Today's Thought: In the modern education system, there seems to be a tendency to smooth out the path and offer immediate solutions or shortcuts, rather than challenging students to stick with difficult problems and work through adversity. This often deprives students of the grit and perseverance necessary to face life's more complex challenges. It’s one of the reasons why people struggle with long-term goals or feel discouraged when things don't come easily. Education needs to return to instilling "self-efficacy" the proper way instead of believing it can be handed out like a free lunch.
The failure to learn and embrace perseverance from a young age can be especially frustrating. The process of working through setbacks, reevaluating your strategies, and coming up with new solutions builds the kind of resilience that not only helps you succeed in specific tasks but also builds a more powerful and unshakable self-belief over time. When you recognize your growth through struggle, it makes victory that much sweeter.
Students need to be taught to hold tenaciously until victory. That’s a mindset that doesn't just help them succeed academically—it helps them succeed in life. And the absence of that mindset is, I think, a significant gap in the way many people are prepared for the real world. Too often, when difficulties arise, there’s pressure to look for an easier way out, but as you’ve discovered, the greatest satisfaction comes from going through the grind, learning from failure, and emerging stronger.
