The ability to decide what is the best thing to do in a particular situation and then to do it with energy and determination.
– The Cambridge Dictionary
Gumption means bravery, get-up-and-go, drive or initiative. Someone who possesses gumption is a self-starter and has the nerve and motivation to succeed. However, this current definition of gumption didn’t arise until the nineteenth century. Before that time, gumption was a Scottish term and meant having street smarts or common sense, or being shrewd.
– The Grammarist
I like the word ‘gumption’ because it’s so homely and so forlorn and so out of style it looks as if it needs a friend and isn’t likely to reject anyone who comes along. I like it also because it describes exactly what happens to someone who connects with Quality. He gets filled with gumption. A person filled with gumption doesn’t sit around dissipating and stewing about things. He’s at the front of the train of his own awareness, watching to see what’s up the track and meeting it when it comes. That’s gumption. If you’re going to repair a motorcycle, an adequate supply of gumption is the first and most important tool. If you haven’t got that you might as well gather up all the other tools and put them away, because they won’t do you any good. These false images are deflated so rapidly and completely you’re bound to be very discouraged very soon if you’ve derived your gumption from ego rather than Quality.
– Robert Pirsig
Describe the specific activity in which you may have the gumption required to build on a gift you have and aim to do great work.
Describe some specific examples of when you have demonstrated gumption when doing this activity in the past.
Describe the specific things you can do to develop your gumption in this activity.
Describe the specific benefits of developing your gumption in this activity.