Pam and I have been discussing the articles and studies we have been reading over the past year about the need for resilience, to survive life's inevitable "slings and arrows". Again and again, research shows that the strongest, the smartest, the most talented do not necessarily succeed in life.
Instead, the athlete (not necessarily the strongest) who keeps getting back up and trying eventually wins; the student (not necessarily the smartest) who continues to study hard despite less than an "A" average becomes a wealthy CEO; the musician (not necessarily the most talented) who practices day and night reaches enduring fame.
How many authors have you heard of who were rejected time and again, but finally got published and became best-sellers? How many actors worked odd jobs for years and even decades, but kept auditioning and taking small roles until that breakout role that made them a star? How many entrepreneurs started company after company, or patented product after product, and one day made it big? What do they all have in common? They all have an elusive quality -
Angela Duckworth calls it
grit - the resilience to take failure and learn from it... to take hardship and rise above it... to endure pain and even ridicule until finally triumphing.
So, if this is the stuff of success, then we desperately need to instill it in each of our students. How can we do that? Stay tuned for our ideas as we develop them.
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