Growth mindset is a buzzy phrase in education. Stanford University’s Carol Dweck coined it in her 2006 book “Mindset, The New Psychology of Success: How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential.” Dweck has been studying mindset since the 1970s, and psychology researchers have studied self-efficacy for decades. There is significant research on the benefits of believing that one’s ability isn’t fixed but mutable and that we can succeed in any situation with hard work and determination.

A lack of self-efficacy — or growth mindset — is often blamed for problems students experience in school and sports, but grit is the bigger issue. Grit is defined by psychology Professor Angela Lee Duckworth as “passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.” The struggle I see in kids is due to a lack of grit.

To build grit in our keiki, we must emphasize hard work and perseverance not only in the subjects they love and activities they enjoy but — and maybe particularly — in those areas that are not easy for them and where they struggle the most.

When I talked about it with my senior English students, they said they had learned about growth mindset in the classroom, most in middle school and some in elementary. When I asked if they felt that their success wasn’t fixed but dependent on time and effort, all said yes. One of my students shared a story about how she failed Algebra 2 last year, and this year, she is getting an A in the same course with the same teacher. For some, the amount of time and effort required is so daunting and seemingly insurmountable that it feels like one’s ability is fixed. But it isn’t — if you have grit.

The world our young have inherited presents challenges to the development of grit. Many of my students blame their lack of grit on growing up in the Information Age, where any question can be answered instantly — though not necessarily accurately. One student mentions how the easy accessibility of information and the new “miracle” of ChatGPT makes it “difficult” to try hard. Another explains that tech provides immediacy and endless support. But she notes that a lifetime of this means that whenever she encounters a challenge, even an easily solvable one, she quickly gives up and moves on to something else.

One of my track and field athletes, who embodies the idea of grit, spoke about her challenges this year. Her parents encouraged her to run, despite her history of severe back injuries and disliking running. She said that by focusing on the outcome, not the day-to-day grind, she finished the season feeling optimistic about track, even saying she “enjoyed” it. She said that grit helped her get to practice every day and run in the 200-meter dash, and changed her mindset about the sport. This suggests that the development of grit and a growth mindset works in both directions.

So what do we do? We must teach kids that talent and intelligence are mutable and that passion and perseverance should drive our actions. We need to redefine “fun” to mean challenging, not easy. We need to encourage our keiki to, as Steve Magness says in his new book, do hard things.