What Is Grit? How Students Can Build Resilience, Motivation, and Confidence
What is GRIT?
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth is the global bestseller launched a decade ago and still resonating in educational circles, corporate training, elite sports coaching and more. What is GRIT? Rather than a fixed trait, Duckworth’s definition likens Grit to a skill that is honed over time through experiences, habit formation and a growth mindset.
How Do Students Build Grit?
If Grit is more a learned behavioral skill than an inherent trait, how do we find our Grit? Defining a passion, deliberatively pursuing it and maintaining that sense of purpose are key factors in Grit-building. Parents can cultivate these habits in their children by setting an example of these practices that children can emulate. Supporting and providing encouragement for a demanding extracurricular activity that requires consistent practice also serves as a Grit skill-builder. Cultivating Grit-minded social connections or organizations further fosters the acquisition of required skills.
The book defines grit as passion and perseverance towards long-term goals. This concept is not about being naturally gifted, lucky, or instantly successful. It’s about learning how to stay focused, keep improving steadily, and move forward even when progress feels slow. Not only is this approach beneficial for pursuing goals and overcoming roadblocks, but research has shown that grit characteristics can help predict achievement of difficult and personally meaningful goals, including school-related milestones.
Four key traits form the foundation of grit:
- Interest
- Practice
- Purpose
- Hope
Why Students Need Grit Now More ThanEver
Today’s culture is filled with negative influences. Educational institutions worldwide have by now recognized the need to rein in unlimited access to screens. Students find themselves navigating an increasingly stressful landscape in school, society and online. GRIT offers a practical path forward and valuable keys to success throughout the journey. Motivation, organization, resilience, and confidence are not just “nice to have” resume fillers. They’re essential tools for navigating the challenging environments of middle school, high school, college prep, and the complexities of adulthood that lay ahead. Grit skills are especially important for students because they frame a learning model beyond grades and assignments. Students gain understanding of why effort matters, how improvement is shaped, and ways in which setbacks produce personal growth rather than a reason to give up.
How GRIT builds Resilience and Motivation
Translating the points on the pages of the book GRIT into actionable insights allows readers to apply these valuable lessons to their own lives. For students, they can begin to ask important questions.
- How do I stay motivated when something is difficult?
- How do I organize myself when I feel overwhelmed?
- How do I respond when I make a mistake?
- How do I keep going when success takes longer than expected?
These questions matter because resilience is not strictly inherent. Resilience can be learned, developed and strengthened. The Harvard Center on the Developing Child notes that the capabilities underlying resilience can be strengthened, especially when students have supportive relationships and opportunities to build skills through manageable challenges. The same is true of a growth mindset. Stanford’s Teaching Commons emphasizes that helping students grow is not just about praising effort. Students also need constructive feedback, strategies, and support so they can learn how to improve in meaningful ways.
How students benefit from GRIT
- Middle School students benefit from building stronger study habits and confidence
- High School students benefit with preparations for greater academic responsibility
- College-bound students benefit by learning how to manage pressure, goals, and independence
When students gain better understanding of GRIT the book they’ll be equipped with practical tools for motivation, organization, resilience, and perseverance—skills they can carry into the classroom and onward throughout life.
Excel Academy’s Summer GRIT Book Club helps middle school, high school, and college-bound students build the motivation, organization, resilience, and confidence they need for success inside and outside the classroom. Built around Angela Duckworth’s bestselling book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, this 4-week student book club gives students a practical way to understand and strengthen grit before the next school year begins.
Enrollment is now open for middle school, high school, and college-bound students. Sign up by June 15 to receive the early registration discount.
