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An Easy Way to Develop Grit: The Cheat Code to Success

We recommend starting with part one of this two-part post: “What is Grit? Why Does Grit Matter?

A “cheat code” to success?

Although using grit isn’t really cheating, it could seem that someone who is using these tips has figured out “the cheat codes to success”. Knowing “how the game is played” can help you make the most of your time and opportunities, which is like finding the shortcuts! Developing and using “grit” to achieve your goals is the closest thing to having the cheat codes for a successful future.

How to make the development of grit easy

The Career Prep Academy system can help you find your own personal shortcuts for the difficult steps of finishing high school, planning for college, selecting a career path, and starting your career. 

The progress and sense of accomplishment makes it easier to develop grit, which is essentially the ability to “stick with it”, or rather, not quit when you face difficulty. These tips make it easier to make the most of your time and opportunities.

  • Define your goal: If a goal is some fuzzy idea of something you would “maybe” like to do in the future, that goal isn’t REAL to you. You won’t be committed to completing the goal. Dropping out or changing your mind many times won’t matter since the goal was never more than a fleeting idea.
  • Discover the steps: It’s impossible to know EVERY step to complete and prepare for each hardship that must be conquered along the way. But having a general idea of the demands of completing the goal and the difficulties you will face makes it a lot less scary to deal with the idea of taking on a goal that can take years to accomplish.
  • Create a to-do list: When you have a well-defined goal and you know what main steps must be taken, you can start planning and prioritizing. This makes the hard work easier—you can plan ahead in order to make the most difficult tasks manageable. Even in high school, students get a chance to work on a term paper with a due date weeks (sometimes months) away. Students who have the foresight to plan their work, research, and create an outline, get great practice for creating a to-do list for longer term goals.
  • Learning how to ask for help: This is the part that feels most like “cheating” to some people. This is not about asking for someone to do the hard work for you. It is unfortunately quite common to feel that just asking for advice is somehow admitting defeat. There is a common misconception that an underdog has to do it all by themselves, but few things are accomplished without a helping hand, or even a “cheerleader”. (This is why students are encouraged to find a mentor in addition to a parent or guardian.) Students are often too shy to ask for help; assuming that if circumstances are not in their favor, there is no hope for help. Even if all that is needed is a ride for an after-school project, some students have been too bashful (or felt unworthy) even to ask for such a small favor. Self-advocacy is a very important part of the program, just as it is in the “real world”. Employees who aren’t afraid to ask questions and can ask for help are better able to complete goals, which improves employee evaluations. This helps an employee get the best possible amount for a raise and increases their chances for a promotion.

An amazing “side-effect” of using these tips is progress and a sense of accomplishment.

Cheat codes make video games easier, and accomplishments are a part of what makes video games fun. If you use your accomplishments the right way, you can turn the hard work of a long-term goal into something as fun as a video game.

What makes a video game fun (and “addictive”) is the use of incremental rewards. This motivates a player to complete the game. This same approach to making the most of milestones and accomplishments in your quest to complete high school and college can provide a helpful outlook. Instead of seeing the long-term goal as a daunting series of tasks, a positive mindset of incremental rewards can help you view each challenge as a new opportunity for an accomplishment. For more about this, watch this video:

Click here to learn how to properly and easily document your accomplishments (to create incremental rewards) and help with these challenges:

Current challenges

  • Select a college and major
  • Scholarship applications
  • College Applications
  • Boost your confidence

Future challenges

  • Résumé writing
  • Job search
  • Networking
  • Interviewing
  • Raises and Promotions

If you would like homework and the difficult and tedious parts of life to be as fun as a video game, contact Career Prep Academy, a service of CrossRoads. Call us at 317-842-8881.