Many young students looking to pursue a career in architecture – and their parents – always ask, “What type of classes do you need to take and be good at? Is mathematics or arts more important for success in college and the profession?” Anyone in the profession understands that there is not one class that showcases the profession. There are multiple types of architects, all with different strengths, weaknesses, passions, and reasons for choosing the career. But there is one thing I have noticed they all have in common, and it is not being good in a particular class or having the same strength. They all have grit.
Realizing that connection was a light bulb moment when reading Angela Duckworth’s Grit: Power of Passion and Perseverance. Grit is passion and perseverance for long-term goals. Grit is not something you are born with, it is something you discover, grow an interest for, and strive forward. Architecture is a career full of having a passion and drive towards a particular sector of the profession. Each architect has their own facets of the profession that truly inspire and motivate them. Grit can also be explained as having a goal that you care about so much that it organizes and gives meaning to almost everything you do. Grit is holding steadfast to that goal even when you fall down, screw up, or slow your progress.
But what is grit from an architectural profession perspective? How do you know if you have grit? How can you recognize when you or someone else is gritty? There are 4 paragons, or outstanding examples, of grit that affect each person, their grittiness, their mindset, and their perception. The 4 paragons are: Interest, capacity to practice, purpose, and hope.
Interest
The first encounter of a passion is a discovery, followed by a lifetime of interest development. This is the first paragon, as people need to discover what they are passionate about first before the other paragons. What do you enjoy doing? This is a question that even those in the profession still ask themselves and may change throughout their career. Professionals overall are captivated as a whole, though one may not enjoy every aspect of the day to day work.
People are more satisfied with their job when it matches their personal interest. When people are doing what interests them, they tend to perform better, are more helpful to others, and stay at their job longer. These interests are based on outside factors that you can’t force and need to experience to know. This is why for younger professionals I always suggest trying to experience different project types/scales, type of technologies, and all parts of the work. Everyone has their own aspects of the work that captivate and excite them, and others that are draining.
Some advice for discovering your own interests: before hard work is PLAY. Begin with answers you’re sure of first, is what you are doing right now energizing or drawing? Don’t be afraid to guess because you don’t know until you try. Don’t be afraid to ERASE what you wrote for your goals. Work in pencil, nothing is perfect the first time. After you have done something for a few years, dig deeper for other nuances.
Capacity to Practice
This is the daily discipline of practice to work towards mastery. This paragon takes persistence and drive to continue. If everything was easy there wouldn’t be the challenge to do better, and no need to be a master of the art. Practice requires you to set goals and milestones to understand where you have been and where you are going. For many young professional licensure is that first major milestone in their career to show proficiency, dedication, and knowledge of the profession. After licensure, it’s about practice and honing in on the unique aspect of the profession you wish to master and be a knowledge expert on.
Practice does not mean perfection along the way. It is about accepting that there will be failures and risks along the way. Practice teaches you to look at mistakes as opportunities to grow and keep trying. This aligns with having a growth mindset throughout your career and creating boosts in your career.
Purpose
How you SEE your work is more important than any title you hold. Your perception and purpose is what guides your career.
Angela gives a great example through a story. You go up to three brick layers and ask “what are you doing?” The first person says, I’m laying bricks. The second person says, I’m building a church. And the third person says, “I’m building a house of God.” Each of these people have a different perception on what they are doing. Person 1 finds this task as a job. Person 2 finds this task a career. And Person 3 finds this task a calling. This all circles back to finding purpose in your work. Who do you think values their work the most?
Cultivating a sense of purpose comes to everyone through discovery and starting with an interest. Three ways to begin designing your purpose include reflecting, job crafting, and remodeling. Reflect back on the work you are already doing and have done. This is where you can identify what aspects of your career you enjoy and want to dig deeper to discover more. Job crafting means making small but meaningful changes to meet your current core values. By tweaking daily routines or taking more ownership in what relates towards your interests starts to create a meaningful path to follow.
Remodeling purposefully means thinking long term, and possibly finding someone that inspires you. In 10-15 years from now, what is important? Trying to guess where you want to be can help you to ask the right questions. Is there someone doing a job you’d love to be doing 5-10 years down the road? Go do an informal interview to learn more about them. You never know what you will learn and stumble upon.
Hope
This kind of hope is the expectation that our own efforts can improve our future. I resolve to make tomorrow better. It’s about getting back up again.
Many professionals talk about experiencing burnout and anxiety throughout their career. I find this is directly related to the paragon of hope. When does struggle lead to hope and when to helplessness? Hope is trauma with control whereas hopelessness is trauma without control. That feeling of lack of control tends to lead to burnout. Whereas those that can see challenges and traumas as things they can control there is more feeling of hope. Mindsets have been shown to make a difference in all the same domains as optimism. Read more about Fixed and Growth mindsets in the post, “Growth Mindset : Empower Young Professionals”.
For teaching yourself hope, Angela recommends sequences of three phrases. Growth mindset leads to optimistic self-talk and leads to perseverance over adversity. Practice optimistic self talk. Ask for a helping hand. If there is a setback, ask for help to get back up. Ask yourself, what can I do to boost this one? The point is that with practice you can change your view on hope by taking control of the challenges you face. You can resolve to make tomorrow better through optimistic views, asking for help, and taking control of what you can control.
In architecture there are many factors on a project that you can’t control. Don’t dwell on what you can’t control, focus on what you can control. Focusing on what you can control leads to a feeling of hope, whereas the latter will only lead to a feeling of hopelessness on the project.
Delegation is another aspect of the profession that is learned through experience. It’s not easy to hand over ownership and tasks to others to try. It may also be difficult to ask for help when striving to take on more responsibility. It’s important to reflect back on the importance of having hope, and the other paragons to strengthen your career. Your unique career map is about following your interests, defining purpose in your work, practicing to discover, and having control of your own efforts that control your future.
Written by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, LSSBB