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Once again, we're nearing the end of a semester, when many students can no longer afford to put off working on their final papers, projects, and presentations -- even though they may increasingly resist the work as it looms. Although procrastination is by no means a new condition, student resistance to effort seems to be reaching previously unattained levels. One factor may be the ubiquity of ease in the modern age of technology — if students see money systems, the acquisition of goods, and communication platforms striving to make life's tasks ever easier, shouldn't learning become easier and faster as well?
This bumps up against the fact that learning is effortful. The brain needs to expend effort, often difficult and perhaps fraught with errors initially, repeatedly over time in order to create new neural pathways. As Stanford business school professor and graduate Graham Weaver describes it, life is asymmetrical, and when you reach a point where you need to change and learn, it will get worse before it rises to a new level of improvement. As he says in his 2023 "Last Lecture" at Stanford, "Everything you want is on the other side of 'worse first.'" He champions discomfort and effort as the source of growth.
It's an uphill battle in these times — perhaps it is the coach's version of "worse first" — but coaches can, with effort, help students normalize and commit to doing hard things, in the service of the valuable goals that lie beyond the work. What might those efforts look like?
- Asking a student to identify something that they have worked hard to accomplish or to do well, and have them talk through the time and effort they've put in, to remind themselves of the process
- Inviting a student to identify one effortful task they can do today that they've been avoiding, and ask them to report in on how the work made them feel
- Encouraging a student to design a way to make their efforts visible — crossing off days, checking off a list of tasks, putting stickers on a calendar, anything that helps them see more clearly that they are showing up regularly.
Just as we encourage students to lean into discomfort and do the hard things, coaches thrive when they challenge themselves to stretch, grow, and expand their impact. One way to do that is through continued training and certification—and ensuring more staff, coaches, and faculty can build the skills to better support students to succeed.
If you’re interesting in completing your LifeBound summer certification, here are two ways to get started:
Let’s keep growing so we can help others do the same.
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Free Webinar:
We’ve had a great response to today’s free webinar, Guidance for Navigating Uncertainty: Coaching Tools to Support Students and Staff, which is focused on sharing some practical strategies to support students during times of change.
We still have a few spots available. If you’d like to join us, please RSVP to Kate Mulder at katemulder@lifebound.com by 11 a.m. Eastern TODAY, April 22nd, to receive the Zoom link and attend live.
Event Details
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Time: 10 am Pacific | 11 am Mountain | 12 pm Central | 1 pm Eastern
Location: Zoom (registration required)
Cost: Free
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