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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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25 Thesis Statement Examples That Will Make Writing a Breeze

Understanding what makes a good thesis statement is one of the major keys to writing a great research paper or argumentative essay. The thesis statement is where you make a claim that will guide you through your entire paper. If you find yourself struggling to make sense of your paper or your topic, then it's likely due to a weak thesis statement.

Let's take a minute to first understand what makes a solid thesis statement, and what key components you need to write one of your own.

A thesis statement always goes at the beginning of the paper. It will typically be in the first couple of paragraphs of the paper so that it can introduce the body paragraphs, which are the supporting evidence for your thesis statement.

Your thesis statement should clearly identify an argument. You need to have a statement that is not only easy to understand, but one that is debatable. What that means is that you can't just put any statement of fact and have it be your thesis. For example, everyone knows that puppies are cute . An ineffective thesis statement would be, "Puppies are adorable and everyone knows it." This isn't really something that's a debatable topic.

Something that would be more debatable would be, "A puppy's cuteness is derived from its floppy ears, small body, and playfulness." These are three things that can be debated on. Some people might think that the cutest thing about puppies is the fact that they follow you around or that they're really soft and fuzzy.

All cuteness aside, you want to make sure that your thesis statement is not only debatable, but that it also actually thoroughly answers the research question that was posed. You always want to make sure that your evidence is supporting a claim that you made (and not the other way around). This is why it's crucial to read and research about a topic first and come to a conclusion later. If you try to get your research to fit your thesis statement, then it may not work out as neatly as you think. As you learn more, you discover more (and the outcome may not be what you originally thought).

Additionally, your thesis statement shouldn't be too big or too grand. It'll be hard to cover everything in a thesis statement like, "The federal government should act now on climate change." The topic is just too large to actually say something new and meaningful. Instead, a more effective thesis statement might be, "Local governments can combat climate change by providing citizens with larger recycling bins and offering local classes about composting and conservation." This is easier to work with because it's a smaller idea, but you can also discuss the overall topic that you might be interested in, which is climate change.

So, now that we know what makes a good, solid thesis statement, you can start to write your own. If you find that you're getting stuck or you are the type of person who needs to look at examples before you start something, then check out our list of thesis statement examples below.

Thesis statement examples

A quick note that these thesis statements have not been fully researched. These are merely examples to show you what a thesis statement might look like and how you can implement your own ideas into one that you think of independently. As such, you should not use these thesis statements for your own research paper purposes. They are meant to be used as examples only.

• Vaccinations Because many children are unable to vaccinate due to illness, we must require that all healthy and able children be vaccinated in order to have herd immunity.
• Educational Resources for Low-Income Students Schools should provide educational resources for low-income students during the summers so that they don't forget what they've learned throughout the school year.
• School Uniforms School uniforms may be an upfront cost for families, but they eradicate the visual differences in income between students and provide a more egalitarian atmosphere at school.
• Populism The rise in populism on the 2016 political stage was in reaction to increasing globalization, the decline of manufacturing jobs, and the Syrian refugee crisis.
• Public Libraries Libraries are essential resources for communities and should be funded more heavily by local municipalities.
• Cyber Bullying With more and more teens using smartphones and social media, cyber bullying is on the rise. Cyber bullying puts a lot of stress on many teens, and can cause depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts. Parents should limit the usage of smart phones, monitor their children's online activity, and report any cyber bullying to school officials in order to combat this problem.
• Medical Marijuana for Veterans Studies have shown that the use of medicinal marijuana has been helpful to veterans who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Medicinal marijuana prescriptions should be legal in all states and provided to these veterans. Additional medical or therapy services should also be researched and implemented in order to help them re-integrate back into civilian life.
• Work-Life Balance Corporations should provide more work from home opportunities and six-hour workdays so that office workers have a better work-life balance and are more likely to be productive when they are in the office.
• Teaching Youths about Consensual Sex Although sex education that includes a discussion of consensual sex would likely lead to less sexual assault, parents need to teach their children the meaning of consent from a young age with age appropriate lessons.
• Whether or Not to Attend University A degree from a university provides invaluable lessons on life and a future career, but not every high school student should be encouraged to attend a university directly after graduation. Some students may benefit from a trade school or a "gap year" where they can think more intensely about what it is they want to do for a career and how they can accomplish this.
• Studying Abroad Studying abroad is one of the most culturally valuable experiences you can have in college. It is the only way to get completely immersed in another language and learn how other cultures and countries are different from your own.
• Women's Body Image Magazines have done a lot in the last five years to include a more diverse group of models, but there is still a long way to go to promote a healthy woman's body image collectively as a culture.
• Cigarette Tax Heavily taxing and increasing the price of cigarettes is essentially a tax on the poorest Americans, and it doesn't deter them from purchasing. Instead, the state and federal governments should target those economically disenfranchised with early education about the dangers of smoking.
• Veganism A vegan diet, while a healthy and ethical way to consume food, indicates a position of privilege. It also limits you to other cultural food experiences if you travel around the world.
• University Athletes Should be Compensated University athletes should be compensated for their service to the university, as it is difficult for these students to procure and hold a job with busy academic and athletic schedules. Many student athletes on scholarship also come from low-income neighborhoods and it is a struggle to make ends meet when they are participating in athletics.
• Women in the Workforce Sheryl Sandberg makes a lot of interesting points in her best-selling book, Lean In , but she only addressed the very privileged working woman and failed to speak to those in lower-skilled, lower-wage jobs.
• Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide should be legal and doctors should have the ability to make sure their patients have the end-of-life care that they want to receive.
• Celebrity and Political Activism Although Taylor Swift's lyrics are indicative of a feminist perspective, she should be more politically active and vocal to use her position of power for the betterment of society.
• The Civil War The insistence from many Southerners that the South seceded from the Union for states' rights versus the fact that they seceded for the purposes of continuing slavery is a harmful myth that still affects race relations today.
• Blue Collar Workers Coal miners and other blue-collar workers whose jobs are slowly disappearing from the workforce should be re-trained in jobs in the technology sector or in renewable energy. A program to re-train these workers would not only improve local economies where jobs have been displaced, but would also lead to lower unemployment nationally.
• Diversity in the Workforce Having a diverse group of people in an office setting leads to richer ideas, more cooperation, and more empathy between people with different skin colors or backgrounds.
• Re-Imagining the Nuclear Family The nuclear family was traditionally defined as one mother, one father, and 2.5 children. This outdated depiction of family life doesn't quite fit with modern society. The definition of normal family life shouldn't be limited to two-parent households.
• Digital Literacy Skills With more information readily available than ever before, it's crucial that students are prepared to examine the material they're reading and determine whether or not it's a good source or if it has misleading information. Teaching students digital literacy and helping them to understand the difference between opinion or propaganda from legitimate, real information is integral.
• Beauty Pageants Beauty pageants are presented with the angle that they empower women. However, putting women in a swimsuit on a stage while simultaneously judging them on how well they answer an impossible question in a short period of time is cruel and purely for the amusement of men. Therefore, we should stop televising beauty pageants.
• Supporting More Women to Run for a Political Position In order to get more women into political positions, more women must run for office. There must be a grassroots effort to educate women on how to run for office, who among them should run, and support for a future candidate for getting started on a political career.

Still stuck? Need some help with your thesis statement?

If you are still uncertain about how to write a thesis statement or what a good thesis statement is, be sure to consult with your teacher or professor to make sure you're on the right track. It's always a good idea to check in and make sure that your thesis statement is making a solid argument and that it can be supported by your research.

After you're done writing, it's important to have someone take a second look at your paper so that you can ensure there are no mistakes or errors. It's difficult to spot your own mistakes, which is why it's always recommended to have someone help you with the revision process, whether that's a teacher, the writing center at school, or a professional editor such as one from ServiceScape .

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The Grit Factor: Building Courage, Resilience, and Leadership

Research shows that grit is one of the most critical traits needed for success in today’s world. But what exactly is grit and how does a person develop it? Shannon Huffman Polson is no stranger to grit. At 19, she became the youngest woman to climb Mt. McKinley and later reached the summits of Mt. […]

Research shows that grit is one of the most critical traits needed for success in today’s world. But what exactly is grit and how does a person develop it?

Shannon Huffman Polson is no stranger to grit. At 19, she became the youngest woman to climb Mt. McKinley and later reached the summits of Mt. Rainier and Mt. Kilimanjaro. She was one of the first women to fly the Apache attack helicopter in the US Army and has held leadership positions in the corporate sector.

On June 25, Polson will join Harvard Business Review for a live interactive webinar where she will share the latest research on grit, how to develop it, and lessons learned from the remarkable experiences of those who have had to lead through challenging times.

