The Science of Grit

Ever compare yourself to those who seem to have that extra gear? The ones who run in the snow and work through the frustration?

Rather than presume they’re biologically gifted, the explanation is far more hopeful. There’s a part of the brain responsible for this grit: the Anterior Midcingulate Cortex (AMC). Thorough research over the past decade suggests it’s the indicator, if not the answer, to building persistence and tenacity.

The Seat of Willpower

Huberman referred to it as the “seat of the will to live.” Brain scans have shown that the AMC is the part of the brain that lights up when you voluntarily choose difficulty over ease. Whether it’s resisting the biccies, hot yogaing when your body’s aching or grinding through a mind-numbing presentation, the AMC is the region that makes it possible.

What’s fascinating is that it strengthens the more you use it.

• It’s bigger in athletes and high performers.

• It’s smaller in people who avoid discomfort.

• It grows when people repeatedly push through challenges, whether it’s dieting, exercising, or working through adversity.

Much like a muscle, it responds to stress and strain by getting stronger. Your brain literally changes, physically, based on your behaviours.

Alright, I’m pausing writing this article to run a 5K. It’s cold, wet and windy.

<Insert Rocky Montage Here>

Did I nearly get blown into the lake? Yes, I did. 

Did I PB? No. Who cares.

Do I feel better about my day? Yeah, I do. Let’s continue.

Why Some People Just Keep Going

Every person has had a moment where they wanted to quit but didn’t, where the friction was palpable and it’d be so much nicer to just stop. Research suggests that the AMC fires up each time we occupy these moments and surmount the obstacles, making it more likely we’ll do it again next time.

Kind of obvious in a mental way, but the fact that our brain physically alters to encourage that behaviour is worth remembering next time you sneakily clock off fifteen minutes.

As the universal grandma says, “just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”

One study found that the AMC integrates multiple signals—stress, sensory discomfort, and executive function—to determine whether you should persist or give up. 

“Due to its position at the intersection of multiple intrinsic networks, the aMCC can integrate signals related to interoception, allostasis, executive function, motor planning, and sensory integration.

In other words, when you train yourself to persist through discomfort, your AMC adapts—making it easier for you to handle future challenges. By intentionally doing things we don’t want to do, we provide our brains with the evidence to understand whether the reward of pushing through in the future is worth the immediate discomfort.

In other other words, delayed gratification education.

This is why athletes, military personnel, and long-lived individuals often have highly active AMCs. They weren’t born with more resilience, their brains have adapted to understand the benefits that discomfort provides over time.

Why This Matters for Success

Studies have shown that people with stronger AMC activity tend to have higher persistence, better career outcomes, and longer lifespans.

“Indeed, [AMC] activity during trials where participants chose a more difficult task over an easier one was positively associated with trait-level persistence.”

This may ring true anecdotally for you with elderly people in your life, scientifically understood as “superagers”: people who remain mentally sharp well into old age. 

Research has found that the AMC doesn’t shrink for these people, as it does for most people. Instead, the synapses remain as thick and functional as they are in much younger adults, suggesting that a lifetime of taking the stairs–metaphorically and literally–may protect against decline.

The Science of Tenacity: How Effort Becomes Easier

If not for SEO reasons, we’d subtitle this section “poke it with a stick.”

One of the most intriguing studies we’ve seen into the AMC involved electrically stimulating this part of the brain. Participants described an immediate feeling of preparing for a challenge:

“I started getting this feeling like… I was driving into a storm […] and you’ve got to get across the hill and all of a sudden you’re sitting there going, how am I going to get over that, through that?”

This suggests that the AMC plays a key role in summoning the will to overcome obstacles. It links with the dopamine response too, how just anticipating an obstacle fires your endorphins which then intensify as a reward once you’ve completed the task. 

If you don’t have electrodes at home, simply choosing the harder option more often stimulates and strengthens your AMC in the same manner.

How to Build a Resilient Brain

It’s not about adding more to your plate. This isn’t about effort. 

The key to enhancing your AMC is to do what you don’t want to do. The military call it “embrac[ing] the suck.” It’s about consistently exposing yourself to challenges that push your limits without overwhelming you.

Choose the stairs over the lift. 

Take a cold shower (so long as you don’t like it). 

Finish your work before the reward.

Write something vulnerable. 

Do something you know you’ll be bad at.

And repeat this as often as possible. Every time you choose discomfort, you reinforce neural pathways that make it easier next time.

Reframe the “suck.” Avoidance keeps you exactly where you are. If you’re cool with that, great. If you aren’t, growth is summoned amongst difficulty.

Nobody is set in their ways if they choose otherwise. Your brain changes through reps just as your muscles do.

The Comfort Zone is a Mirage

It’s so bloody easy to avoid grit. We have more portals for escape with lower entry than at any point in human history. You can take the shortcuts or you can win the long game. 

As Dr Susan David said, “discomfort is the price of admission for a meaningful life.”

Whether your AMC is as strong as an ox or barely trained to fire at all, you know you’ve got one more rep in you.