3 reasons for success

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Child: "I can't do it. It's too hard."
Adult:"Aren't you glad I don't believe that?"

This is one of my favorite lines for when a child believes they cannot do something. A primary purpose of a child's education is to teach them that successful people are not born successful. Success normally comes through persistence, hard work, and a never-give-up attitude.

Here is a simple way to teach and reinforce the attributes of a successful person.

When I taught I created a large poster for our classroom that read:

  • I've been practicing.
  • I worked hard.
  • I kept trying.
When I would walk around the room to monitor learning, I would simply stop by a student's desk and point to a question or task that they had done well on. I would not say anything. When I had introduced the poster and it's concepts, I explicitly taught students that when I stopped and pointed at their work, it would mean that they need to identify which one of the three reasons for success they think had resulted in them doing good work. Without saying anything, I was asking, "Why did you get this right?" Although I was silent, the student would reply verbally with one of the three reasons.


This simple activity reinforced and recognized a student's persistence, hard work, or never-give-up attitude.


High-achievers believe that EFFORT results in their successes, NOT luck.


With something to think about,


Mr. Russell
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Pick up a copy of any Love and Logic parenting resource. You will not be disappointed!  We enjoy this one.