act. But the world has other ideas. The interview doesn’t pan out. The opportunity doesn’t materialize. They choose the other candidate. The pitch falls flat. They award the prize to someone else. They invest in the other company. This is … failure.
“There is always success in failure. Everybody fails. Get up and keep going. Look forward.” —Tony Fadell, Founder of Nest, in conversation with Sebastian Thrun, Udacity Talks
What happens to your skills in the face of failure? Nothing. They don’t change. You still have them. But, should they be re-evaluated? Do you have the right skills? Are they current?
“There is a need to retool yourself, and you should not expect to stop.” —Randall Stephenson, Chairman and Chief Executive, AT&T, on skilling up their workforce with Udacity
What happens to your confidence in the face of failure? It ebbs. Whether it flows again is up to you. No one else. Confidence comes from within.
“A few months after launch I had to ultimately call it: ‘Friends’ was a failure. I had built something that very few people wanted, and although I learned a ton from the experience, it was disappointing to see something I had put so much love into fail miserably. The main lesson I learned: Fail early and often.” —Oliver Cameron, Udacity VP of Product & Engineering, describing his failed follow-up to “Voices for iPhone,” his million-selling app
This is where grit comes in. Grit is re-evaluating your skills. Grit is taking an old course again to refresh your skills. Grit is taking a new course to contemporize your skills. Grit is learning a brand-new skill, a new tool, a new language, a new system. Grit is learning something new, to build something new, to show something new.
“Because of my limited web development experience, I felt underprepared for the job. So as part of the role, I sought out new opportunities to improve my coding skills. I enrolled in computer science courses and online tutorials, and independently read technical books and engaged in online code forums when I had a free minute.” —Lei Zhu, Udacity Graduate, on successfully moving from tech coordinator to professional Full Stack Developer
Grit is also taking the hit, feeling the hurt, and getting back up again. Grit is not taking the failure personally. Grit is taking the challenge personally. Grit is understanding that failure is the proof of effort. Grit is producing the fuel of opportunity from the raw material of disappointment. Grit is purely and simply trying again.
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” —Samuel Beckett
This is the path to success. Skills plus confidence equals action. Action plus grit equals success.
Success
