BUY
Agency is the belief that we have control over our lives, and it allows us to grow through challenges. We are not bystanders waiting for a future that will happen to us. We can actively shape who we are and who we will become. Martin Seligman, the father of positive psychology, described agency as a“ psychological superpower” because it allows us to persist and do hard things. More of us need this superpower.
Taken from The Happiness Crisis by Jon Eckert. Copyright 2023 by Jon Eckert. Used with permission from Thomas Nelson.
To develop agency, kids need to see progress toward a goal. If they can stack small wins on the way to bigger wins, they will develop agency. Helping our kids see the progress they are making builds motivation to continue to improve. The harder the challenge, and the more they stack wins, the more likely they are to develop greater agency that might lead to passion.
BUY
NOW
Jonathan Eckert has spent his career helping students become more of who they are meant to be. Now the Copple Professor of Educational Leadership at Baylor University and executive director of the Baylor Center for School Leadership, he first taught and coached intermediate and middle grade students outside of Chicago and Nashville. After earning a doctorate at Vanderbilt University, he served in the U. S. Department of Education under both the Bush and Obama administrations and later prepared teachers at Wheaton College. Jon and his wife, Carolyn, raised three kids and are about to be empty nesters. They are embracing Texas even if Jon still hasn’ t bought boots or a cowboy hat. 16