Hey hockey‑parents, this week let’s talk about: “The Ever‑Shrinking Grit Score.” I promise it’s relevant to your rink‑runs, drive times, and weekend tournament wars. Let’s lace up.
We used to talk about grit like it was baked into the game, into life. You earned it through sweat, setbacks, and showing up when nobody else wanted to. Why does it feel like grit, the old-school, get-back-up-and-keep-pushing kind, is slowly disappearing?
We’re not imagining it. It’s happening. It’s not just slipping, it’s shrinking, and fast.
Society and the Eroding Grit
We dug into the numbers, and they’re pretty telling. As tech innovation has surged, our “work ethic” has dipped. As a society, we’re working less, scrolling more, and letting screens do the heavy lifting. The rise of convenience has quietly replaced the grind. To quantify this, let’s consider the following:
Since the 1950s, this score has been declining steadily. After 2000? It tanks. More screens, more comfort, fewer challenges. And here’s the kicker, As our Grit Score drops, anxiety rises.
Tech Made Life Easier — But Are We Getting Softer?
We’re not here to bash innovation. Tech has made life more efficient, no doubt. Tasks that once took hours now take seconds. But the real question is: what are we doing with all that extra time? Are we using it to build, create, and push ourselves further, or just to scroll, consume, and coast?
Too often, we choose comfort over challenge. We binge instead of build. And as parents/adults, we’re not immune. In the midst of it all, we somehow convince ourselves that a full schedule is a gritty schedule, that structure equals strength. So we load up our kids with before-school skill sessions to make the travel teams, and add enrichment programs and tutors to help them excel (or just keep up) academically.
Our kids are busy, sure. But are they becoming gritty? Or just really good at following instructions?
Grit Can’t Be Scheduled
You can’t synthesize or replicate grit in a lab. Grit is raw, and it can show up in anything. It’s the time they choose to work, not because they have to, but because they’re passionate, curious, and hungry to push limits and expand their own horizons.
The Edge We’re Missing
Here’s the irony: in a world built to make everything easier, grit has quietly become a rare competitive edge. The ability to delay gratification, to lean into boredom, to keep pursuing something long before the payoff, that’s no longer the norm. That’s the exception, but the truth is, we struggle with this as adults, too.
And maybe that’s the problem. We’ve engineered convenience so well that struggle now feels optional, even avoidable. But resilience doesn’t come from ease. It comes from the hard reps, the off days, the quiet moments when no one’s watching, and you still show up.
As a society, we have to be cognizant of this decline in grit. More importantly, we have to be disciplined enough to reverse it, to earn grit daily by moving our bodies, challenging our minds, and engaging our imaginations. Grit isn’t just a personal trait; it’s a cultural muscle, and we all have a role in strengthening it.
Because grit can’t be outsourced.
It has to be modeled.
It has to be lived.
That’s the edge.
That’s Grit Kore.
Find. A. Way.
Greg