She will present:

• Why grit can be developed and how to do it
• How grit can help you lead through change and with authenticity and passion
• Inspiring examples of other women who led in remarkable circumstances
• Practical advice for overcoming resistance and leading in extremely challenging conditions

Join Shannon Huffman Polson and HBR on June 25 for actionable insights on how to develop grit and improve your leadership skills through difficult times.

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The research behind the ted talk: angela duckworth on grit.

March 6, 2019 | By Kelsie Anderson and Aubrey Francisco

This blog post was updated on March 6, 2019 to include more current research, information, and opinions on grit in the classroom.

Angela Duckworth, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was teaching seventh grade math in New York City public schools when she noticed that her best students were not necessarily her smartest students. The realization prompted her to leave her middle school classroom and become a research psychologist so she could better understand the role that foundational skills like self-control and perseverance play in achievement.

Duckworth gave a TED Talk in 2013 explaining how grit—i.e., perseverance and passion for long-term goals—is a significant predictor of success. We’ll take a deeper dive into her research and consider the role of grit in the classroom in 2019, nearly six years after Duckworth delivered her TED Talk.

An Overview of Angela Duckworth’s Research on Grit

Since her 2013 TED Talk, Duckworth’s theory of grit has received a lot of attention and discussion, both good and bad. While many recognize grit as crucial to the learning process, some hold that focusing solely on grit means losing track of other important factors that impact student learning. And even those who believe in the power of grit aren’t always sure how to encourage it in their students.

We’ll discuss how Angela Duckworth came to her conclusions about grit, what her thoughts are now nearly six years after her wildly popular TED Talk went live, and how you can foster grit in your students.

Why are students successful?

Duckworth studied children and adults in challenging environments, including West Point military cadets, national spelling bee contestants, and rookie teachers in difficult schools. In each study, she and her research team asked the same question: “Who is successful here and why?”

Across numerous contexts, one characteristic emerged as a significant predictor of success: grit. Grit is the quality that allows an individual to work hard and maintain focus—not just for weeks or months, but for years.

Measuring grit

To measure grit, Duckworth and her team developed the Grit Scale , a self-reported questionnaire used to evaluate focused effort and interest over time with questions such as, “I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.” Respondents answer on a scale of one to five, with one being “Not at all like me,” and five being “Very much like me.”

Once an individual completes the survey, his or her grit score can be calculated and used to determine how grit relates to other measures of success.

Duckworth and her team studied students at Chicago Public Schools to determine whether a student’s grit, measured during junior year, predicted graduation the following year.

Students completed a survey that included four items from the Grit Scale, as well as questions used to measure various factors known to predict high school graduation, such as school safety, teacher support, peer support, parental support, conscientiousness, and school motivation.

Duckworth and her team found that juniors with the most grit were more likely to graduate from high school than their less gritty peers, even after accounting for these predictive factors, in addition to standardized test scores and demographics.

Is Grit the Only Characteristic You Should Focus On?

While it is clear that grit matters for success in school and in life, little is known about how best to foster grit in students. But research published since Duckworth’s TED Talk—and Digital Promise’s own research in the learning sciences—show that a number of factors influence student learning .

There are many factors that influence student learning

While fostering grit is beneficial when it comes to facets of student learning, such as encouraging students to correct mistakes, establish high expectations, and take ownership over their learning experience, details as seemingly small as the temperature or layout of a room can also impact student motivation and perseverance.

Since her 2013 TED Talk, Duckworth herself has revisited the role of grit in student success and acknowledged in an interview with EdSurge in 2018 that “when we are talking about what kids need to grow up and live lives that are happy and healthy and good for other people, it’s a long list of things. Grit is on that list, but it is not the only thing on the list.”

Duckworth co-founded a nonprofit, Character Lab, which seeks to demonstrate the plethora of factors that impact student learning. The site gives teachers actionable insights into multiple classroom issues with “ playbooks .” One playbook is dedicated to grit, but others focus on personal qualities such as purpose, gratitude, and curiosity.

Fostering grit (and other admirable qualities) in the classroom

We still have a lot to learn about how best to foster grit in students, and answering the question will require strong collaboration between researchers and educators. It will also require determination and perseverance.

“We need to take our best ideas, our strongest intuitions, and we need to test them,” Duckworth said during her TED Talk. “We need to measure whether we’ve been successful, and we have to be willing to fail, to be wrong, to start over again with lessons learned. In other words, we need to be gritty about getting our kids grittier.”

However, after reflecting on some of the backlash she received after her TED Talk, Duckworth has clarified that a “no excuses” or shame-based approach to grit isn’t the way to go. “It is a natural human instinct to shy away from mistake-making, from confusion, from challenge,” Duckworth told EdSurge. “And it is therefore the responsibility of the classroom teacher or school or community to make sure that kids understand that when they don’t want to do something that’s hard, when they don’t want to do something that will maybe not work out, and when they don’t want to quit things, that the first and most important thing is start from understanding and accepting that that is part of the struggle.”

Duckworth encourages teachers who want to start fostering grit in the classroom to “provide a ritual and an opportunity” for students to learn from and correct their mistakes. In her EdSurge interview, she mentions as an example a teacher who kept all students’ tests in a binder they could easily access to rework the problems they got wrong. Creating the time, space, and opportunities for students to be gritty could be a great first step in encouraging gritty mindsets in the classroom.

Are you taking steps to foster grit in your students? Tell us how you’re doing it in the comments below!

Want to learn more about encouraging grit in your students?

• Check out research around student motivation
• Remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to encouraging students to learn
• Consider fostering grit in educators by providing professional and constructive feedback through coaching

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What is grit? 5 ways to develop it without burning out

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What is grit?

How do you measure grit, why does grit matter, what are the 5 characteristics of grit, how do you develop grit, what happens when grit becomes obsession.

How to balance grit with flow

How to get into a flow state

Have you ever wondered what it takes to achieve long-term success?

Psychologist and leading grit researcher and author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Lee Duckworth argues that it’s grit . She defines grit as applying focused attention, resilience, perseverance, and dedication to achieving specific long-term goals.

Duckworth has studied grit for years and says it’s “ the single trait in our complex and wavering nature which accounts for success ” — even more important than natural talent, ability, and intelligence.

Most people would agree that grit matters when it comes to success. 

But what is grit, and why is it important? This article will explain why grit matters and ways to leverage it to achieve your long-term goals.

Grit is a combination of passion and perseverance in an effort to achieve long-term goals. Without passion, perseverance leads to burnout . And without perseverance, we simply give up.

Grit gives people a mental toughness that enables them to persist — and even succeed — in the face of adversity.

For this reason, grit experts such as Duckworth consider grit the single most important personality trait that all high achievers share.

It’s not that these individuals experience fewer setbacks or less hardship than others — it’s that they are adaptive and resilient. They don’t give up when faced with challenges.

In short, grit is the secret to achieving any long-term goal . And the primary difference between those who have grit and those who don’t is their mindset . 

People with more grit have a growth mindset that allows them to see obstacles as challenges and approach them with a positive attitude.

So, how can you measure how gritty you are? The best way is to use a grit scale. 

A grit scale contains ten statements that you rate yourself on using a five-point scale to help determine your level of grit. We’ve pulled the ten questions Angela Duckworth uses in her grit scale below:

• New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones.
• Setbacks don’t discourage me. I don’t give up easily.
• I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one.
• I am a hard worker
• I have difficulty maintaining my focus on projects that take more than a few months to complete.
• I finish whatever I begin.
• My interests change from year to year.
• I am diligent. I never give up.
• I have been obsessed with a certain idea or project for a short time but later lost interest.
• I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge.

Once completed, Duckworth’s grit scale gives you a score, noting how gritty you consider yourself, based on this self-reported feedback.

If you’re a leader in your organization, you may find it useful to evaluate your grit levels as well as those of your current and potential employees.

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Grit matters because it bridges the gap between raw talent and potential and achieving success.

Natural ability and intelligence can only get you so far. Without the drive and determination to follow through, your potential will remain untapped.

Duckworth, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania at the time, studied students from West Point and children in the National Spelling Bee to predict which students and children would excel and which would drop out. She and her research team also looked for the same predictors in teachers at the end of the school year and sales teams. In each of these environments, grit was the ultimate predictor of success.

The simple truth is that achieving anything worthwhile requires effort, and you will face obstacles along the way.

Grit sets you up for future success by giving you the strength to go over, around, or straight through those obstacles.

As Duckworth notes in her book , “Our potential is one thing. What we do with it is quite another.”

This is good news for all of us since it is empowering to know that we can achieve anything with enough grit.

The idea and definition of grit might seem vague. We know it’s essential to keep moving forward and progressing through challenging times. But what goes into being gritty and what is it made of? The specific recipe for grit is as diverse as people are, but these five characteristics can be found in most gritty individuals:

• Perseverance
• Conscientiousness

1. Perseverance

Perseverance is defined as a continued effort to do or achieve something despite the difficulty . So it may come as no surprise that it is a leading characteristic in grittier individuals. Whether it is finding work-life balance , learning a new technical skill , or transitioning into a leadership role, perseverance is crucial to keep growing. Without this trait, individuals are more likely to give up prematurely than put in the hard work needed to achieve their goals.

