Grit Isn’t a Gift
Sunday Morning Coffee | Past the Edges Consulting
Every time the Olympic Games roll around, we’re treated to the same awe-filled narratives: natural talent, born champions, once-in-a-generation athletes. The highlight reels are stunning. The podium moments are electric.
But what the camera almost never lingers on is the real story.
The years of repetition.
The injuries.
The early exits.
The missed qualifications.
The quiet decision, made thousands of times, to show up again.
That’s not talent.
That’s grit.
And grit, despite how we often talk about it, is not something you’re born with.
Grit gets oversimplified. It’s often framed as toughness or willpower: just push harder. But the research (and lived experience) paints a more nuanced picture.
Grit is the ability to sustain effort and commitment toward a long-term goal, even when progress is slow, setbacks are frequent, and motivation wobbles.
It’s not:
ignoring pain
white-knuckling through burnout
blind persistence in the wrong direction
Real grit includes:
knowing when to pause and recover
adjusting strategy after failure
tolerating frustration without quitting
staying oriented to a future that isn’t here yet
In other words, grit is deeply connected to executive function, emotional regulation, and hope.
Those are skills, and skills can be taught.
What the Olympics Don’t Show Us
For every medalist, there are countless athletes who:
trained just as hard and didn’t qualify
returned after injury to finish last
spent years refining technique before a breakthrough
failed publicly before succeeding privately
The difference between those who persist and those who disappear isn’t genetics alone. It’s whether they learned how to:
break goals into manageable steps
reframe failure as information
tolerate discomfort without spiraling
keep going when results lag behind effort
That learning doesn’t happen by accident. It happens in environments designed to build it.
Why Grit Matters So Much for Incarcerated Learners
If grit were simply a personality trait, correctional education would be a hopeless project. Many incarcerated learners arrive having experienced repeated academic failure, unstable environments, trauma and chronic stress, and systems that punished mistakes rather than taught repair. Those conditions don’t build grit. They erode it.
And yet, this is exactly why grit is essential in correctional settings.
Reentry isn’t a sprint. Education isn’t linear. Change is rarely rewarded immediately.
Without grit, setbacks feel like proof that effort is pointless. With grit, setbacks become part of the process.
The Myth That Gets in the Way
One of the most damaging myths in education is the idea that grit is something people either have or don’t. That belief quietly excuses systems from doing the hard work of teaching it. When learners “don’t persist,” we label them unmotivated instead of asking:
Were they taught how to recover from failure?
Do they know how to plan for long-term goals?
Has persistence ever paid off for them before?
Grit doesn’t grow in shame. It grows in structured opportunity.
How Grit Is Actually Taught
1. Normalize Struggle. Olympians don’t train without failing. Learners shouldn’t either. When educators say, “This is supposed to be hard,” they remove shame from effort.
2. Break Big Goals into Small Wins. Nobody trains for the Olympics in a week. Chunking work:
builds momentum
provides feedback
makes persistence feel possible
Small progress is still progress.
3. Teach Reflection After Failure Failure without reflection leads to quitting. Failure with reflection leads to learning. Questions like:
What worked?
What didn’t?
What would you try next time?
That’s grit-building muscle memory.
4. Reward Effort, Not Just Outcomes. Medals matter, but so does training. When classrooms recognize:
showing up consistently
sticking with a task
revising instead of abandoning
Students learn that persistence itself has value.
5. Model Grit as Educators. Students notice when educators:
stay calm when plans fall apart
adapt instead of blame
keep believing when progress is slow
We teach grit most powerfully by demonstrating it.
This Isn’t Just About Incarcerated Learners
Let’s be honest: most of us are still learning grit, too. Helping professions are full of burned-out people who were told to “be resilient” without ever being taught how to rest, reset, and recommit. Grit without support becomes exhaustion. Grit with structure becomes growth.
☕ Final Sip
The Olympic Games remind us of something worth remembering long after the closing ceremony:
Greatness is built, not bestowed.
Grit isn’t about being born strong. It’s about being taught how to keep going.
In correctional education, and in life, that may be one of the most powerful lessons we can offer.
