When I was a kid, our next door neighbors, the Doyles, had a son, Jimmy. He was older than me so I don't remember him as well as his younger sister - of course because she was hot - but what I do remember is that he was accepted to West Point his senior year in high school.
And, I remember how hard he trained that summer to get ready for Cadet Basic Training.
West Point Cadet Basic Training is grueling. In fact, when you consider just how difficult it is to get into West Point (not only do you have to have spectacular grades, you also have to be recommended by a member of Congress or of the Department of the Army), you might think that no one would even think of quitting. But, about 1 in 20 drop out the first year.
So, why do the others make it? Are they smarter? More athletic? Stronger?
It turns out that it's just good old grit. Tough. Persistent. They can stay focused on a long term goal and just keep going after it.1
And, it's a real pain.
Sounds a lot like recovering from an injury to me.
Sure, you have to do the right things to recover. You have to have a reasonable plan, follow the plan, work the plan. You have to do a lot of stuff you just don't want to do. But, if you have those things in place and don't have grit, you may not make as a complete of a recovery.
Or recover at all.
I'm gettin' gritty. How about you?
P.S.
And, speaking of grit, one of our grads,
Heidi Armstrong , is headed to Leadville, CO to compete in the Leadville Mountain Bike Race . Oh, did I mention that it's 100 miles from 9000 to almost 13,000 feet? Takes a lot of grit to do that.
1. Duckworth, A. L., C. Peterson, et al. (2007). "Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals." J Pers Soc Psychol 92(6): 1087-101.
Follow my
recovery from a meniscus tear here.
New to the View? Consider
subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe
to this blog's feed . Or sign up to get email updates in the box at
the top right hand corner of my blog and then share this blog with your
friends.
Do
you have a copy of my book, "The Little Book of Sparks"?
You can order it here .
When I was a kid, our next door neighbors, the Doyles, had a son, Jimmy. He was older than me so I don't remember him as well as his younger sister - of course because she was hot - but what I do remember is that he was accepted to West Point his senior year in high school.
And, I remember how hard he trained that summer to get ready for Cadet Basic Training.
West Point Cadet Basic Training is grueling. In fact, when you consider just how difficult it is to get into West Point (not only do you have to have spectacular grades, you also have to be recommended by a member of Congress or of the Department of the Army), you might think that no one would even think of quitting. But, about 1 in 20 drop out the first year.
So, why do the others make it? Are they smarter? More athletic? Stronger?
It turns out that it's just good old grit. Tough. Persistent. They can stay focused on a long term goal and just keep going after it.1
And, it's a real pain.
Sounds a lot like recovering from an injury to me.
Sure, you have to do the right things to recover. You have to have a reasonable plan, follow the plan, work the plan. You have to do a lot of stuff you just don't want to do. But, if you have those things in place and don't have grit, you may not make as a complete of a recovery.
Or recover at all.
I'm gettin' gritty. How about you?
P.S.
And, speaking of grit, one of our grads, Heidi Armstrong , is headed to Leadville, CO to compete in the Leadville Mountain Bike Race . Oh, did I mention that it's 100 miles from 9000 to almost 13,000 feet? Takes a lot of grit to do that.1. Duckworth, A. L., C. Peterson, et al. (2007). "Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals." J Pers Soc Psychol 92(6): 1087-101.
Follow my recovery from a meniscus tear here.
New to the View? Consider subscribing to my RSS feed: Subscribe to this blog's feed . Or sign up to get email updates in the box at the top right hand corner of my blog and then share this blog with your friends.
Do you have a copy of my book, "The Little Book of Sparks"? You can order it here .