2. Resilience

Resilience helps us bounce back when we fail or face challenges that seem too tough to overcome. Developing resilience can help you better manage stress and recover more quickly from setbacks . True grit is supported by resilience. When times get rough, it is important to have  an effective self-care practice that builds resilience to ensure you’re progressing in a way that maintains your health .

Having the courage to fail is closely tied to being gritty. Fear of failure can halt progress before we even get close to it. This is amplified when the circumstances become more challenging. Grittier people will take on initiatives that scare them, despite their fear. And this deliberate practice is supported by their growth mindset and desire to learn – even through failure .

It is harder to stay motivated without a strong desire or passion toward your end goal. Taking time to reflect and understand what is important to you and why is an important step in creating goals for the long and short-term . Grit then comes from being driven by this passion, rooted in your values.

5. Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is often thought of as working tirelessly to do a good job, following the rules, and doing what is right. In this context, however, it has a slightly different meaning. When discussing this characteristic as it relates to grit, the value really comes in planning and following through on commitments. Staying motivated to tackle hard things because they’re necessary for long-term success.

Developing grit is possible with practice — what it requires is for you to have a growth mindset. Duckworth discusses this in her Ted Talk, stating that when we embrace a growth mindset, we are more resilient.

Watch "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" on TED

If you’re ready to discover how far your grit can take you, follow these five proven strategies for developing grit.

1. Find your passion

Passion is the foundation of grit. If you don’t have enough passion for something, you will not perform to the best of your abilities and will eventually lose interest.

To find your passion, think about what you used to like doing as a child or what you like to do in your spare time.

2. Practice

Talent will only get you so far. Whether you want to perform in the national ballet, climb Everest without oxygen, or develop a new software, it all requires practice.

3. Contribute to a greater purpose

When you feel a sense of purpose , it helps you develop more grit.

It can be more motivating to know that you are improving the lives of others rather than focusing solely on your own goals and achievements.

4. Give yourself time

No one achieves success overnight — achieving long-term goals requires patience.

5. Immerse yourself in gritty culture

Surrounding yourself with gritty people can help you develop more grit.

There’s no question that when you compare everyone in a given population, grit is a key factor, but it doesn’t explain differences at the elite level, where one would assume every individual has comparable levels of it.

It’s clear that without grit, you’ll never have a chance to become elite. 

Grit is what pushes great performers to reach the edge of their ability. It’s what helps them show up and persevere despite incredible odds.

But grit can quickly become an obsession, and a dangerous one at that. 

Professor and researcher Robert J. Vallerand found that obsession can actually undermine sustainable high performance. 

To suggest that your passion should become your obsession is to push someone off a cliff.

So what separates one gritty person from another gritty person? 

The answer lies in flow. While grit brings us to our edge, it’s flow that continually pushes the edge out, and keeps sustainable performers from falling off into the abyss.

Balancing grit with flow

Grit is the price of admission at elite levels of performance. It factors into how one would break through to the top, but it doesn’t answer the question, “how do you stay?”

To raise the bar and maintain peak performance, we have to look into flow . Flow is what keeps elite performers on their edge without falling off. 

And while it can be elusive, it’s a scientifically-backed path to sustainable performance and the secret sauce of anyone who strives to become a GOAT (Greatest of All Time).

Flow is the optimal psychological state for becoming one with what you do. 

Experts link it to enhanced performance, creativity, and well-being. Flow states are experienced when you perceive your skills to be a match for a big challenge. 

Another pre-condition for entering and sustaining flow involves having a clear goal for action and feedback relative to your performance that is also clear and immediate.

Research shows that the experience of flow itself becomes a goal in itself. 

A person seeks to replicate the experience only in new and different circumstances. Through the continual experience of flow, you can realize a dynamic upward spiral of personal growth.

By mastering challenges in an activity, you can develop greater levels of skill. And in turn, the activity will cease to be as involved as it was before. 

But in order to continue experiencing flow, you must identify and engage in progressively more complex challenges. 

This is how flow becomes a mechanism for growth in the pursuit of greatness. We create potential in-flow experiences by rendering it present and growing it simultaneously.

“Warren Buffett has always said the measure [of success] is whether the people close to you are happy and love you… It is also nice to feel like you made a difference — inventing something or raising kids or helping people in need.” – Bill Gates

To answer how you would ensure that flow is happening, we have to go back to Robert J. Vallerand’s passion research, which he embarked upon in 2004. 

Vallerand’s research linked flow ability with passion. We now know that individuals who express flow by way of harmonious passion have a more harmonious integration (otherwise: flow that keeps them from descending into a state of obsession, and burnout).

Gritty people that derive such an excessive amount of their self-esteem from their work that they are unable to "turn it off" when they should are likely suffering from the opposite of harmonious passion — obsessive passion . 

Their minds are ruminating on work issues, even when they’re in the presence of significant others outside the office. With this lack of control, obsessive passion has been linked to lower flow experiences. 

Over time, these individuals’ performance becomes less and less sustainable.

Individuals with a harmonious passion for their work identify with their work and become deeply engaged with it, but not to the extent that they neglect other aspects of their life.

On the flip side, individuals that maintain harmonious passion are also gritty, but they have a more complex sense of self.

How does this play out?

Individuals with a harmonious passion for their work identify with their work and become deeply engaged with it, but not to the extent that they neglect other aspects of their life. 

Having control over their passion, they can more easily enter flow at work and experience time with their family at home or a dinner conversation with friends to bring equal intrinsic rewards.

Developing the ability to become fully immersed in flow requires a level of wisdom and maturity, but it’s a skill that can also be developed with the help of a coach.

Remember, if grit has gotten you far in life, it can (and will) become a vice at some point in your career. 

To keep yourself continually pushing without overextending, it’s critical to work on developing the skills needed to help you enter a state of harmonious passion, or flow — only then will you become unstoppable.

Understand Yourself Better:

Big 5 Personality Test

Dr. Damian Vaughn, PhD

Dr. Damian Vaughn, PhD leads program development at BetterUp with an eye for hitting on the inner work that it takes to aspire beyond one’s own limitations and, with grit and resolve, to achieve success. Damian’s deeply credentialed experience in positive developmental psychology, secured after an NFL career, has afforded him the opportunity to coach and consult for global companies and elite athletes. Damian founded the Vaughn Center to develop leadership and positive social impact of executives, business owners, and athletes. Prior to BetterUp, he worked as SVP, human resources, at HBO Latin America, and as Director of Organization Development at 21st Century Fox. He is also a Clinical Professor at the University of Oregon. Damian has an M.A. and a Ph.D. in positive developmental psychology from Claremont Graduate University.

Positive psychology lessons from an Olympic medalist and Navy SEAL

Looking for a fresh start here's your guide to writing your own story, the secret to finding your passion isn't looking, it's doing, change your life (for good) with more purpose and passion, try a positive mindset for success and well-being, what finding a job you love means for your career, career fields: finding the job for you, 15 mental health nonprofits working to close the mental health care gap, how to use fear as a motivator, 15 inspiring ted talks that just might change your life, how to lead when the world is on fire, the 10 best ted talks about life for inspiration and encouragement, 8 research-backed strategies to make stress work for you, 20 books for personal growth in 2024, the new wave of coaching: from myth to mastery, 6 surefire ways to reach optimal peak performance, 15 resilience books for life’s challenging moments, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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How Important is Grit in Student Achievement?

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When it comes to high achievement, grit may be as essential as intelligence.

By emily hanford , american radioworks.

Before she was a psychology professor, Angela Duckworth taught math in middle school and high school. She spent a lot of time thinking about something that might seem obvious: The students who tried hardest did the best, and the students who didn't try very hard didn't do very well. Duckworth wanted to know: What is the role of effort in a person's success?

Now Duckworth is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and her research focuses on a personality trait she calls "grit." She defines grit as "sticking with things over the very long term until you master them." In a paper , she writes that "the gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina."

Duckworth's research suggests that when it comes to high achievement, grit may be as essential as intelligence. That's a significant finding because for a long time, intelligence was considered the key to success.

Intelligence "is probably the best-measured trait that there is in all of human psychology," says Duckworth. "We know how to measure intelligence in a matter of minutes."

But intelligence leaves a lot unexplained. There are smart people who aren't high achievers, and there are people who achieve a lot without having the highest test scores. In one study , Duckworth found that smarter students actually had less grit than their peers who scored lower on an intelligence test. This finding suggests that, among the study participants -- all students at an Ivy League school -- people who are not as bright as their peers "compensate by working harder and with more determination." And their effort pays off: The grittiest students -- not the smartest ones -- had the highest GPAs.

