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Success doesn't just come from natural talent. It comes from a mindset, and this is something that the very best tutors and teachers are able to share with students, as well as something that the most diligent students can pick up.
In order to arrive at an understanding of how to teach success, we must first consider exactly what it means to be successful. Success is subjective and will differ substantially from person to person. Since we can’t possibly arrive at a specific point determined as ‘successful’ we must set appropriate learning objectives if we are to teach success.
Many look at success as a milestone that we reach in our careers, relationships or lifestyle. In fact, success is better understood as the process that gets you to this arbitrary destination. Take being a millionaire, for example. It is virtually impossible to instruct somebody on how to be a millionaire given that each person will have a host of different skills, traits and opportunities at their disposal.
Plus, this isn't the definition of success for everyone. Grit might help you to get better grades, to be better at sports, or to achieve any other ambition.
In life, success is not solely determined by intelligence or talent. One's perseverance and determination also play a significant role in achieving goals. This is where the concept of grit comes in. Grit refers to a person's ability to stick to their goals and work hard despite challenges and setbacks. It is an essential trait that can be developed and taught to aid success.
In this article, we will explore the concept of grit, its benefits, ways to teach and learn grit and answer some frequently asked questions.
Benefits of Grit
- Increased resilience helps individuals bounce back from setbacks and challenges.
- Improved goal attainment is a result of setting specific and challenging goals and sticking to them despite difficulties.
- Higher levels of success are achieved by persevering through obstacles and working hard towards a long-term vision.
Teaching Grit
- Leading by example involves modelling grit and emphasizing the importance of hard work and perseverance.
- Encouraging a growth mindset helps individuals see challenges as opportunities for growth and improvement.
- Emphasizing effort over ability helps individuals focus on what they can control and encourages a belief in the power of hard work.
- Providing opportunities for challenges allows individuals to practice grit in a supportive environment.
Learning Grit
- Recognizing the importance of effort involves understanding that hard work and perseverance are essential for success.
- Setting specific and challenging goals helps individuals stay motivated and focused on their long-term vision.
- Seeking support and feedback allows individuals to learn from their mistakes and make necessary adjustments.
- Learning from failure involves analyzing what went wrong, developing a plan for improvement, and moving forward with renewed determination.
What is grit? Can we learn and teach grit?
In Angela Lee Duckworth’s TED talk, she describes grit as the ability to persevere and have passion and stamina for keeping long-term goals. Duckworth describes it as "living life like it's a marathon, not a race".
Her research suggests that those who are more successful tend to exhibit more grit.
“One characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks, or physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.”
With the aforementioned considered there are undoubtedly many universal learnings that can be adopted and implemented by students looking to achieve success.
If you are trying to figure out how to teach success to your students then you might want to get them to start considering their own thinking and learning processes.
This sort of thought is best stimulated by asking provoking questions such as:
When and where do they work best?
What tends to engage or distract them?
Knowing their intellectual preferences and habits will also help them allocate their time more wisely and become more effective all around.
For each course that you teach on the subject, you might want to encourage your students to establish their personal objectives early on. If it is successful in the classroom that they desire, then instead of concentrating exclusively on the grade, encourage them to think about how each course advances their knowledge in an area of interest or advances their intellectual growth as a whole.
This practice is best achieved through reflective learning and is adopted in many master's courses throughout third-level institutions internationally.
Try to get your students to focus on acquiring concepts and skills rather than on getting a good grade or avoiding a bad one in order to encourage or motivate themselves. Teach your students to be selective with how they allocate both their time and focus. Making precise, goal-oriented plans for personal development increases productivity and reduces stress.
For some, the idea of "grit" can come with toxicity in their head. People think of this kind of determination in line with some of the more harsh attitudes towards learning and career, and sacrifice things like sleep and time with friends. This is not the answer and not the definition of grit that helps with success. Always get enough sleep, and look after yourself first and foremost.
Reward students for the process as opposed to praising their results
As a tutor or teacher, rewarding students for the efforts that they make with their studies rather than the result that they attained is a fantastic strategy for building a resilient mindset. Some students suffer terribly from low self-esteem, and this can have an impact on their grades. Praise and reward can help them to understand their progress.
