Tenacity is the ability to hold on over time, even when difficulties pile up. At school, it counts as much as natural ability: it is what makes a child redo a failed exercise, go back over a misunderstood chapter or prepare for an exam right to the end. The good news: it can be learned.
Tenacity: meaning
Tenacity is the quality of a tenacious person: someone who pursues a goal steadily, without being stopped by obstacles, fatigue or a first failure. The word comes from the Latin tenax, “holding fast”.
The term also has a concrete meaning: in physics, the tenacity (or toughness) of a material is its resistance to breaking. The image speaks for itself: a tenacious person “does not break” under pressure.
In French, the word is spelled ténacité with an accent, but tenace without one, a frequent source of hesitation. In English, both tenacity and tenacious are written without accents.
Synonyms for tenacity
Depending on the context, several words come close, with shades of meaning:
- perseverance: keeping up the effort over time, the closest synonym;
- determination: the firmness of the initial decision;
- consistency: the regularity of the effort, day after day;
- doggedness: very strong tenacity, sometimes close to stubbornness;
- obstinacy and relentlessness: often used with a negative nuance, when someone persists in the wrong place.
Its opposites are inconstancy, discouragement or giving up. The difference between tenacity and obstinacy lies in flexibility: a tenacious person keeps the goal, but agrees to change method when it does not work.
How do you recognise a tenacious person?
Being tenacious does not mean never having doubts. A tenacious person:
- knows what they want to achieve, and why;
- breaks a distant goal down into manageable steps;
- sees a mistake as information, not as a verdict;
- gets back to work after a bad mark instead of avoiding it;
- accepts help when stuck, without seeing it as a sign of weakness.
In a child or teenager, you see it in small things: rereading an instruction instead of saying “I don’t know”, starting an exercise again, coming back to a subject that keeps resisting.
Tenacity and “grit”: what research says
American psychologist Angela Duckworth popularised the word grit. With her colleagues, she defined it in 2007 as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals”. Her best-known image: living life like a marathon, not a sprint.
In her early studies, the “grittiest” people more often saw their projects through, at equal intelligence. The message spread through schools: sustained effort counts, not just talent.
Later research calls for nuance. A 2017 meta-analysis (Credé and colleagues, 88 samples, nearly 67,000 people) concluded that grit is only moderately linked to success and closely resembles a well-known personality trait, conscientiousness. What matters most is perseverance of effort, more than consistency of interests.
So remember this: tenacity really helps, but it does not do everything. Good methods, the right explanation at the right time and the context (sleep, family climate, equipment) weigh just as much.
How can you develop your child’s tenacity?
Tenacity is built through experience: achieving something difficult after sticking with it. Here are four levers within your reach.
1. Set realistic goals together
A goal chosen by the child motivates more than an imposed one. Help them put it into words, then break it down. “Pass Dutch” becomes “master the present tense this week, then the past tense”.
Avoid aiming at everything at once. A pupil chasing three ambitious goals at the same time wears out and gives up sooner.
2. Change the way you look at failure
After a bad mark, negative thoughts come quickly. A simple exercise, used in some classrooms and inspired by psychologist Martin Seligman’s work on optimism, is to sort them:
- permanent thoughts (“I’m hopeless at maths”);
- temporary thoughts (“I didn’t revise this chapter enough”);
- causes that depend on them (“I didn’t ask my question in class”);
- causes that depend on others (“the teacher went too fast”).
Temporary explanations, and those they can act on, make them want to try again. The little word “yet” helps a lot: “I don’t understand equations yet”.
3. Give them time to search
When a child gets stuck, the natural reflex is to give them the answer. Instead, give them a few minutes, then guide them with a question. Finding the answer alone after searching teaches that effort pays off.
Also talk about people around you who faced difficulties before succeeding. A real path, close to home, inspires more than a distant champion.
4. Praise effort and strategy
Saying “you’re so clever” can make a child cautious: they then avoid anything that might make them fail. Psychologist Carol Dweck’s work points in this direction. Prefer “you tried three times and you found it” or “your new method worked”.
A pupil for whom everything comes easily in primary school has sometimes never learned to persevere: the first real difficulty, often in secondary school, throws them off balance. Offer them challenges that match their level.
When tenacity is no longer enough
Insisting without understanding ends up discouraging. If your child works hard without progressing, the problem often lies in the method or an old gap. An outside view then helps to start again on a sound footing.
At My Sherpa, an educational advisor chooses a coach for your child who suits their level and personality. Lessons take place at home anywhere in Belgium, or online. Our coaches work on the subject, but also on study skills and confidence, which feed tenacity.
To go further: our 5 tips to study and pass your exams, and our article about the child who doesn’t like school. Also discover our private tutoring in secondary school.