THE GRIT TEST

Duckworth's work is part of a growing area of psychology research focused on what are loosely called "noncognitive skills." The goal is to identify and measure the various skills and traits other than intelligence that contribute to human development and success.

Duckworth has developed a test called the " Grit Scale ." You rate yourself on a series of 8 to 12 items. Two examples: "I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge" and "Setbacks don't discourage me." It's entirely self-reported, so you could game the test, and yet what Duckworth has found is that a person's grit score is highly predictive of achievement under challenging circumstances.

At the elite United States Military Academy, West Point, a cadet's grit score was the best predictor of success in the rigorous summer training program known as "Beast Barracks." Grit mattered more than intelligence, leadership ability or physical fitness.

At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the grittiest contestants were the most likely to advance to the finals -- at least in part because they studied longer, not because they were smarter or were better spellers.

GRIT AND COLLEGE COMPLETION

Angela Duckworth is now turning her attention to the question of grit and college completion. In a study funded by the Gates Foundation, Duckworth and a number of other researchers are trying to understand what predicts college persistence among graduates of several high-performing urban charter school networks: YES Prep Public Schools in Houston, Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia, Aspire Public Schools in California and Achievement First Schools in Connecticut.

These charter school networks serve mostly students from low-income and minority families. The schools were founded to close the "achievement gap" between these students and their higher-income peers. The ultimate goal of these charter school networks is to get students to go to college and earn degrees.

The charter schools have succeeded in providing strong academic preparation. Most of their students go to college. Yet the students graduate from college at lower rates than would be expected based on their academic preparation.

The charter schools want to know why that is. Angela Duckworth wants to know if grit has anything to do with it.

Duckworth's previous research shows that people who have "some college" but no degree are lower in grit than people who have college degrees. Does that mean the charter school students who are not making it through college are lacking grit? And if that's the case, can grit be learned?

These are complicated questions, and the answers aren't in yet. Duckworth says there are a number of things to think about before jumping to the conclusion that students who don't finish college aren't gritty. Many factors contribute to college success, including money, what colleges students go to, and what Duckworth calls "social-psychological" barriers. She says low-income and minority students often feel out of place on college campuses, especially more elite colleges where the majority of students are upper- income, white and have college-educated parents. Duckworth thinks a sense of social belonging may be key to persisting through college. One of her research goals is to "sharpen insights" about the psychological barriers that prevent well-prepared students from completing degrees -- and to test interventions that might help students overcome those barriers.

But Duckworth thinks grit is likely a significant factor when it comes to college completion among the charter school students she is studying. That's because grit is a particularly helpful trait when it comes to challenging experiences, and for the charter school students, college tends to be a challenging experience.

Most of the students are first generation; their parents didn't go to college -- in many cases, no one in their family has any experience with higher education. College can be a difficult and confusing experience even for people who come from college-educated families, but for first-generation students, college is like learning a new language, says Tenesha Villanueva, a co-director of alumni programs at YES Prep Public Schools in Houston.

"It's like going to a foreign country and trying to navigate systems and programs that you have never come in contact with before," says Villanueva.

When first-generation students come up against obstacles in college, they have no one in their families to turn to for help, says Villanueva. College-educated families provide their students with support that many students and families may not even be aware of, but it's a powerful force that helps propel students through college. Villanueva says first-generation students are at a disadvantage.

Not only do first-generation students lack the kind of family support that can help them overcome obstacles in college, they also tend to face more obstacles than higher-income students from college-educated families, according to Villanueva and her colleagues at YES Prep. They may have trouble with money or financial aid paperwork. A lot of the students have to work while going to school. Many live at home and have family obligations, such as taking care of siblings or grandparents and helping to pay the bills. Research shows all of these things make going to college harder and increase the chances a student will quit.

YES Prep graduated its first class of seniors 11 years ago. So far 40 percent of the students have earned bachelor's degrees within six years of finishing high school. Twenty-eight percent have dropped out. The rest are still in college, gritting it out years after they were expected to finish.

THE GRITTIEST COLLEGE STUDENTS

When college is hard, grit helps, according to Angela Duckworth's research.

In fact, people who succeed in getting associate's degrees are, on average, more gritty than people who get bachelor's degrees, according to Duckworth's research. It takes as much grit to get an associate's degree as it does to get a Ph.D.

"Graduating from a two-year college versus a four-year college is a much greater difference than people might imagine," says Duckworth.

Community colleges are full of students who are a lot like the students at YES Prep and the other urban charter schools Duckworth is studying: first-generation college students from poor families who have to balance work and family while going to school. The community college dropout rate is high.

"If you're going to get through a two-year college where the attrition rate is 50 or maybe even 75 percent, maybe you do need more grit to surmount all those obstacles," says Duckworth.

LEARNING TO BE GRITTY

It's not clear what makes some people grittier than others, but Angela Duckworth believes grit is something people can probably learn.

She says every human quality that has been studied has proven to be affected at least in part by a person's environment -- even intelligence. In addition, people change over time.

"Think about things about your personality like, 'I'm a pretty extroverted person,'" says Duckworth. "Well, how fixed is that?"

It turns out a personality trait like extroversion can change a lot over a person's life. "If you look at large population data, people get more or less extroverted over time," says Duckworth. "There's no reason to think that grit is any different."

She believes grit can wax and wane in response to experiences. In addition, people might be gritty about some things and not others.

"You can see a child be exceptionally self-disciplined about their basketball practicing, and yet when you see them in math class, they give up at the slightest frustration," says Duckworth.

Donald Kamentz, director of college initiatives at YES Prep, says students he's worked with are some of the grittiest people he's ever met. They "deal with things and persevere through situations that most people would find insurmountable," he says.

He's known students who get jobs to pay the bills when their parents are laid off, or figure out how to get the electricity back on when the power company shuts it off.

"And then they go to college and they're struggling with financial aid or their financial aid didn't come through and they don't know what to do," he says. Some of them drop out when confronted with these kinds of challenges. He says they're not gritty enough when it comes to college.

A question for YES Prep and other charter schools in Duckworth's study is not necessarily how to get students to be gritty, but how to get them to be gritty about college completion.

"Which experiences do we give kids to get them in the direction of more grit and not less?" asks Duckworth.

One of the goals of Duckworth's research is to figure this out. Her current project began in the fall of 2011 and is scheduled to wrap up in 2014.

By Emily Hanford from American Public Media’s “ American RadioWorks ®”, © 2012 American Public Media. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

This page has been archived and is no longer being updated regularly.

Grit: It's what separates the best from the merely good

By E. Packard

November 2007, Vol 38, No. 10

Print version: page 10

Backbone, chutzpah, fortitude, guts, stick-to-it-iveness: All words that describe what separates brilliant slackers from the simply talented who excel through a passionate yet steady approach.

Grit is the subject of a series of studies conducted by Angela Lee Duckworth, PhD, and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 92, No. 6), which conclude that such perseverance may be as important as intelligence in determining a person's success.

"Grit is essential to high achievement," says Duckworth. As a student at Harvard College and the University of Oxford, and in her current position as an assistant psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Duckworth observed many a bright person. While studying with positive psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD, she began to wonder what characteristics beyond IQ differentiated the students who went on to be leaders in their fields.

To find out, she developed the Grit Scale, which asks participants to rate how much they agree with statements such as, "I finish whatever I begin," "I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge," and reverse-scored statements such as, "My interests change from year to year."

Duckworth then gave the scale to adults over age 25 who visited www.authentichappiness.org , as well as to Ivy League undergraduates, West Point cadets and Scripps National Spelling Bee finalists.

Across six studies, Duckworth found that grit significantly contributed to successful outcomes: Perhaps unsurprisingly, the more determined undergraduates garnered higher grade point averages than their peers. The West Point cadets with more grit were more likely to stay after the first summer. And among the spelling-bee participants, "grittier" spellers outranked less tenacious competitors. Grittier individuals were generally older, had higher levels of education and made fewer career changes than less gritty peers of the same age.

But Duckworth was surprised by one finding: Grit was not yoked to IQ.

"I don't think anyone's figured out how to make people smarter, but these other qualities of grit may be teachable," she says.

Her advice for those who want to achieve their maximum potential?

"If it's important for you to become one of the best people in your field, you are going to have to stick with it when it's hard," she says. "Grit may be as essential as talent to high accomplishment."

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How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement: 4 Steps + Examples

What’s Covered:

What is the purpose of a thesis statement, writing a good thesis statement: 4 steps, common pitfalls to avoid, where to get your essay edited for free.

When you set out to write an essay, there has to be some kind of point to it, right? Otherwise, your essay would just be a big jumble of word salad that makes absolutely no sense. An essay needs a central point that ties into everything else. That main point is called a thesis statement, and it’s the core of any essay or research paper.

You may hear about Master degree candidates writing a thesis, and that is an entire paper–not to be confused with the thesis statement, which is typically one sentence that contains your paper’s focus. 

