Grit is perhaps the biggest quality in anybody. A gritty person never fails in life...

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The question is how do we generate grit in children starting at a very early age?

At a deeper level, to truly succeed, children need to cultivate nerves of steel and not just grit.

Outwardly grit, if not matched with inner strength, is likely to cause more harm than good. The only way to cultivate true inner strength or nerves of steel is tough outdoors and exposure to military culture, especially at a younger age.

People who are merely gritty and do not have nerves of steel often end up damaging their health with just grit. Also, regardless of the desired level of grit, compassion comes first. Unless compassion is a starting point, just pushing grit can cause behavioral problems such as excessive aggression.

Encouraging fearlessness and empathy without fear or cruelty is the key. Nerves of steel do not merely mean higher testosterone and larger adrenals. It is the ability to go to war and look at the enemy in the eye without getting heart-attack, blood-pressure, or diabetes.

It means not backing off, standing your ground but with good solid sleep at night. It also means retreating or accepting defeat without lamenting or getting depressed. Gandhi and Martin Luther King had nerves of steel and Hitler only grit.

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