{"id":39486,"date":"2024-11-14T14:23:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T22:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39486"},"modified":"2024-11-14T14:23:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T22:23:47","slug":"got-grit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/got-grit\/","title":{"rendered":"Got Grit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

*Grit: (Noun) courage and resolve; strength of character:*<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What does it take to develop grit? Is grit really perseverance and passion, or simply perseverance with a growth mindset? Does Grit even matter?<\/p>\n

Angela Duckworth wrote the book Grit <\/em>in 2016 after measuring success in various groups of students and people. Having gone from the business world, to being an educator, to a psychologist, she had experience in various fields that enabled her to notice trends in success that weren’t based on intelligence or natural ability. Her book develops the idea that what determines people’s success over a period of time is their “grit score”. Duckworth defines grit as “perseverance and passion for very long term goals”[1]<\/a> and suggests that it can be cultivated and measured in young people by parents, coaches and teachers.<\/p>\n

As someone who is a parent of teenagers, a coach and a pastor in a college town, I’m always looking for ways to cultivate resiliency and growth in the young people I have the privilege of interacting with. With the increase in anxiety and mental health crises in young people in recent years, I’m curious about the way that Grit can be cultivated in response to the impact of a global pandemic, social media and climate change that seem to be contributing factors to adolescent anxiety.<\/p>\n

In his book, The Anxious Generation<\/em> Jonathan Haidt observes that, “Experience, not information, is the key to emotional development.\u201d[2]<\/a> These means that the experiences that our kids are having are opportunities for their emotional development, but that it takes intentional engagement and reflection both by them and the trusted adults in their lives, to see those experiences as an opportunity to learn grit through perseverance.<\/p>\n

A critic of Duckworth’s work on the concept of “Grit”, Martin Cred\u00e9, a social psychologist at Iowa State University, has been particularly outspoken. Cred\u00e9’s primary critique of Duckworth is not in her perspective on perseverance but on the challenge of measuring passion in developing adolescents. He notes, “So I think perseverance, that\u2019s worthwhile pursuing. But on the passion side, the idea that we can only be good at things if we are passionate for them and also that we don\u2019t change our passions. I find that especially concerning when it comes to younger kids. I have two daughters. Part of their life, as I see it, is trying out things. We don\u2019t want them to give up immediately but changing your interests and exploring things, that\u2019s part of life.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

I tend to agree here with Cred\u00e9 but think the Duckworth is onto something in regard to the importance of perseverance and grit.<\/p>\n

My two oldest kids are 14 year old twins. They are freshmen in High School this year, and both have had challenging experiences in regard to their fall sports participation. Both have had the opportunity to develop Grit through these experiences. It’s been interesting walking with them through these challenges and notice how unpleasant it has been as a parent. As a parent who is a recovering people pleaser, I want my kids to be happy. Therefore, any experience that is challenging or hard is not something I want for them. And yet, it has been these challenging experiences that have formed them the most this fall. As a parent, I need to switch my mindset from a \u201cfixed\u201d to a \u201cgrowth\u201d mindset in order to support my kids as they develop grit in their adolescent years, which will set them up for a life of growing grit. I\u2019m learning that asking questions as a parent can be more important than giving advice, especially in parenting teenage kids.<\/p>\n

So what are a few basic reflection questions we can ask ourselves, and the young people around us, when we are experiencing challenge and adversity that will cultivate “grit”? I’d like to offer these four questions based on Duckworth, Dweck and Cred\u00e9:<\/p>\n

– What specific challenges am I facing in this situation, and how might they be helping me grow?<\/p>\n

– In what areas am I feeling anxious, and is there an opportunity to use that awareness to focus on things within my control?<\/p>\n

– How could I reframe this situation to uncover potential opportunities for growth and learning?<\/p>\n

– What is one small, courageous action I can take to make progress and build confidence in this situation?<\/p>\n

They have been incredible, showing toughness, commitment and the power of a positive attitude in the midst of some challenging situations. I’m very proud of them both. I hope to have their level of grit someday in my own life too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Angela Duckwort, \u201cGrit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance: TED\u201d https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com&source_ve_path=MTM5MTE4LDI4NjY2<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Haidt, Jonathan. The Anxious Generation.<\/em><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Research scholars to air problems with using ‘grit’ at school – The Hechinger Report<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*Grit: (Noun) courage and resolve; strength of character:*   What does it take to develop grit? Is grit really perseverance and passion, or simply perseverance with a growth mindset? Does Grit even matter? Angela Duckworth wrote the book Grit in 2016 after measuring success in various groups of students and people. Having gone from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3324],"class_list":["post-39486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-duckworth","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39487,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39486\/revisions\/39487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}