By Michelle Zheng

Last year, a short video about the struggles of a 66-year-old disabled carpenter went viral on the internet, provoking heated discussions about mental exhaustion, enduring hardship, and hard work.” But do employees have to be hardworking? Could excessive grit and hard work have harmful repercussions? And how can we create a workplace environment and culture that promotes fairness and justice?

Excessive grit and hard work may adversely affect the self, others, and the work environment. Instead, we should recognise and accept our imperfections and make targeted and healthy efforts to achieve what we want. Managers should also discourage company’s overwork culture to help employees improve productivity and find a deeper sense of meaning or purpose in work.

Amidst our current uncertain times, psychologists, scholars, and leaders have begun to advocate for grit – or, more specifically, a commitment to long-term goals even in the face of challenges and adversity.

Psychological studies have shown that grit as a trait can predict people’s achievements in many areas, including performance in military training, academic achievement, and job income.

However, there could also be dire consequences if managers, employees, and business school educators overemphasize grit. Some of the latest psychological research indicates that excessive grit could be a recipe for disaster.

In management, there is something called the too-much-of-a-good-thing (TMGT) effect; in short, factors contributing to improved individual, leadership and organizational performance will, when developed in the extreme, turn in the opposite direction. The TMGT effect also applies to grit – for which perseverance and passion are indispensable. Passion is associated with the firm belief that a certain long-term goal is meaningful. Without passion, individuals forced to pursue an undesirable goal may suffer from stress, anxiety, and depression.

The dark side of excessive grit

First, excessive grit is detrimental to our psychological well-being and behaviours. A study of 293 US university professors pointed to an inverted-U model of the relationship between grit and task performance: too little or too much grit results in poor performance. This suggests that people reach their peak level of performance with an intermediate level of grit. In addition, a study of 217 American entrepreneurs found that entrepreneurs have more grit than ordinary people. However, this trait also makes them especially vulnerable to negative feelings such as regret.

Further research indicates that grit can translate into unrealistic perfectionism and ineffective persistence. People with good stamina often suppress their negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear – something which may cause depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems. Entrepreneurs such as Sohu Chairman and CEO Charles Zhang and New Oriental Founder Michael Yu – both of whom are known for their grit – admitted that they had experienced mental health issues such as anxiety and mania.

Excessive grit can also have a negative impact on others’ psychological well-being and behaviours. For example, parents may ignore the needs of their children and instead emphasise the need to remain resilient in the face of adversity. In the workplace, supervisors may use grit as an excuse for exploiting their subordinates. These subordinates, in turn, may be assailed by self-doubt and believe that they should have been more resilient in the face of challenges.

An emphasis on an individual’s grit can also exacerbate injustice at work. Sayings such as “There is no rainbow without rain” and “No cross, no crown” are so well-known that people tend to see tolerance and tenacity as the formula for success when faced with a harsh work environment, work overload, or abusive supervision. This gives rise to the “996” schedule (working from 9AM to 9PM, six days a week), the rat race, and ineffective overtime work. Worse still, employers may even become exploitative.

The author of the book Work, Consumerism and the New Poor points out that the concept of “work ethic” was coined to lubricate the wheels of industry-based economies. Indeed, in industrial societies, work ethic has served as an effective means of filling up factories hungry for more labour to create profits. Furthermore, hard work has served as a pillar of individual morality and the only way to improve quality of life. Even in today’s world, people still tie happiness to hard work.

Grit alone won’t help the underprivileged grow and succeed professionally. It is true that with great effort, some people can conquer any obstacle and build successful businesses despite their humble beginnings. But psychologists also suggest that grit is by no means a guarantee of success, because the concept of grit does not take into account that everyone has a different starting point in life.

A recent study in the US, for example, found that grit is unlikely to help Latino or African American students from low-income backgrounds achieve collegiate success. In fact, for these disadvantaged groups, the help and support of organizations and society are critically important to them. As US psychologist Paul E. Bracke has said, it is cruel to leave it up to the underprivileged to overcome difficulties with grit in the absence of organisational and societal support.

“Targeted” and “healthy” efforts

Since excessive grit can be harmful, it is advisable to take steps to make targeted and healthy efforts.

First, do not bottle up negative emotions. People tend to manage their emotions in two ways: suppression or reappraisal. Emotional suppression involves intentionally avoiding negative feelings, which, over time, may lead to more negative emotions, anxiety, and depression, but fewer close relationships and less social support. Most people with grit habitually suppress their negative emotions. Instead, a more effective approach is to reassess the causes of your negative emotions. For example, you may reframe a temporary failure as an opportunity to learn, or perceive the failure as a “successful” failure.

Second, embrace your imperfections (aka beautiful mess). Psychological studies indicate that by showing your imperfections to others, you are more likely to be liked and trusted. Self-acceptance is the first step to making targeted and healthy efforts. After accomplishing success through persistent effort, many people with grit become convinced that as long as they continue to work hard, they can solve all their problems and keep everything under control. But they will soon realize that some problems are unsolvable no matter how hard they try. By accepting our imperfect selfs, we can better understand our strengths and limitations. Charles Zhang and Michael Yu, for example, have both admitted that humility has allowed them to recognize, accept that no one is omnipotent and make peace with their lives.

Third, “lie flat” on what is uncontrollable, and go “all in” for what is controllable. On acknowledging and accepting your limits, you can remain resolute on things within your control and let go of what is beyond your control. As the saying goes, “Accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and have the wisdom to know the difference.”

Change the hardship-enduring culture

Last but not least, I’d like to urge every manager to become a disruptor, rather than a creator or bearer, of a bad work environment and a workplace culture that promotes excessive hardship.

First, managers should create a fair and positive work environment. A recent study from Stanford University revealed that productivity per hour declines sharply when a person works over 50 hours a week, and any additional hours beyond that can be pointless. Those who work up to 70 hours a week are only getting the same amount of work done as those who put in 55 hours. Encouraging meaningless overtime can kill people’s passion, productivity, and creativity at work.

Second, avoid assigning employees “bullshit” work that drains their time and energy. Instead, engage them in work that can lead to personal growth. Managers often confuse business with busyness. Ironically, management research shows that a person who does more meaningless and time-consuming work is less likely to get promoted. Furthermore, employees increasingly regard work as something opposite to their meaningful pursuits in life. For example, many people harbour the idea that they will do something meaningful after retirement, or earn enough money to live without working. It is time for managers to reconnect work with people’s sense of purpose – one that has been distorted by the concept of work ethic shaped in the industrial age.

Finally, managers should give extra coaching and organisational support to the underprivileged to show concern for their contributions and interests, rather than overemphasize grit. For example, companies can develop support programmes to help employees overcome financial difficulties or crises.

As Charles Zhang has suggested, “Don’t work too hard. Otherwise, your health will suffer. There are things you cannot earn by hard work. See yourself objectively, understand who you are, and find the right path before going full steam ahead.”

Accepting who you are as an ordinary – but not mediocre – person is what healthy grit is all about.

Michelle Zheng is an Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Programme Co-Director of the Leadership Development Programme at CEIBS. For more on her teaching and research interests, please visit her faculty profile here.