Welcome back to our Nurturing Hope blog series, where we dive into each of the 7 steps of nurturing Hope, how it is important, and how it changes students’ lives. Today, we are going to dive into step 4, Finding Willpower.
What is Willpower?
Once we help the student develop multiple pathways to reach their goal, we support them in the process to identify what motivates them and how to use that willpower to navigate their pathways.
“Hope is the belief that tomorrow will be better than today, and that you have the power to make it so.”
We’ve talked about how important the individual student is to this definition of Hope in our blogs about Hope, Goal Setting, and Pathways. Willpower is no different. Motivation is highly personal. What gives someone the determination to go toward their goal depends on who they are, what they have experienced, and what they want in life. What motivates one student won’t be the same across the student body, so individualization is crucial to this step.
Why Guidance is Crucial
One of the benefits of My Best Me is helping students identify themselves. This helps them understand who they are to others, interact better with others, and improve their relationship with themselves through a more profound sense of personal understanding.
Children struggle on their own to understand themselves well. What motivates them and why they feel how they do can be a mystery, especially if trauma and stress are muddying the waters. Without this help from My Best Me and their teacher, students become more overwhelmed trying to navigate the pathways toward their goals. They can quickly lose sight of why they want to accomplish their goals and how they are supposed to achieve them.
My Best My guides teachers helping students identify what personally motivates them, giving them a better sense of self and through that sense of self comes Hope.
Hope Through Understanding
After Hope is introduced as a mindset, the student sees the possibility for Hope. Then, with Goal Setting, Pathways, and Willpower, Hope becomes actualized through a deeper understanding of themselves. These steps give them direct power in their life to make every tomorrow better than today, building their Hope with every success. We are so thankful for the teachers who dedicate themselves to working with each student on a personal level to help them gain Hope through My Best Me.
More in the Series
The first four steps of this process help establish Hope and provide the student with hands-on successes to grow their hope. Be sure to read Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3 to catch up!
As we continue this blog series in the coming weeks, we’ll address how problem-solving, creating a Hope visual, and re-goal setting continues to grow Hope in their lives, providing stability as they go forward.
Hope Rising SEL’s definition of Hope is making a difference in many schools and communities across the country.
If your school isn’t using My Best Me yet, we would love to help you bring Hope to your school. Our sales team is ready to answer your questions and demo My Best Me for you. Contact us to start spreading Hope in your school.
Leave a Reply