Grit is the biggest predictor of success, and grit can be learned

Grit—or persistence, passion, and deliberate practice

Away from home this week, I’ve been reading about grit. Grit is one way we can grow as people, and applies super well to growing vegetables as well. Growing can be a non-judgemental practice arena for so many parts of our lives.

Gritty people break down big problems or projects into much smaller units, so they can track incremental progress.

We can all do this. There are infinite tiny wins to claim in our growing, and this incremental progress makes growing interesting and satisfying. If you’re struggling to make progress, break down the steps even further, so that they’re ridiculously small. For inspiration, if you’re stuck here are a few tiny steps you could consider

• Take a few minutes to consider your final goal (e.g. selling veg, eating veg, eating more veg, eating better veg, more diversity of veg).

• Take a few minutes to break down your goal into some smaller steps.

• Write down the things that tend to stop you moving forward in your growing, and any points of great progress or growth.

• Write down a few easy-to-grow veg.

• Seeds or seedlings- writing one planting date in your diary/calendar.

• Growing medium for seedlings- choosing a seed starting medium or planting an low-nutrient-needs set of seeds (carrots, radishes) directly into your soil.

• Observing light in your garden in the winter. Where do you get enough sun to grow? Are there places where there is not enough sunlight?

• Considering microgreens- Do you have periods where outdoor growing is too difficult? Sunflower, broccoli, or radish microgreens are fantastic at filling gaps. You can grow in trays on a windowsill.

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