Read on to learn more about thesis statements and how to write them. We’ve also included some solid examples for you to reference.

Typically the last sentence of your introductory paragraph, the thesis statement serves as the roadmap for your essay. When your reader gets to the thesis statement, they should have a clear outline of your main point, as well as the information you’ll be presenting in order to either prove or support your point. 

The thesis statement should not be confused for a topic sentence , which is the first sentence of every paragraph in your essay. If you need help writing topic sentences, numerous resources are available. Topic sentences should go along with your thesis statement, though.

Since the thesis statement is the most important sentence of your entire essay or paper, it’s imperative that you get this part right. Otherwise, your paper will not have a good flow and will seem disjointed. That’s why it’s vital not to rush through developing one. It’s a methodical process with steps that you need to follow in order to create the best thesis statement possible.

Step 1: Decide what kind of paper you’re writing

When you’re assigned an essay, there are several different types you may get. Argumentative essays are designed to get the reader to agree with you on a topic. Informative or expository essays present information to the reader. Analytical essays offer up a point and then expand on it by analyzing relevant information. Thesis statements can look and sound different based on the type of paper you’re writing. For example:

• Argumentative: The United States needs a viable third political party to decrease bipartisanship, increase options, and help reduce corruption in government.
• Informative: The Libertarian party has thrown off elections before by gaining enough support in states to get on the ballot and by taking away crucial votes from candidates.
• Analytical: An analysis of past presidential elections shows that while third party votes may have been the minority, they did affect the outcome of the elections in 2020, 2016, and beyond.

Step 2: Figure out what point you want to make

Once you know what type of paper you’re writing, you then need to figure out the point you want to make with your thesis statement, and subsequently, your paper. In other words, you need to decide to answer a question about something, such as:

• What impact did reality TV have on American society?
• How has the musical Hamilton affected perception of American history?
• Why do I want to major in [chosen major here]?

If you have an argumentative essay, then you will be writing about an opinion. To make it easier, you may want to choose an opinion that you feel passionate about so that you’re writing about something that interests you. For example, if you have an interest in preserving the environment, you may want to choose a topic that relates to that. 

If you’re writing your college essay and they ask why you want to attend that school, you may want to have a main point and back it up with information, something along the lines of:

“Attending Harvard University would benefit me both academically and professionally, as it would give me a strong knowledge base upon which to build my career, develop my network, and hopefully give me an advantage in my chosen field.”

Step 3: Determine what information you’ll use to back up your point

Once you have the point you want to make, you need to figure out how you plan to back it up throughout the rest of your essay. Without this information, it will be hard to either prove or argue the main point of your thesis statement. If you decide to write about the Hamilton example, you may decide to address any falsehoods that the writer put into the musical, such as:

“The musical Hamilton, while accurate in many ways, leaves out key parts of American history, presents a nationalist view of founding fathers, and downplays the racism of the times.”

Once you’ve written your initial working thesis statement, you’ll then need to get information to back that up. For example, the musical completely leaves out Benjamin Franklin, portrays the founding fathers in a nationalist way that is too complimentary, and shows Hamilton as a staunch abolitionist despite the fact that his family likely did own slaves. 

Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing

Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and that you feel like you can truly write a paper on the topic. Once you’ve done that, you can then begin writing your paper.

When writing a thesis statement, there are some common pitfalls you should avoid so that your paper can be as solid as possible. Make sure you always edit the thesis statement before you do anything else. You also want to ensure that the thesis statement is clear and concise. Don’t make your reader hunt for your point. Finally, put your thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph and have your introduction flow toward that statement. Your reader will expect to find your statement in its traditional spot.

If you’re having trouble getting started, or need some guidance on your essay, there are tools available that can help you. CollegeVine offers a free peer essay review tool where one of your peers can read through your essay and provide you with valuable feedback. Getting essay feedback from a peer can help you wow your instructor or college admissions officer with an impactful essay that effectively illustrates your point.

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The Link Between Grit and Resilience

How grit may enhance subjective well-being..

Posted December 13, 2020

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I recently conducted grand rounds at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. At their request, the topic was grit and resilience . Medical school is stressful enough in ordinary times, but in the era of the pandemic both the study and the practice of medicine is all-the-more challenging. The diverse audience included medical students, physicians, nurses, administrators, and other medical professionals.

Preparing the talk was challenging because the original concept of grit is linked to the achievement of difficult and long-term goals , and not explicitly linked to resilience. For over 15 years I have collaborated with Angela Duckworth and others in researching the role of grit in achievement among West Point cadets. Thus, I was well-equipped to address the role of grit in attaining important and highly valued goals. To address the role of grit and resilience, I had to familiarize myself with that emerging literature. It quickly became apparent that there is a nexus between grit and resilience. But why would a construct found to be predictive of high grades, National Spelling Bee performance, or success at West Point (to name a few) also be important to resilience? [1] Or maybe a better question is how does such a link function?

The idea that grit may be linked to resilience was foreshadowed by an observation that Duckworth and I made during our initial grit data collection among new West Point cadets in the summer of 2004. During cadet basic training, a stressful introduction to military life, careful attention is given to the mental health of new cadets. Any new cadet who experiences depression or anxiety is encouraged to contact a mental health counselor. The goal of this initial counseling is to screen for serious mental health issues and, barring clinically significant pathology, to help these cadets overcome the adverse reactions they are experiencing and successfully complete both cadet basic training and the subsequent four years of education and leader development. While our primary research focused on the completion of cadet basic training and first-semester academic performance, we did look at grit scores of new cadets who requested sessions with counselors. Although based on a small number of observations, the grit scores of these cadets were substantially lower than those of cadets who did not seek counseling.

Flashing forward over 15 years, a Google Scholar search using the key terms of “grit” and “resilience” reveals many empirical studies looking at possible relationships between these two constructs. Many of these studies focus on medical students. Medical school has some important similarities to West Point. Both are highly selective. Everyone admitted has the talent to succeed. But both settings are extremely stressful and challenging, and not everyone completes the training. Some drop out early, quickly discouraged when the idea of military or medical training does not match its reality. Others try to stay the course but eventually quit, despite possessing the talent needed to succeed. Grit is the strongest predictor among West Point cadets of who eventually graduates.[2]

A summary of the relationship between grit, achievement, and resilience among medical personnel reveals several recurring findings. Higher grit scores are associated with less burnout , a higher sense of well-being, greater clinical knowledge, less attrition, and overall academic success. Grit adds to MCAT scores in predicting academic performance. This pattern of findings is consistent with West Point findings that show grit is a strong predictor of attrition both in cadet basic training and over the four years of the West Point program and adds to standardized test scores in predicting academic performance.[3]

How might grit increase resilience? Psychologist Martin Seligman ’s PERMA model may offer a clue. Based on years of research, Seligman proposes that happiness and well-being—important components of resilience—are based on five factors: positive emotion , engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment.[4] A deep sense of meaning and purpose in life is associated with good adjustment and resilience. As Duckworth points out, grit requires intense interest in a goal and a passion to work relentlessly to accomplish it through months and sometimes years of deliberate practice. This results in task mastery and an increase in self-efficacy and self-esteem. Achieving the goal then builds one’s sense of meaning and purpose. And success may then feed back into expanded interests and new passions, starting a fresh cycle of success. In this sense, grit, accomplishment, and meaning and purpose become a self-sustaining system.

A good case study comes from a cadet I recently had the pleasure of teaching in my cognitive psychology course. Toward the end of the semester, I introduced the idea of non-cognitive factors in human accomplishment and began discussing grit. The cadet broke into a wide smile and exclaimed that what he was hearing was his life story. Born into an economically distressed family and homeless until age 10, at an early age he discovered an intense interest and passion for football. Relatively small in size he had to work harder than his peers at every level of competition . By his senior year in high school, he was chosen by his teammates to be the captain of the football team. The meaning and purpose he achieved in football fed back into other domains. He was also voted team captain of the track and field team. Even more impressive, perhaps, he was the Valedictorian of his high school class. West Point recruited him to play football, thus allowing him to realize his lifelong dream to play at the Division I level. A series of setbacks and injuries prevented him from making the squad until his senior year. Most players would have given up by then and dropped out of the team, but he stayed the course and in an October game he finally scored a touchdown. Nearing graduation, this gritty cadet has been nominated to receive one of West Point’s highest recognitions, the Henry Ossian Flipper award, given to the one graduating cadet who most represents the qualities of leadership , self-discipline, and perseverance in the face of unusual adversity as a cadet.

Grit is an important factor in resilience. But it should not be thought of as the only or even the primary contributor to resilience in the face of adversity. Other strengths of character, personality traits, lifestyle habits, social and family environment, and even genetics contribute to how well one fares in the face of life’s obstacles. Hard work and determination alone are neither sufficient nor necessary to achieving the good life, although they may help in many cases. According to a Buddhist saying, “there are many paths to the top of the mountain.” By analogy, this holds equally true in our struggle to live the good life. Grit is one of many paths to a resilient and productive life.

