If students had more grit, they would succeed

If kids had more grit, if they persevered and just tried harder, then they would all succeed.

That assumption is probably one of the ten most harmful beliefs we can have if we want to help students.

Let’s look at our own grit and perseverance, the ways we let ourselves off the hook, and then the tricks and tips to overcome them to succeed.

What stops us from doing the things we know we should be doing

Here are seven common barriers we all face.

1. We tell ourselves we can do something tomorrow so we do not have to do it today.
2. We feel uneasy or uncomfortable, and so we retreat to areas where we are more comfortable, or we feel physical pain, so we stop.
3. The results we anticipate do not appear, so we stop.
4. We are already overloaded with stressors and do not or cannot devote the mental energy required to succeed.
5. We do not have the skills or resources to succeed at this time.
6. We do not look for lessons that will help us succeed next time; we just move on.
7. We are not vested in the process or the goals.

We have all encountered every one of these right? And just putting our heads down and working harder or longer rarely, if ever, has helped us overcome them. What do we know about how to cope with these barriers?

We tell ourselves we can do something tomorrow so we do not have to do it today.

One trick to overcome this obstacle is to remember times when we’ve had those thoughts before but continued anyhow. Remember how you felt when you continued and succeeded, and then use those successes to motivate yourself to take the first or next step in what you know you should be doing now.

We feel uneasy or uncomfortable, and so we retreat to areas where we are more comfortable, or we feel physical pain, so we stop.

How do we succeed anyhow?

Acknowledge that the feeling of being uneasy and uncomfortable is part of growing, learning and succeeded. You probably always feel that when you attempt something new. Acknowledge that the feeling is temporary and that you will emerge stronger and more capable on the other side. Focus your attention on the results and enjoy our ability to pass through some unease or pain on the way to achieving what we set out to achieve.

The results we anticipate do not appear, so we stop.

In almost any complicated or complex problem, the thing we try first is almost never going to succeed. It may take 3, 5, 10 or more iterations before we come up with whatever works.

Go into any substantial task with the mindset that your first actions are not going to immediately succeed, but that they will lead to eventual winning strategies. Use your first actions, not as signs of success or failure, but as probes to guide your future attempts. It’s not deciding that you are going to power on, it’s starting off understanding that you are going to learn as you go.

We are already overloaded with stressors and do not or cannot devote the mental energy required to succeed.

If Serena Williams is going into a tennis match thinking about how her daughter is going to be fed or if someone will change her diaper or put her to be on time, she’s not going to win very many matches.

You can learn techniques to increase mindfulness and focus, but we all also need to address the lower levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy. We need to know that our physical needs, our safety, and our social belonging are solved before embarking on growth activities.

We do not have the skills or resources to succeed at this time.

In many cases, we can learn to learn as we proceed, and we can adjust our resources as we learn what we need, just as described in the paragraph about not seeing immediate results, above.

You also need to plan: there are resources that are going to be on the critical path; make sure you have or have access to them. We can’t learn physics if we have no content or instructional materials; we cannot access online materials if we don’t have Internet access; and we can’t build an addition to our house, if we don’t have building materials.

We do not look for lessons that will help us succeed next time; we just move on.

We’ve all learned that feedback and reflection are critical to ongoing success. Some of the more popular methods go by the names Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean and OODA Loop methodologies.

Pick one or more of these strategies to sharpen your abilities to prepare to iterate, amass relevant data for feedback, analyze results and methods, and devise new approaches.

We are not vested in the process or the goals.

Here’s an interesting experiment. Say to yourself, “I have to take out the garbage today.” Now say to yourself, “I get to take out the garbage today.” Just that little adjustment can do wonders to change attitudes. After all, taking out the garbage really is a choice, and it allows you to keep your residence as something you want to live in.

The other side of the coin is that we all feel more vested and more motivated if we believe we are contributed to choosing what we are about to do. When we have agency, we are more likely to persevere and exert greater effort.

Develop internal tricks, like the one above. Also, ensure there are system-wide channels that can establish agency for yourself and other actors, users, or participants who are participating in working toward  a common goal.

Back to the Students

The seven items listed above are not exhaustive, there are myriad other factors that get in the way of our success, but let’s apply these seven to our students:

1. Students procrastinate, putting off until tomorrow what they should be doing today.
2. Students are uncomfortable with new activities, so they retreat to actions where they are more comfortable or just stop.
3. Students do not do well, so they stop.
4. Students are already overloaded with stressors and do not or cannot devote the mental energy required to succeed.
5. Students do not have the skills or resources to succeed at this time.
6. Students do not look for feedback on how to succeed next time; so they just move on to other things.
7. Students are not vested in the process or the goals.

Just as we should be helping ourselves overcome obstacles, we should be working with students teaching them how to overcome these obstacles. Telling them to “work harder” or “stick with it” just won’t cut it.