Grit, Resilience, & Motivation
There are two major sections on this page:
- Grit, Resilience, & Motivation Critical Thinking
- Change Leadership
Choose one of the sections that’s most relevant to your situation, read that section, and complete one learning activity in the section.
Grit, Resilience, & Motivation
Grit and resilience are two skills that work hand-in-hand.
Grit is “stick-to-it-tiveness,” or the ability to persevere toward a goal despite being confronted by obstacles and distractions. Those who possess grit are able to self-regulate and postpone their need for positive reinforcement while working diligently on a task. Grit fuels motivation.
Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from setbacks or difficulties. Resilience helps you maintain motivation as you get back to focusing on and working toward your goals.
Although employers may or may not articulate the need for grit and resilience, they value the results in workers who persist, produce, take initiative, and don’t give up. More importantly, these are valuable life skills, as they enable you to develop other skills; they could be characterized as meta-competencies.
Grit
Angela Duckworth has been researching the characteristic and practice of grit with interesting results. The following video reviews her findings.
This video offers Angela Duckworth herself, telling the back story of her research into the characteristic of grit.
Assess your own level of grit with Duckworth’s Grit Scale.
Then read the short article, 4 Signs You Have Grit.
Consider the outcome of the grit scale and the information in the article. Which of the four signs do you think apply to you?
Resilience
Try a resilience self-assessment:
- Psychology Today‘s Resilience Test
- University of Denver’s Resiliency Self-Assessment
- Williams College What is Your Resiliency Score
