Our family helper (when I was in primary school) would always remind us that failing was just a F I R S T A T T E M P T I N L E A R N I N G. She would say, ‘it’s better to fail then fail to try’.
She loved us and we loved her.
I’d like to think that if the world were a fair place, Mary would have been a teacher and an excellent one at that. She was onto something – a term that American psychologist Carol Dweck has now termed a ‘Growth Mindset’.
Grit is the follow through & commitment to a goal, a vision, a purpose – harvested through sustained effort; i believe that my gritty personality can be attributed to Mary for ingraining in me that the ability to learn is not fixed, it can improve with effort, perseverance and passion. That failure is not permanent.
How to build grit in young minds
🔹Talk about their dreams and goals (how to bridge the gap between start and achievement).
🔹Encourage them to know and understand their ancestral history (lineage, legacy and stories of earlier generations are full of grit).
🔹Ask them about the challenges or fears they may have about a particular task. Help them to break it down by guiding them through a strategy (plan of action).
🔹Share your own success stories, what you are passionate about and how you go about achieving your goals (be careful not to impose your unconscious bias though).
🔹Nurture their skill, talent and creativity.