What Ever Happened to Gritty People?

What Ever Happened to Gritty People?

"The only thing that can stop you is you." - Darrin Donnelly

For many people in today's world, grit is not a word used to describe them. The word that is most associated with today's world is soft. I hear it all the time from older generations saying, yeah little Johnny over there wouldn't last a day back in my day. Now there is nothing wrong with back in the day beliefs, but what is wrong is the assumption that kids today have changed. In fact the belief that kids have changed today is a huge lie. 

If we are to say that kids have changed today, that would be a false assessment. More than likely, it is a change from top to bottom. A change from older generations rather than younger generations. The younger generation looks up to the older, therefore what they are learning from is from what they have seen. What we permit, we allow. What younger generations have learned is, is that it is much easier to give up than to move forward. It is a negative belief that life is just too hard, and that you may be a dreamer, but life or some other excuse will cause you to never achieve your dream. So therefore with that set back, you must give up, you must quit, and you must assimilate because I did it and therefore you should do it too. To be safe rather than sorry. 

Quite frankly that is a flawed belief, to believe that it is much more productive to be safe than sorry. Nothing ever great was achieved through being safe, rather greatness is achieved through boldness, and boldness only. This boldness is what is missing in today's world. This is what older generation's say about my generation. Now this post isn't about bashing older generations. That is not the case, most older generations have paved the way for what we have in today's world. What is wrong, is who taught them to simply give up. Those who taught them this, were simply afraid of their dreams. You are never too old to dream. One of my favorite quotes is this Bobby Kennedy quote, "Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not." This is the mindset we all should take up. We should never give up on our dreams, no matter what age we are. I am of the firm belief that if there is a will there is a way. But this way is not easy. And it is much easier to give up than to continue to go on. 

The Question now is, how do I achieve my dream? Here are the ways to be gritty and achieve your dreams. Number one is simply to never give up. Think of this as the foundation of your grit to continue on your goal's journey. If you never give up, you will simply get better every single day. Number two is to make each and every single day count. In "Heads Up Baseball 2.0," Dr. Ken Ravizza and Dr. Tom Hanson described a career as being, " Your Career = Today + Today + Today + Today and Today = Now + Now + Now + Now." Simply put, every single moment in your day counts toward achieving your goal.  So don't waste your days, make your days count. Time is the most valuable asset that we have. The third and final step to achieving your goals is to be honest with yourself. If you are honest with yourself the whole time you have been in pursuit of your dream, then don't be afraid to adjust your dream. Let's be real for a moment, life happens. We cannot control what happens in life, but we can control how we respond to life's events. And since life happens and we have no control over life's random road bumps, sometimes we must adjust our dreams. Sometimes these adjustments may make your dream longer to achieve, but if you are gritty and never give up then you will achieve your wildest dreams. And if and only if you fall short of your dreams, you will still achieve more than you ever believed you ever could. So to some this all up, we must never give up in our pursuit of our wildest dreams, but be honest with our effort in pursuing them. 

Notes

Ravizza, K., & Hanson, T. (2017). Heads-up baseball 2.0: 5 Skills for Competing One Pitch at a Time. Tampa : Hanson House.