What a Rock Can Teach Parents About Valuing Grit, Grind, and Progress
There is much to say about grit and what it means to have grit. However, for the sake of simplicity in this rock analogy, let’s just say grit represents hardiness. Correspondingly, the more grit a rock has, the harder it is to grind down and vice versa.
To continue this analogy, let’s say an artist is grinding a large rock to shape it into a work of art. The more intensity the artist grinds with, the more progress the artist makes towards the end goal. If the artist has a short deadline, then he or she must choose a rock with a significant amount of grit so it won’t break under the pressure of intense grinding. When time is of the essence, finding a gritty rock is the most important decision. The other characteristics of the rock are secondary at best. The ultimate measurement of progress is speed to meet the deadline.
On the other hand, if the artist has plenty of time, the grittiness of the rock is less important. So the other characteristics of the rock become as, or more important than how much intense pressure the rock can withstand. In this case, the measurement of progress is not speed, but aesthetics.
Now let’s say the artist is a parent and the rock sculpture is their child. Unlike the artist, a parent can’t choose how much grit their child has, and therefore can’t predict how much intense pressure their child can withstand. Unlike the parent, the artist does not get 18 years or more to shape their work of art.
My question to you is this. Do you think time or grit is more valuable for a parent raising a child? In addition, how does a parent who puts most of their focus on grit impact their time raising their child?