“Grit is knowing your long-term goals, knowing why you are pursuing them, and sticking with your goals despite adversity and setbacks” – Cindra Kamphoff, PH.D.
Things are going to get tough both in your athletic life and your daily life. You will fail, friends will abandon you, relationships will end, you will miss a shot, strikeout, get injured, lose loved ones, and more. This is the inevitability of life. Grit is the ability to accept these things and continue to push on towards achieving your goal. Grit is the embodiment of the phrase “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. Every elite performer has experienced trials and tribulations on their road to the top. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, Jose Altuve was told he was too small to play in the MLB, and even multi-billion dollar entertainers like Oprah and Walt Disney were neglected early in their careers. So what made them different? One word: GRIT. They did not give up when things got hard, when people told them they could not do something, when failure and heartache entered the picture. They put their head down and continued to put in the work to achieve their dream. And the good news is, you can learn to be gritty.
There are two things you can do to develop or harness your grit. The first is draw on your own experiences. If you have been through difficult situations and are now on the other side and thriving, then congratulations, you have been developing grit all along. Maybe you have been through a tough childhood (grew up poor, parents had a nasty divorce, survived abuse), maybe you had to battle bullying in middle or high school, or maybe you battle with and/or have overcome self-doubt, depression, or a negative body image. All these things are serious, very serious and if you have been through them and are now on the other side then you are probably one of the grittiest people in the room or on the team. You should use that, you should own that. You are a strong, capable, resilient person and this can absolutely assist you in your athletic career. (PSA: if you are currently suffering from any of the aforementioned situations then please seek help, talk with someone, do not bottle it in. Let some licensed professionals guide you in turning that into resiliency.)
If you have not been through very many difficult life situations, fear not, you can still develop grit as well. Even if you have been through hard times and feel gritty, you can still use tip number two to continue in grit development. Here is the second tip: get out of your comfort zone. Grit is all about adapting to and growing from difficult situations, so find things outside of your comfort zone that will help you learn to adapt. Now, another PSA, I am not telling you to seek situations of abuse, neglect, pain, depression, or any other serious situation that will cause you mental or physical harm (See PSA above). What I am saying is, if you do not like public speaking then find ways to speak publicly. If you are afraid of the water, take a swim course. If you do not like waking up early and working out, then wake up early and workout. Our brains will literally begin building neural pathways when we introduce new stimuli to it and all of this serves to callous the mind to hardship and difficulties. The navy SEALs use the saying “embrace the suck” and “the only easy day was yesterday”. These are among the toughest people on the planet, but their lessons apply to anyone and everyone willing to use them. With these two tips in mind, let’s do some self-reflecting.
1. How do you react when things do not go your way? Do you pout, blame others, get angry or do you take a deep breath, analyze the situation, and react in a way that moves you toward your goal? Explain.
2. What is the most difficult thing you have ever been through? What did it teach you?
3. How/when have you experienced failure in your athletic career?
4. What did you do after this failure? How did you bounce back from it?
5. When is a time that an outside factor influenced your performance? (death of a loved one, break up, failed a test).
6. How could you have handled that failure differently? What are some positive ways to deal with negative emotions?
7. What are some things you are willing to try in order to get out of your comfort zone?
I highly recommend assessing and writing your WHY and Goal Setting before this section. Understanding your goals and the reasons you are working towards them can be the best reminder and motivator when things get difficult. That WHY written on your mirror is a constant reminder that you have a destination and a purpose. It is also the reason I encouraged you to develop such a strong WHY. It has to hold up when trials come and trust me THEY WILL.
Goal Setting and WHY Tagged Below:
https://www.sportingbounce.com/member-article/aim-high-and-get-to-work
https://www.sportingbounce.com/member-article/what-is-your-why
