Angela Duckworth, who spearheaded this study, has
also followed West Point cadets, and students at elite
universities, sales people and teachers. In every case, she
found that grit, not intelligence, academic achievement,
or talent was a better predictor of success, well-being
and happiness. Grit, at least in males, also proved to be a
better predictor of whether the subject was married and
would stay married than standard personality traits.
“The idea that kids have to get straight A’s
in everything and to take advanced classes is
misguided,”
Duckworth says. Granted some children are born
grittier than others. But unlike IQ, which is relatively
fixed, grit is something that can be acquired and
harnessed. So how do you cultivate grit in your child?
Here are some tips.
Start early. Start young, but start early in the day
too. Admiral Williams McRaven in the book “Grit to
Great” is found saying that the number one lesson he
learned from his Navy SEAL training was making your
bed. “It starts you off in the beginning of the day doing
something that you have to learn how to do perfectly,”
he says, “and if you, by chance, have a terrible day, when
you come home, at least you’ve done one thing right.”
The idea is to assign a task in the morning that your child
is in charge of and can feel good about accomplishing at
the first onset of the day. The challenge for parents here
is to resist the urge to remake the bed your child made,
which would send the message that their efforts aren’t
good enough.
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