Waypower + Willpower

Over past decade or so, there has been great emphasis on resilience, grit, and as Carol Dweck calls it a “growth mindset” in education.

Certainly, resilience is an important durable skill. Resilience helps us persevere and try and try again when the going gets tough. Willpower can do a lot for a person, an organization, and even a community.

However, willpower can fall flat without its counterpart, waypower. Hope researcher, Charles Snyder defines waypower as “the ability to find a new pathway to reach a goal.”

If we continue to try and try again while using the same methods and continue to struggle and flounder, we will get tired, burn out, and will likely give up. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. It feels futile to continue to wear ourselves out unnecessarily. True wisdom is knowing when to keep trying and when it’s time to try something else.

I love when Tim Grover who was Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan’s personal trainer tells stories about each of them and their training regiments. Grover explains that if Kobe believed that trying something (that he suggested) would make him even the slightest bit better, he was willing to give it a shot. I also love the weekly email from George Couros. This week he outlined lessons learned from his daughter, Kallea’s experience in youth basketball camp. Thinking this was a camp for beginners, he watched her struggle, but she kept listening to the coaches and their feedback and made incredible progress. So much so, she was recognized as “Most Improved Player of the Week.” And she was ready to come back for more.

This story illustrates the value of willpower when paired with waypower. Kallea’s coaches gave her actionable feedback which outlined a clear path to success. Seeing that clear path bolstered her will to stick with it and continue trying. Her strategic efforts led to improvement which was very motivating! The brain is more motivated by how far we’ve come than how far we have to go. Which makes sense because when you see something is working, it makes you want to keep working at it, refining that practice or skill.

This is why my definition for happiness in Legacy of Learning is growth. Because growth reminds us that our behavior matters. In this day and age, that reminder feels especially important. Growth reminds us of the active, meaningful role we can play in our lives and in the lives of others. So let’s celebrate that and let’s not stop celebrating it.

Too often, vision and even feedback in schools while meant to be motivational is not actionable. “We’ve got to get these test scores up” is not a leadership statement or action. It’s a statement of the obvious. We all want our students to do well. Saying we need to “do better” does not create a path forward. It might inspire some to try by throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. For others, it might feel scary and cause them to shutdown. Either way, it’s unfair to expect people to lean on willpower alone.

Instead, let’s think like Grover and Bryant. What mosquito move can we try that we believe will make a positive impact- even a small one? That’s the kind of waypower that ignites our will to keep trying.

Willpower without waypower is not sustainable and can be toxic.

Willpower fueled by waypower is life-giving and motivating the heart and the mind.

How can you fuel learners and their will to succeed by providing a clear path forward this school year?

Every human being deserves to feel calm and capable in their learning.