Note: The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not reflect the position of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.

[1] Duckworth, A.L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 , 1087–1101. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087

[2] Duckworth, A. L., Quirk, A., Gallop, R., Hoyle, R. H., Kelly, D. R., & Matthews, M. D. (2019). Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116 (47), 23499-23504 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910510116

[3] For example, see Dam, A., Perera, T., Jones, M., Haughy, M., & Gaeta, T. (2019). The relationship between grit, burnout, and well‐being in emergency medicine residents. AEM Education and Training, 3 (1), 14–19. https://doi.org/10.1002/aet2.10311 .

[4] For instance, see Seligman, M. (2018). PERMA and the building blocks of well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13 (4), 333–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2018.1437466

Michael D. Matthews, Ph.D. , is a professor of engineering psychology at the United States Military Academy. He is the author of Head Strong: How Psychology is Revolutionizing War and co-author of The Character Edge: Leading and Winning with Integrity.

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How to write a thesis statement + examples

What is a thesis statement?

Is a thesis statement a question, how do you write a good thesis statement, how do i know if my thesis statement is good, examples of thesis statements, helpful resources on how to write a thesis statement, frequently asked questions about writing a thesis statement, related articles.

A thesis statement is the main argument of your paper or thesis.

The thesis statement is one of the most important elements of any piece of academic writing . It is a brief statement of your paper’s main argument. Essentially, you are stating what you will be writing about.

You can see your thesis statement as an answer to a question. While it also contains the question, it should really give an answer to the question with new information and not just restate or reiterate it.

Your thesis statement is part of your introduction. Learn more about how to write a good thesis introduction in our introduction guide .

A thesis statement is not a question. A statement must be arguable and provable through evidence and analysis. While your thesis might stem from a research question, it should be in the form of a statement.

Tip: A thesis statement is typically 1-2 sentences. For a longer project like a thesis, the statement may be several sentences or a paragraph.

A good thesis statement needs to do the following:

• Condense the main idea of your thesis into one or two sentences.
• Answer your project’s main research question.
• Clearly state your position in relation to the topic .
• Make an argument that requires support or evidence.

Once you have written down a thesis statement, check if it fulfills the following criteria:

• Your statement needs to be provable by evidence. As an argument, a thesis statement needs to be debatable.
• Your statement needs to be precise. Do not give away too much information in the thesis statement and do not load it with unnecessary information.
• Your statement cannot say that one solution is simply right or simply wrong as a matter of fact. You should draw upon verified facts to persuade the reader of your solution, but you cannot just declare something as right or wrong.

As previously mentioned, your thesis statement should answer a question.

If the question is:

What do you think the City of New York should do to reduce traffic congestion?

A good thesis statement restates the question and answers it:

In this paper, I will argue that the City of New York should focus on providing exclusive lanes for public transport and adaptive traffic signals to reduce traffic congestion by the year 2035.

Here is another example. If the question is:

How can we end poverty?

A good thesis statement should give more than one solution to the problem in question:

In this paper, I will argue that introducing universal basic income can help reduce poverty and positively impact the way we work.

• The Writing Center of the University of North Carolina has a list of questions to ask to see if your thesis is strong .

A thesis statement is part of the introduction of your paper. It is usually found in the first or second paragraph to let the reader know your research purpose from the beginning.

In general, a thesis statement should have one or two sentences. But the length really depends on the overall length of your project. Take a look at our guide about the length of thesis statements for more insight on this topic.

Here is a list of Thesis Statement Examples that will help you understand better how to write them.

Every good essay should include a thesis statement as part of its introduction, no matter the academic level. Of course, if you are a high school student you are not expected to have the same type of thesis as a PhD student.

Here is a great YouTube tutorial showing How To Write An Essay: Thesis Statements .

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Developing Grit, Motivation, and Resilience: To Give Up on Giving In

Karen m. whitfield.

1 School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; ua.ude.qu.ycamrahp@dleiftihwk

Kyle John Wilby

2 Faculty of Health, College of Pharmacy, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada

Developing grit, motivation, and resilience within the pharmacy workforce has become a topic of increasing interest, heightened by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Even prior to the global pandemic, the health care field has been associated with a rapidly changing, challenging, and pressured work environment that can often lead to stress and burnout. Developing resilience in health care workers has been identified as a strategy to combat burnout by improving their ability to thrive in stressful situations, thus enhancing physical and mental well-being. In this commentary, we consider the use of a resilience framework that encompasses the overlapping attributes of emotional balance and physical and mental strength to develop resilience. The importance of finding purpose and meaning is also explored within the framework, as well as the association between grit, motivation, autonomy, mastery, and connection. Practical strategies and reflections are outlined to challenge, inspire, and motivate the development of grit and resilience, in order to combat the challenges faced by pharmacists in a constantly changing health care system.

1. Introduction

If there was ever a year to look at the reasons why grit, motivation, and resilience are essential attributes for the pharmacy profession, 2020 was it. The COVID-19 pandemic had a global impact, creating unprecedented levels of challenge. Health care systems around the world experienced disaster management as never before, and the speed with which changes had to be made were overwhelming. The pharmacy profession played a major role in the fight against the pandemic, and many were involved in the management of medication shortages, development of treatment protocols, involvement in clinical trials, and implementation of antimicrobial stewardship [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Pharmacists played an essential role in continuing to deliver direct care and the provision of medications to patients. In particular, community pharmacists, often the most accessible health care practitioners, were placed under immense strain, as they experienced extreme workloads in order to enable the delivery of care to patients [ 4 ].

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one author (K.M.W.) ran several international workshops on resilience and asked participants (predominately from the pharmacy profession) to identify the factors that they felt depleted or lowered their resilience. The similarity of factors outlined by different participants attending different workshops in different areas of the world was remarkable. Common factors included negativity often experienced in the workplace, managing expectations (self and managerial), experiencing knock backs, fear of failure, and rejection. Some examples of rejection were said to be rejection of a manuscript, unsuccessful career progression, or poor performance on a task or assignment. At the same time, there was large diversity in how people reported responding to challenges. Some people withdrew, stopped trying after rejection, and lowered expectations, while others grew stronger and developed new skills and rose to the challenge. It is interesting to draw comparisons with the concept of learned helplessness, which is a phenomenon observed in humans when they have experienced discomfort or suffering without a means of escape, and they eventually start to believe that they have no control over what happens and act as if they are helpless [ 5 ]. What causes people to respond differently, especially when the factors known to deplete resilience are so similar? One answer could lie within each individual’s own skill set of grit, motivation, and resilience. Perhaps those choosing to withdraw and lower their expectations are inherently lower on grit, motivation, and resilience than those who rise to the challenge. If so, how can one develop these qualities and skills to help improve their responses to the challenges encountered?

The purpose of this paper is as follows:

• Explore the relationship between grit, motivation, and resilience.
• Introduce a resilience framework, comprising four overlapping components of purpose, physical endurance, mental toughness, and emotional balance to assist in resilience development.
• Encourage the reader to take a deeper dive into each of these components by providing a short introduction, a case study, and a challenge.

Grit is defined as a passion and perseverance for long-term goals that drives individuals to work through challenges, including failure and adversity, over a sustained period of time [ 6 ]. Related to this, motivation has been defined as the driving force behind which people strive to initiate and achieve their goals and to fulfil a need or uphold a value [ 7 ]. Both of these attributes play a significant role in the development of resilience. The American Psychological Association [ 8 ] defines individual resilience as the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, or threats. It also includes coping with significant stress caused by problematic and toxic personnel or workplace relationships, serious health problems, and work or financial stressors. Resilience involves the capacity to bounce back from challenging situations but, it also provides the opportunity for personal growth. Resilience is not necessarily a personal trait, but involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that an individual can learn and develop over time. The ultimate aim is to enhance overall well-being, which is defined by the WHO as a “state of complete physical mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. In Kathryn McEwen’s book Building Resilience at Work , she describes a framework for building individual resilience that comprises four overlapping components of purpose, physical endurance, mental toughness, and emotional balance [ 9 ].

In the following section, the individual components of the framework will be discussed and we will highlight the importance of grit and motivation in the development of resilience. Each section will include a short case scenario and some reflections, together with a challenge-related exercise.

Finding purpose in one’s life and work can lead to a high level of motivation and, in turn, may build resilience. For many, work needs to be more than a financial reward, people want to find meaning in their work. In other words, financial incentive may not be the key driver that prompts people to “bounce back” from challenging times. Instead, it may be their perceived purpose in the work that they do or the relationships that they form. Factors that have been associated with facilitating internal motivation include autonomy, mastery, and connection [ 10 ]. Autonomy is how an individual can direct their own work, while mastery describes the quest for competence, learning, and growth. Connection draws on interpersonal relations to create a sense of belonging. In a recent study investigating how motivation can stem clinician burnout, it was highlighted that at the center of mastery and autonomy lies purpose [ 11 ]. Articulating why people do the work they do is essential in order to understand purpose, and is thought to be directly related to resilience development.

