• The book “GRIT – The Power of Passion and Perseverance” has some key points when coaching youth.

• Talent and intelligence does not make you gritty.

• Children must play around, have fun and they will likely find their passion.

Our grit impacts our success. Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in an effort toward long-term goals.

Angela Duckworth is a Professor of Psychology at University of Pennsylvania. Her book, “GRIT – The Power of Passion and Perseverance” was published in May 2016. In it she tells us about her research on grit.

She informs us that hard work, perseverance, and the drive to improve have an impact on success.  Grit has more of an impact on success than intelligence and talent. This is true for individuals, teams and businesses.

She notes that talent doesn’t make you gritty. There are many talented individuals who do not follow through on their commitments.

Angela Duckworth refers to the “growth mindset.” Carol Dweck of Stanford University promotes this concept.  Dr. Dweck has shown that the ability to learn is not fixed. Students are more likely to persevere when they believe that failure is not a permanent condition. We referred to this work by Carol Dweck in a posting on the OurFutureLeaders.ca site back in August. Entitled “BELIEVE YOU CAN IMPROVE and You Will Suceed.” This posting is found at:

BELIEVE YOU CAN IMPROVE and You Will Suceed

Here are some points of interest made by Angela Duckworth in her book.  

• BEFORE HARD WORK COMES PLAY. At first they play around and more than anything else they are having fun.

• It is during this play / fun period that they are likely to discover some areas of interest. This can evolve into strong interests and possibly a passion.

• Extracurricular activities and sticking to them can have a positive impact on their future. They need a decent childhood.

• They need encouragement and freedom to figure out what they enjoy.

• Overbearing parents and teachers erode motivation. 

• Rush a beginner and you will discourage them and it will be tough to get that interest back.

• Practice is important.  With practice, we can learn industriousness.

• Commit to the full term for an activity. (Cannot quit once signed up.)

• A person can create grit on their own by having interests that create a regular habit of challenge-exceeding-skill practice.

• A person can also grow their grit from the outside in. “Parents, coaches, teachers, bosses, mentors, friends—developing your personal grit depends on other people.”

• Grit is only one of many character aspects that matter to success.

LEARN MORE:

Are you are interested in learning more about group coaching?

If so, contact me to obtain a report on a simple and easy system on how to set up group coaching programs for youth. You can do this in the ‘Contact us‘ section of the website.

Please contact me to enter the discussion OR TO REQUEST A FREE COPY OF THE GROUP COACHING PLAYBOOK. 

Wishing you lots of love and laughter, as always.

Fred Jones

Victoria, BC Canada