It has reached that point in the semester where I have been feeling a little drained, in dire need of more sleep, and honestly, quite unmotivated to study for and write my finals, and finish up assignments before winter break. Juggling the various assignments and seemingly back to back midterms can be overwhelming in a regular semester but having everything online this year has felt like immensely more work than before. I have come to accept the fact that I am just going to need to put in a lot more work and time into succeeding in an online learning environment, but for that, I would also need to continuously motivate myself to keep up. In line with this, I recently found an article by James Clear that talks about how mental toughness can play a major role in your life.
But what is “mental toughness” exactly and why does it sort of sound like a pseudo psychology term? Grit is another more common name for mental toughness, and it is defined as the passion and perseverance a person has for their long-term goals. This term was coined by psychologist, Angela Duckworth, and has actually been revealed to be a better determinant of success than talent or intelligence. When broken down mental toughness and grit don’t seem as intense and can actually help you achieve whatever your goals may be for health, work, sports, academics, or just about anything else you are passionate about.
There is no single image of or “ideal person” who embodies grit, but there are five common characteristics of grit that help make it seem clearer:
- Courage – And not just physical bravery but having the mindset of not letting things get in your way. An act of courage might be getting the guts to ask your professor a question during a huge class when you’re really confused.
- Conscientiousness – This implies having the desire to do a task well, properly, and doing so in an organized and efficient manner. Implementing this characteristic in an academic setting could be starting an essay earlier so that you have enough time to make proper edits and adjustments.
- Perseverance – To continue steadfastly on a path towards a goal you have set. This is one of the most important factors of grit that lead to success in a goal.
- Resilience – The capacity one has to recover from difficulties in a timely manner. There may be plenty of setbacks or learning curves in online learning but recovering from them is key to doing better the next time.
- Passion – Being passionate about your goals will make trying to achieve them feel more fulfilling and in the long-run, feel slightly easier because you want to reach it that badly. It can obviously be hard to feel passionate about a required math course, so thinking about it as part of a bigger goal might work better.
Grit will look different for everyone, since everyone’s goals are quite varied. For me, a goal of mine is to get about the same, if not better, grades as when school was in-person. And by no means does practicing grit have to be a drastic lifestyle change or mean that you have to completely alter your daily life. That would just be extremely unrealistic for a university student, if I’m being honest, and a quite unsustainable lifestyle that could easily breed burnout or disappointment. The idea of grit for me is to use it as motivation or inspiration when I’m feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated. Knowing that consistency and hard work can lead to greater success than just talent or smarts alone can be really motivating in an environment where your grades can start to feel like a reflection of who you are. Knowing about grit can also serve as a great reminder that working consistently at something and sticking to it will pay off, especially when an eight-page paper deadline is looming. Of course, grit requires you to put in work, but that includes small behaviours and goals, like making sure to take a break from screen-time at least once a day, which can be helpful and motivating in the long-run.
If you wanted to check out Amanda Ducksworth talking about grit, she gave an amazing TEDtalk that I highly recommend anyone to watch for some motivation.
The views expressed in this blog are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of the University of Victoria. I monitor posts and comments to ensure all content complies with the University of Victoria Guidelines on Blogging.