1.4: Resilience and Grit

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Resilience is defined as the ability to recover from or adjust easily to adversity or change. Adversity is a difficult or challenging negative circumstance, either a one-time event or a continuing situation. Looking at these definitions, we can see that resilience is the ability to work through and adapt when things go wrong in life. For example, thinking about an academic situation, if we fail an exam in a college class, instead of giving up or dropping the class, we seek tutoring or talk to our instructor.

In her best-selling book Grit ⁷ Angela Duckworth discusses the importance of resilience and determination. Below is the link to Duckworth’s TED Talk on Grit: Angela Duckworth Grit TED Talk [www.ted.com]

Duckworth explains that grit is passion, perseverance and determination. Through her studies she has found that grittier students are more likely to succeed. These students have a growth mindset. Let’s take a look at your Grit Score. Below is a link to Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale. Please take the assessment and record your score below.

Grit Scale Assessment Link: Grit Scale by Angela Duckworth [angeladuckworth.com]

My Grit Score:_________

After completing the Grit Scale Assessment, please read through the FAQ’s to find out more about what “grit” means.

If you had a high grit score, why do you think this is? What factors may have contributed to your attitude of perseverance and determination?

If your grit score was low, why do you think this is? How can you adopt more of a growth mindset to increase your grit?

⁷ Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The power of passion and perseverance. Scribner/Simon & Schuster.