Grit

Do You Have Grit????  

     

Grit........Perseverance....Tenacity.....working hard despite obstacles. So many things are so easy for us today does this mean we are losing perseverance in our lives?  Can't spell a word correctly?  If your word processor doesn't self-correct it for you just Google it  or use an online dictionary to look it up on the Internet.  Ten years ago I was quoted in a book as saying "Google is the new encyclopedia." How many of you remember having to walk to the library or get a ride to it to look something up for a homework assignment? You had to look through the card catalog to find your book. Now you don't have to leave the comfort of your own home to get a book.  You can sign into Amazon and order a hard copy of the book to get sent through the mail or just download it.  Of course you can sign onto your local library and have it waiting for you at the library, where you might now even have to get out of your car, just drive thru and roll your window down.  Remember wanting to watch The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella or A Charlie Brown Christmas?  You had to plan and organize your time and make sure you were home with your T.V. set on during the once a year showing.  There were no  Beta, VHS, DVD players or TiVo players. Places like Blockbuster were not even in existence back then and now most are obsolute and out of business.  We went to one of the few video stores the other day and it was actually fun for my kids who had never been to a video store. There certainly wasn't Netflix, Hulu or FandangoNow. Need the weather? Tornado Warnings? Stock update? Directions?  Just pull your smartphone out of your pocket.  Why struggle learning to read a map when your GPS will just tell you how to get there?

How can we show our kids what perseverance is when our lives seem so easy now? When our kids runs into trouble trying out for a sport or getting a good grade?  It use to be a C meant you did what you were suppose to in class and an A or B meant the student not the teacher figure out how to put the extra effort in to get the A. Now you hear students say you didn't say I needed to do that for an A.  Even with a rubric to follow they want to know exactly how to do something to get an A.  Part of earning an A needs to come from their trial and error not given to them (spoon feed as some people might say).  That is how growth mindset works.  Learning from your mistakes.  Thinking for yourself.  How do we get students and our children to realize that mistakes are okay and earning an A means figuring out how to make a project better.  If a teacher has to tell you how to get an A, that only limits you to the teachers knowledge and outlook.  Finding a way to earn an A by yourself, not only helps you grow dendrites, grow but gives your teacher and classmates a different point of view when looking how to solve a problem.

Famous People with Grit-

I have to tell you one of my favorite is Michael Jordan- He was cut from his sophomore basketball team.

Can you figure the rest of these out?

A. 1,000 people turned him down before he sold his chicken recipe.
B. Was told that he could not dance.
C. Fired from a singing job and told to go back to driving a truck.
D. Had to be homeschooled because his teacher said he was too stupid to learn.
F. Was told he should be a dishwasher.
G. Told that she was not fit to be on television.
H.Was told that he had no imagination.
I. Failed running for public office many times before becoming president of the U.S.
J. Struck at more than any other baseball player.
K. Booed off stage when he started comedy.
L. His book was rejected by over 2 dozen publishers.
M. He sold only 1 painting in his lifetime.
N. Single mom living in poverty becomes one of the wealthiest woman in the world as a write.
O. Was homeless at one point in their live before they became successful entertainers.
P. Has dyslexia and was a poor student who went  on to become a billionaire.
Q. Polio paralyzed him and put him in a wheelchair yet he later became president of the U.S.
R. Rejected from University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts Three Times!
S. She was told that she was too shy when she was in acting school and told she did not have a future.
T. Has said that he has failed many times in life and that is why he is successful.

Answers:

A. Colonel Sanders
B. Fred Astaire
C. Elvis Presley
D. Thomas Edison
F. Sidney Poitier
G. Oprah Winfrey
H. Walt Disney
I. Abraham Lincoln
J. Babe Ruth
K. Jerry Seinfeld
L. Dr. Seuss
M, Vincent Van Gogh
N. J.K. Rowling
O. Jim Carrey, Shania Twain, Steve Job, Tyler Perry
P. Richard Branson
Q. Franklin D. Roosevelt 

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R. Steven Spielberg
S.  Lucille Ball
T. Michael Jordan

The next blog will review movies that are motivational and show main characters that have grit.