Therefore, as opposed to stating, "Great! You answered Question 3b correctly!" and "You've come a long way since you first started this paper!", you could also try, "Well done you have really worked hard all term!" in place of "Well done on your 'B' in Maths." This fosters grit because perseverance is the ability to break down a challenge, attempt several approaches to solving it, and try again until you succeed.
Teach optimism
Optimism is a great skill that can be taught and can change how we view setbacks. If we have a negative attitude towards setbacks this may put you off from trying again! In a presentation by Amy Lyon (a schoolteacher), she created a tool called the ‘grit pie’ that aims to help us identify and analyse our thoughts.
Teaching optimism (and learning optimism) is not easy. It is true that some people are natural optimists and some are natural pessimists. According to BetterUp.com "learning optimism is possible even if you're more naturally pessimistic. Developing certain skills, including learning how to reframe your thoughts, can help you become more optimistic over time." This article is a great read for those who want to foster this sort of optimistic mindset.
What else can help your students to be successful?
Once your students have spent time creating a personal development plan outlining the core competencies that they would like to develop over a specified timeline, they will need to be encouraged to concentrate and adhere to it in the long run.
This can also be facilitated by you as an educator through establishing outside stakes and rewards (meeting with them, participating in their reading groups, or advising them to avail of a learning consultant).
Achieving success certainly doesn’t come with the absence of hard work, your students will also have to be present when studying. This involves switching off any other distractions and focusing solely on the task at hand.
Nobody wants to be a jack of all trades and a master of none and academia is certainly no exception to the rule. Encourage your students to narrow their sights on a single competency for more focused development as opposed to them dividing their concentration across numerous projects or continually shifting their attention between them.
Another useful strategy to employ within your teaching is to encourage your students to put themselves in your shoes as a professor. The way that you design your courses is for a reason. Make sure that they spend some time thinking about these justifications as they progress through your courses.
For instance, consider why they are studying the content at this time in the semester and what their goals are for the project. You will find that this exercise will give your students some understanding of what they are doing in your classroom.
In order to help improve the amount of information that your students retain from your classes then it is important that you do a brief recap with them. In addition to this try getting them to, go over their notes as quickly as they can after class.
It is worth noting that if they don't review their notes within a day, students lose 50% of what they learned, and 65% if they don't review within a week. Regardless of how academic the student might be, it is always best not to be categorised in these statistic pools.
A quick review is beneficial and you might want to include it when teaching success to your students.
Help students develop a growth mindset
Dr Carol Dweck researches 'Growth Mindset' - the idea that we can grow our brain's capacity to learn and solve problems. She believes we can develop a ‘not yet’ approach to challenges that we haven’t yet succeeded in. She demonstrates that the ability to learn is not fixed and can change with effort.
According to Dwek's research, students who learned about the brain, how we learn, and how it adapts to difficulties are more inclined to keep trying after failing. This is due to the fact that these pupils did not consider failure to be a lifelong condition.
Learning About Grit and Its Role in Your Success
The ability to see a task through to completion is the essence of grit, to put it simply. It is described as a person's "perseverance and passion for long-term goals," including the capacity to stay focused (this means understanding that multitasking doesn't work), ignore outside distractions, and recover from failures.
Recent research implies that a student or professional's long-term success and career satisfaction may depend on how persistent they are.
It can be difficult to comprehend grit and how to impart it to your students because it emphasises letting them strive, fail, and try again. This goes against your natural instinct to look for help when you're struggling. There have been so many studies, examples, and stories around grit, keep the discussion alive, and keep building on your understanding!
Discuss grit vs. time to quit!
The discussion within education around grit has its criticisms. Author Alfie Kohn wrote a great article, featured in the Washington post about his top concerns about teaching grit. A wonderful point he makes (point 4 in the article) is that sometimes grit can be counterproductive, where he mentions the Law of Holes: When you’re in one, stop digging.
Discuss with your students that sometimes there are jobs and tasks worth doing that deserve persistence and a long-term view, but there are also some that are unworthy of such efforts. Discuss different situations where grit is needed and recognise when it’s time to quit!
These are just a few ways in which you can foster and encourage grit, but there are many more. As a student, it is time to embrace grit as one of the most crucial parts of your success, and the ability to recover from setbacks.
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