2.1. Purpose Case Study (K.M.W.)

In 2013, I was attending an advanced leadership program, during which I was asked to write a personal purpose statement. At the time, I was working as a full time academic and this is what I wrote:

“To assist people to achieve their full potential despite barriers and to build and nurture a highly effective sustainable research team incorporating both junior and senior people” .

Today, nearly eight years later, working in a slightly different role that encompasses working as a clinician and an academic, having learnt much in those interim years about self-care, motivation, determination, and resiliency, my purpose statement reflects this:

“To be an effective leader, to inspire others and make a difference whilst maintaining a balanced life” .

Reflecting on this example, it can be seen that your purpose in life is not necessarily static, but will change with life experience, personal growth, and development. This example also demonstrates how autonomy and striving for competence play an important role in purpose. People who have a clear vision of what they are endeavoring and motivated to do are more likely to remain strong and work through the tough times. There is evidence to suggest that individuals who have a clear purpose have lower stress levels and a higher degree of resilience [ 12 ].

2.2. The Challenge: To Articulate a Personal Purpose Statement

Start by reflecting on the questions below, which will help identify what is important to you, your values, and the difference you want to achieve. Start to craft your personal purpose statement in 50 words or less. Details of how you will accomplish your purpose can be articulated in your goals.

• What bring happiness to my life?
• How do I want to make a difference?
• What legacy do I want to leave behind?
• What are my strengths?
• What are my top five core values?

A purpose statement will most likely change over time depending on what is happening in your life. Set aside time every year to review your purpose statement and make adjustments as required.

3. Physical Endurance

Participating in physical endurance has been associated with a more positive mindset as a result of endorphin release. Improving physical endurance has also been associated with lower levels of anxiety, depression, and stress. It is interesting that McEwen chose to use physical endurance and not simply physical fitness in the framework. It is useful when linking to grit and resilience development by adding the element of being able to press through a tough situation. Regular physical exercise has been associated with many advantages, including positive physiological and psychological benefits, protecting against the potential effects of stressful events, and protection against chronic diseases [ 13 ]. However, these messages remain insufficient to motivate us to get active and continue physical activity. Instead, the promotion of the mental health rewards from being active which can be immediate, may provide a better motivator. Benefits such as decreased stress, increased self-esteem, reduced levels of depression and anxiety, improved quality of sleep, and overall increased levels of energy may provide the incentive to not only start, but also maintain, a regular commitment to engage in physical activity and self-care [ 13 ]. Another approach to encouraging self-care, specifically related to health care workers, is to consider how this can enhance the care delivered to patients. A resilience training program to reduce burnout has been specifically developed for clinicians [ 14 ]. The authors saw the importance of self-care and designed several self-care and personal reflective questions to train and limit negative self-talk. One of the questions included “How can I take care of myself so that I can be of service to others?”. This may be another way to motivate and continue participation in more physical endurance, physical activity, and self-care.

3.1. Physical Endurance Case Study (K.J.W.)

Moving into an academic administrative position was challenging. New responsibilities to learn, increased workload, challenging interpersonal dynamics, and the never-ending emails and phone calls. I quickly learned that my “safe place” was either in the gym or out for a run. Listening to music and letting my mind drift away from work-related pressures for those 30 to 60 min was the self-care I needed to rejuvenate, do something good for myself, and approach work with a clearer frame of mind. The discipline to make a regular commitment to exercise was important, and those times when life was busy and the commitment waivered at times resulted in reduced efficiency and productivity.

Reflecting on this example, it can be seen that physical activity and self-care play important roles in combatting challenging situations by maintaining mental and physical wellness. Physical fitness helps develop resilience, as regular physical activity can produce positive physiologic and psychological benefits, which provide protection against the potential consequences of stressful events [ 13 ]. Participating in regular physical activity will look different to different people. Self-care should be looked at through a different lens and be seen as an investment that can lead to optimizing productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness.

3.2. The Physical Activity Challenge

The key to participating in physical fitness is to find exercise that is enjoyable and that can be built into a daily routine. Choose activities that you enjoy and that align with your lifestyle and abilities. One of the largest hurdles to overcome is making new habits or routines long-lasting. Use an evidence-based approach—start small and set small achievable and realistic goals. As these goals are met, self-confidence will increase, as well as momentum and motivation. Move to more challenging goals. In addition, using triggers is an excellent way to build a routine. These can be simple reminders, an alert or a specific time of day that acts as a cue, enabling your routine to become automatic.

Challenge yourself to commit to building physical activity into your everyday routine, and keep a diary to look back on your achievements and reflect on differences you see, for example, in energy levels, sleep, self-confidence, productivity, and efficiency.

4. Mental Toughness

Mental toughness has been studied extensively in the sports industry, and is associated with an individual’s ability to deal effectively with challenges and persist under pressure. Individuals with high levels of mental toughness often see challenges as opportunities for personal growth and learning [ 15 ]. Mental toughness is associated with greater well-being, lower perceived stress levels, and fewer depressive symptoms. Mental toughness, also described as grit, is gaining interest with other non-sport disciplines, including health professions and health professional educators [ 15 ]. The attributes associated with mental toughness, such as stamina, determination, persistence, endurance, achievement orientated, optimism, and excellence, can be seen as beneficial when working in health care organizations. Although there is some evidence that approximately 50% of variation in mental toughness is genetic [ 15 ], theories exist that developing mental toughness involves challenging yourself, learning from your failings, and believing that failure is not a permanent condition [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. However, little is known about how to build it, so again we turn to the sporting world. In a study interviewing several elite athletes, some common underlying mechanisms associated with the development and sustainability of mental toughness were identified [ 18 ]. These included motivational factors, such as enjoyment and the need for mastery. Connection and a support network were also identified as important factors, as well as a desire to succeed. Importantly, the development of mental toughness was recognized as a trait that developed over time. These findings aligned with those of a study that interviewed a group of Paralympians about mental toughness, and found that their key characteristics included determination, optimism, self-belief, and autonomy [ 19 ]. Two themes emerge around mental toughness development, namely, (1) cognitive strategies, such as challenge, recovery from setbacks and failure, sustained commitment, mind-set, and acceptance, and (2) support resources, such as social support from others and reflection.

4.1. Mental Toughness Case Study (K.J.W.)

We recently had a manuscript rejected from a leading medical education journal that we collaboratively wrote with two other colleagues. As with many manuscript rejections, it can be tempting to withdraw without resubmission elsewhere based on the comments received, and move on to focus on the next manuscript. Alternatively, we could have lowered our expectations and submitted to a journal of a perceived lower quality, or simply felt the effort needed to change the manuscript was not worth the time we needed to invest. By relying on each other and our colleagues, we instead used the feedback provided to better the manuscript and talked through the challenging comments and our emotions together. We took it as an opportunity to improve our skills, specifically around how we chose to present the data. In the end, we submitted to another leading journal and were accepted.

Reflecting on this example, it can be seen that there is incredible value in collaboration and connection with others. Resilience is about asking for help and recognizing when your way is not working. It is about reaching out and connecting with others, because resilient people ask for help more often and have the highest number of positive relationships available when needed [ 20 ].

This case study also demonstrates the importance of failing in life and how failure is approached. The most resilient people have the trait of mental flexibility, to allow them to fail absorb, recover and review, change course, pick themselves up, and continue adapting to the environment [ 21 ]. Mental toughness and grit are the ability to persevere with something when things get tough. People with high levels of mental toughness can push beyond barriers towards success [ 22 ].

4.2. The Mental Toughness Challenge

Grit is defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals that drives individuals to work through challenges, including failure and adversity, over a sustained period of time [ 22 ]. Challenge yourself to listen to the TED talk by Angela Duckworth titled Grit—The Power of Passion and Perseverance [ 23 ]. Start to reflect on situations in which you have experienced failure. Then start training yourself to think optimistically and find the positive in every situation, and for the next 30 days keep a journal to reflect and look back on.

5. Emotional Balance

Emotional balance is often described as the ability of the mind and body to maintain equilibrium and flexibility during times of adversity, stress, and change [ 9 ]. Developing emotional balance is key in developing resilience. Self-awareness, focus, and mindfulness are often said to be three interconnected skills that enable people to exercise emotional balance. To develop emotional balance, there is a need to become aware of emotions being experienced and to then be able to identify were they are coming from. At this stage, it is important to introduce mindfulness and emotional regulation to respond to these emotions with intention, rather than with an automatic or unconscious response. Commander Mark Divine, a retired Navy SEAL takes a similar, but slightly different, approach to developing emotional balance and discusses the concept of emotional resilience. In his book Unbeatable Mind , he describes strategies to assist maximizing peoples’ potential in order to enable leading a more balanced successful and happy life [ 24 ]. Part of his teaching is using a four-step emotional resilience framework:

• Learn to recognize negative emotions as they start to arise and appear
• Identify the root cause for the negative emotion
• Intentionally transfer the negative root emotion to a positive counterpart
• Engage the new positive emotion with self-talk, helping to divert attention to focus on something more positive.

