Grit, Part 2

Coaches,

Here is the promised continuation of comments from the book Grit by Angela Duckworth.

*Teachers and coaches that assign values to players without a system of drills to show improvement are fixed mindset and create an environment where the player feels hopeless because they feel they have no control over their fate.

*A fixed mindset about ability leads to pessimistic explanations of adversity, and that, in turn, leads to both giving up on challenges and avoiding them in the first place. In contrast, a growth mindset leads to optimistic ways of explaining adversities, and that, in turn, leads to perseverance and seeding out new challenges that will ultimately make you stronger.

I love this part:

• Neglectful teachers, coaches, parents are Un-supportive and Un-demanding
• Permissive teachers, coaches, parents are Supportive and Un-demanding
• Authoritarian teachers, coaches, parents are Un-supportive and Demanding
• Wise teachers, coaches, parents are Supportive and Demanding

More insights…

*Kids want to spend at least some part of their week doing hard things that interest them.

*2 years of being on a team that is supportive and demanding will create “follow through” which allows a student to succeed later in life.

*A distinct culture exists anytime a group of people are in consensus about how we do things around here and why.

*A distinct culture has the power to shape an identity.

My big takeaway from this book is to set standards that are reachable but hard, are metric in nature, hold them accountable to metrics, and realize these are life lessons that shape identities later in life for the student.

I am still caught up in the Special Forces show. I have started to make a list of quotes I want to share with you. I might wait a bit to let you digest this before giving you that info. Have a great week!