GRIT is the first word making up the theme for #yellow2016.
I recently watched a TED Talk with Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth where she talks about the importance of grit when it comes to success and learning. She says:
“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day-in, day-out. Not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years. And working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” ~ Dr. Angela Lee Duckworth
She goes on to talk about the characteristics of people with grit, and she says that the best way to learn how to have grit is to develop a “growth mindset” in your brain. When the brain is given challenging situations, it grows and it changes. When people are aware of the effects that challenges and hardships have on their brain, they’re more likely to persevere when they fail, because they don’t believe that failure is a permanent condition. They know that their brain is literally growing and changing for the better.
So how are we going to incorporate this into our theme and help you gain some grit this year at Yellow 2016?
Well, the most obvious one is our location. We were very intentional with choosing our location for Yellow. We wanted it to be downtown LA. In the grit, out of the suburbs and in a bit of a dirty, sometimes challenging place.
There’s always a temptation to go to the nicest place in LA.
To head out of the city or to do something far away from the sometimes chaos that is Downtown. But that would be easy, that would be comfortable, and if you want that, there are plenty of gatherings and conferences in those areas (we’ve attended them- not bashing, they’re awesome!)…But with Yellow, we want to really bring grit to life. We want you to get out of your comfort zone, get you into the action, head into the battlefield, and be challenged.
Now, we are offering valet parking as well as comfortable seating inside the venue, so we aren’t going overboard here… but what does this say about us as a community and as a whole that we aren’t afraid of a little dirt? We aren’t afraid of the imperfections. We aren’t afraid to face the stains, the brokenness and the dust. We are brave, and we won’t hide.
Bringing together 500 creative, entrepreneurial women in the heart (and honestly not the nicest) part of LA means taking all of you out of your comfort zones and bringing you into the action.
You might be challenged in your mind about what this means for you. But we want that. In order to make change in the world, you need to have grit. You need to be challenged, and you have to face the flaws.
I love the imagery of a group of passionate, world changing women coming together under one roof, and doing it in the heart of Los Angeles. What an energy!
So ladies, let’s get gritty. Let’s fail and fall and skin our knees and get back up every single time. Let’s allow our bruises and scars not to define us, but to play a part in our growth, our change, and our grit.
Interested in coming? Join us.
PS: Wondering if this conference is for you? Click here.