Positive self-talk has been used extensively in the sports world, and places emphasis on attention control, increasing concentration, and reducing anxiety, with a view to challenging irrational beliefs [ 25 ]. Self-talk is becoming an increasing popular tool in health care. A workplace resilience program specifically designed to strengthen resilience in mental health nurses found that using positive self-talk strategies and challenging negative thoughts greatly assisted in reframing stressors, problem solving, and responding to challenging situations more effectively [ 26 ].

5.1. Case study Emotional Intelligence (K.M.W.)

Self-doubt, the fear of failure, and imposter syndrome are often highlighted in the workshops I run on resilience as factors that can deplete a person’s resilience. Recently, I had the opportunity to reflect on this when talking with a colleague about their reluctance to accept an opportunity to undertake some research in the workplace. On listening to their concerns, the beliefs of not being good enough and their fear of failing were evident.

Reflecting on this scenario, it can be seen that self-doubt occurs when there is a lack of confidence, when there is uncertainty and concerns about things not going to plan.

A degree of self-doubt is good, as it indicates an understanding that we are not always right and there is a need to improve and continually grow and develop. However, persistent self-doubt can allow people to become stuck and prevent them from achieving their full potential. The reasons for self-doubt can be numerous, including previous mistakes, childhood upbringing, and constantly comparing with others. The fear of failing is also common but, interestingly, a point raised by Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Big Magic-Creative Living Beyond Fear is about the fear of success and the fear of being able to replicate her success [ 27 ].

5.2. Emotional Balance Challenge

Familiarize yourself with Divine’s emotional resilience framework [ 24 ] and begin to start recognizing feelings of self-doubt. Prioritize time to reflect on your emotions, commit to regular journaling, and specifically write about actions taken to stop the negative consequences of self-doubt. These may include strategies such as positive self-talk, dealing with setbacks, or connecting with others. Make note of the strategies that work for you and focus on developing and refining them to best suit your own personal needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone within the pharmacy profession, from undergraduate students, communities, hospitals, academics, and regulatory pharmacists. With significant changes to workforce and workflows, changed working environments, different ways to communicate, and the speed at which these changes had to be introduced, have impacted significantly on individuals, teams, and organizations. It has brought to the forefront the need to introduce resilience training into undergraduate curricula and continued professional development programs. Resilience is a complex concept and utilizing a framework may be helpful in identifying areas for individuals to work on in the journey towards developing resilience.

Having purpose provides perspective, motivation, and determination, which enables the ability to bounce back in challenging times. Developing physical fitness brings many health benefits and requires discipline in order to build it into a regular routine. Developing grit though mental toughness builds the capacity to be flexible and cope with the challenges of life and work. Self-awareness and the ability to recognize negative emotions, to then take action and turn into more positive thinking, is a skill that builds resilience. In addition, resilient people recognize the need to connect with others and work with likeminded positive people. When the traits of grit, motivation, and resilience are evident, then it becomes easier to give up on giving in.

Acknowledgments

Author contributions.

Conceptualization, K.M.W. and K.J.W.; research, K.M.W. and K.J.W.; writing—original draft preparation, K.M.W. and K.J.W.; writing—review and editing, K.M.W. and K.J.W. Both authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Novel — True Grit: An Alternate Perspective

True Grit: an Alternate Perspective

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Published: Oct 26, 2018

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Why Teens Should Start Developing Grit (And How To Build It)

What does the checklist for your teenager’s next few years of high school look like? Chances are it includes:

• Good grades
• Solid SAT or ACT scores
• Positive social experiences
• Rewarding extracurriculars

But what if that checklist didn’t guarantee  your teenager’s success  beyond perhaps getting into college? In fact, what if the checklist that perhaps most guaranteed your teenager would grow into a thriving adult looked more like this:

• Develop grit

Yes, grit. For most parents, grit is not what leaps to mind when we think about what we want for our teenagers. But it should.

That’s because researchers have identified that when it comes figuring out the key to success, grit is an important piece of the equation.

So, what is grit ? “It’s perseverance in pursuit of a passion,” explains Paul Tough, author of  How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character.  “It’s those people who have a big goal or dream and don’t let anything interrupt them in pursuit of that.”

Tough suggests that our schools—and perhaps we parents—have been too focused on our teenager’s cognitive abilities. “IQ, the narrow band of skills that get measured on standardized tests, is not the only quality that matters in a child’s success.”

“Scientists and educators have identified a very different set of skills that are at least as important as IQ,” he adds. These skills include traits like curiosity, conscientiousness, self-control, optimism and, you guessed it, grit. “Grit gets most of the attention,” says Tough.

The credit for that goes to University of Pennsylvania psychologist, Angela Duckworth. Duckworth developed a way to  measure grit via a questionnaire  she calls the “grit scale.” She found that how well an individual scores on this grit scale is a better predictor of success than IQ, test scores, grades, and other talents.

For example, Duckworth found that the most successful freshmen at Penn were students with the highest grit scores. Grit was more important than being at the top of their high school class (as measured by GPA and test scores). She found the same thing with contestants at the National Spelling Bee. Those with the most grit beat those with higher verbal IQ scores. And her test was a great predictor of success at West Point. The cadets with the highest grit score were most likely to finish Beast Barracks, the grueling basic-training course.

It’s not that our cognitive abilities and other talents aren’t important. They are. In fact, most of us, no matter how much grit we have, will never write a Pulitzer Prize winning novel or win a marathon or make a major scientific breakthrough.

Rather, Duckworth has shown that these abilities, on their own, are not a guarantee. Grit matters too.

Researchers are still investigating why some of us have lots of grit and others not so much—and, as Tough jokes, there are no grit camps or classes … yet. But there are ways that parents can foster grit in their children that may at first seem counterintuitive to our instincts to protect them.

3 Ideas About How To Teach Resilience:

1. let your kids stumble..

In fact, instead of more, we parents may need to do less .

Take a look at Duckworth’s questionnaire, and you’ll see that how we respond to setbacks is a key to grit. “A lot of how parents protect their kids is by intervening,” Tough told  Your Teen.  “It’s born out of thinking we’re helping our kids. But it can be counterproductive.” Indeed, when teenagers overcome setbacks, they learn that if they try again and again, they can succeed.

When it comes to homework, for example, leave it alone. “Don’t bring it to them” when they forget it, says Madeline Levine, psychologist and author of  Teach Your Children Well .  “That’s a really valuable lesson. Let your teenager can come up with a better strategy.” While it’s difficult to watch our teenagers stumble, think of it as chalking one up for grit.

“At some point, no matter how smart you are, you will hit a wall,” notes Brent Bussboom, an English teacher at Reno High School. “The teenagers whose parents let them struggle appropriately are the kids who know that if they work at it, they are going to get it.”

2. Make sure they are challenged.

Experts also advise parents to ensure that teens’ work is challenging enough.

While writing  How Children Succeed,  Tough spent many hours with Dominic Randolph, headmaster of the Riverdale Country School in New York City. “His school was doing fantastically in lots of ways,” explains Tough. “But, he was worried about his students. He felt that the school and the parents were protecting the students from real challenge.”

The students at Riverdale worked hard. But academic stress is not necessarily a grit-building challenge. “For me,” says Tough, “it’s like the difference between exercising on a treadmill and climbing a mountain. Running on a treadmill is really hard. But punching in those numbers to set your workout pretty much guarantees you are going to make it through the end. But, when you climb a mountain, you don’t know what’s going to happen. You are taking a risk and you might actually fail.”

Now, before you pick up the phone and call Outward Bound, consider what Tough means by challenge. “I think there are ways that teenagers want to be challenged—and take some risks. They might ride the subway alone or take a harder class where they might get a B minus instead of an A. It’s that kind of push that many kids need.”

3. Encourage them to push themselves.

Another way to approach building grit is to encourage your teenager to take a step outside their comfort zone. Encourage them to confront a challenge where the outcome is not guaranteed.

Some ideas. Has your teenager been in the same theater club since elementary school? Encourage them to audition for a more prestigious company in town. Does your teenager love playing in the high school band? Help them look for other performance opportunities out there, like perhaps your city’s youth orchestra program. Do you drive your teenager everywhere? Get out the bus schedule.

And, if these new experiences don’t go so well, chalk another one up for grit and encourage your teenager to try again.

Diana Simeon is an editorial consultant for  Your Teen.