Why Grit Is Important

Grit is learning how to talk about what you’ve accomplished and being able to surpass the expectations of those around you, while also overcoming new challenges. Angela Lee Duckworth discusses how good looks, social intelligence, or even a person’s IQ aren’t the main factors that determine if they will be how successful; a key part to a successful life is grit, some students don’t have “grit”; while others do. One can look at their individual works and it will be obvious. Students who have grit are sticking with their future plans and working hard to making those plans into a reality. Both students with and without grit can still be successful in their futures, but it depends on the student’s long-term goals, optimism, and their strive for …show more content…
Andrew Zolli, in his book, Resilience, Why Things Bounce Back, defined resilience as “the ability of people, communities, and systems to maintain their core purpose and integrity among unforeseen shocks and surprise.” Resilience can be seen as a combination of creativity, optimism, and confidence, this is what empowers one to assess situations and regulate emotions, which most scientists refer to as “grit”. A student who cannot be optimistic can potentially lead themselves into believing that no matter what challenges they face in life, that it still won’t help them in the future and that it will be meaningless to even try to overcome those situations. Gritty people believe that in order to achieve, one must believe that everything will be alright, and if it’s not alright, then it doesn’t mean that it’s the …show more content…
The word excellence is derived from the Greek word, “Arête”, which is bound with the notion of fulfillment or function and is also associated with virtue. A perfectionist allows disappointment and embraces failure for improvement. Duckworth goes on to talk about how grit in kids is something called “growth mindset”. This is a belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, it can change with how much effort you put into it. The brain grows in response to the challenge. You are more likely to persevere if you fail because you will probably not believe that failure is a permanent condition. Gritty students are finding, striving, and never yielding. They are not afraid to accept failure in order to achieve a greater outcome. Unlike students who do not strive for excellence, they allow failure to discourage them and, in doing so, the student will give