Why Resilience — Not Grit — Is the Mindset Educators Need to Beat Burnout
- Dr. Nicole Forrest
- Apr 26
- 6 min read
Table of Contents
Sheer determination and will. The power to go on despite the odds. Holding on for dear life because this is what hard work is all about. Sweat. Tears. This is grit.
Whether you are running a marathon or plugging away through the travails of life, those fighters out there get through the painful moments by buckling down, gritting their teeth, and moving forward.
Grit can get us through these challenges, but sometimes we do it at the cost of what matters - our values and relationships.
What about resilience? Maybe rather than just plowing ahead through a difficult task, we adapt and maintain what matters most to us? Maybe we let go and adjust to the demands weighing on us?
This past week, I listened to Simon Sinek’s latest podcast episode where he speaks with Corey Richards, a National Geographic photographer who successfully climbed Mt. Everest without oxygen.
We choose how to show up and handle the conflicts thrown at us. The resilient ones and not necessarily the gritty individuals, will triumph.
Toward the end of the conversation, when Sinek discusses the challenges he faced with writing Leaders Eat Last (an incredible book!), Richards distinguishes grit and resilience.
He states that with a gritty mindset, individuals sometimes surrender their values to move forward and accomplish a task, sacrificing relationships, ethics, and more. When we are resilient, though, we learn when to let go and can still bounce back.
While grit may push us through challenges, resilience offers a healthier, more sustainable path, especially for educators. It’s time we shift our focus.
Why Resilience Matters
As we approach the final stretch of the school year, the demands on educators intensify - state testing, spring & summer fever, and dwindling energy levels can make this period particularly challenging. In these moments, resilience becomes a vital skill that enables educators to navigate adversity and maintain their well-being.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), “resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands” (APA, 2020).
It's not about avoiding difficulty—it’s about navigating through it, finding a way to adapt, recover, and even grow because of it. Like most things in life, this capacity is not innate and can be developed and strengthened over time.
Resilience is not only beneficial for educators' well-being but also has a positive impact on their professional effectiveness. Educators who cultivate resilience are better equipped to manage classroom challenges, adapt to changes, and maintain a positive and productive learning environment for their students. You want to thrive rather than survive? Be resilient.
Without resilience, the stressors that ebb and flow throughout the school year will surely lead to burnout, compassion fatigue, and disconnection—not just from the work we love, but from the students who need us most and maybe even our loved ones.
Unlike grit, which often demands solitary endurance, resilience reminds us that strength is found in connection.
If we choose a gritty approach, we approach challenges as if we are at war. What happens in war? Humans do horrible things. Grit can help us overcome a challenge that is not ethically complex, like an exercise routine. However, when it comes to the challenges in the classroom or real life, grit could lead to poor choices where values fly right out the window.
Where grit may push us to endure at any cost, resilience teaches us to adapt while preserving our well-being and relationships.
Research by Masten (2001) emphasizes the concept of "ordinary magic," referring to the resilience processes that are common and can be nurtured through everyday interactions and environments.
We choose how to show up and handle the conflicts thrown at us. The resilient ones and not necessarily the gritty individuals, will triumph. Now that we’ve seen why resilience matters more than grit, let’s talk about how to build it.
4 Ways Educators Can Develop a Resilient Mindset
Resilience is a set of adaptive systems that can be supported and developed – it is attainable for all if we commit ourselves intentionally to developing our resilient mindset.
So, what can you do to develop your resilience? Here are four strategies that have helped me be resilient despite the hurdles I face.
Connections
Unlike grit, which often demands solitary endurance, resilience reminds us that strength is found in connection. Create strong, meaningful relationships with a core group of individuals and the ones you serve. This can be challenging for principals who oversee many staff, so be methodical and strategic about how you connect and when.
Try to create systems that will help you build connections so that you have a strong foundation to encourage you in those times when things seem darkest.
Think outside of networking with colleagues and seek professional development opportunities that can be energizing and inspire hope for the future. PD can also provide you with some of the answers that you might need to overcome the challenges you face. So not only will you build connections, you will also come away with some skills.
Lean into hope and optimism. Rather than complain, problem-solve. Rather than thinking the worst, be empathetic and understanding.
Prioritizing wellness
We must take care of ourselves and prioritize our wellness. Yoga, running, a walk in the park, anything that gets you moving and the oxygen flowing through you will bring clarity to your mind and ensure your well-being.
When we do not take care of ourselves, physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually, our hope and willpower to triumph wane. Make time, even if it is 20 minutes a day, to do something that promotes wellness.
Make healthy choices with what you put into your body as well. The food you eat and the beverages you drink can have a profound impact on your well-being. I’m not a nutritionist, but I would check out the CDC’s website or the Mediterranean Diet, which is proven to lead to a healthier body.
Engaging in healthy thinking
What is your internal script? What is your lens? What is your communication style? If you air on the negative for all three, then you are probably not going to have the most healthy outlook, which will hinder your resilience.
Rather than holding yourself accountable, you will place the blame on others. Whether that is blaming the students, parents, co-workers, or administration. Those who do not have a healthy outlook can not be resilient. You are encumbered by your own mind.
Instead, try to shift to the positive. Lean into hope and optimism. Rather than complain, problem-solve. Rather than thinking the worst, be empathetic and understanding. Hold yourself accountable because that is what healthy individuals do.
If we are gritty, we have that fight or flight mindset, which can lead to poor choices and thinking. Resilience allows us to be flexible thinkers who are empowered to pivot.
Finding purpose
I’m going to get a little deep with this one. To be resilient, you must have purpose, one of our core human needs. Without purpose, we are rudderless.
For educators, we are fortunate enough that our purpose is a noble one - ensuring that we educate and inspire the next generation so that they can be and do better than the previous one.
If this is not your purpose, that’s ok, too. Reflect on why you do what you do. What drives you? What is your “why"? When you define that why, it is easier to be resilient amidst adversity. You will stay true to what matters most to you.
Without values, you're vapid. With values, you're victorious.
One Last Thought
Having a resilient mindset during challenging times will empower you to get through those challenges and flexibly adapt. We do not always have to get from point A to point B in a straight line.
Sometimes there is a fork in the road and we diverge, just like in Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” A resilient mind knows that this, too, shall pass, and we will get out to the other side. We do not always have to have our claws out, gripping for dear life.
Sometimes, it is ok to let go. Sometimes, we need to choose a different path. That doesn’t make us weak or a failure – quite the opposite. It shows that we have the mental fortitude to move on, and that is what resilience is all about.
Resilience doesn’t mean clinging to one path no matter the cost. It means adapting with grace and courage. Choosing a new road isn’t failure - it’s fortitude.
____________________________________
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
References
American Psychological Association. (2020). Resilience. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience
Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56(3), 227–238. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.227
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