Staying Positive Step 2

Staying Positive: The ability to use tactics and strategies to overcome setbacks and achieve goals.

Step 2: I keep trying when something goes wrong

Outcomes

To achieve Step 2, learners will show that they can keep trying when something goes wrong.

In earlier steps, the focus was on identifying emotions in themselves and others. This is an essential precursor to being able to manage the emotional response to give up when something goes wrong, and to keep trying instead.

Learners need to be able to:

Identify their emotional responses when something goes wrong
Know how to overcome the urge to give up, and instead to keep trying

Introduction

In life there are things that are far beyond our control and it is inevitable that sometimes things go wrong.
It is very natural and normal for this to make us feel negative emotions (sad, angry, disappointed, fed up).
We can avoid letting our emotional responses overwhelm us and can think about how to be resilient. That is, how do we keep going despite feeling negative emotions?

Skill Starter

No Limits

In pairs, learners discuss how many press ups, sit ups or squats they might be able to do.

Give learners at set period of time to achieve their ‘limit’.

As the learner reaches their perceived limit, get the partner to encourage them and be positive about getting passed their target.

10 mins

Paired activity

Active

Teach & Apply

There are different strategies you could use to build your resilience and manage your emotional responses:
- Recognise your emotions and why you feel like that: Naming your emotions can help in understanding and managing them.
- Focus on what has been going well: It’s important not to lose sight of the positive things.
- Put the setback in perspective: For smaller setbacks, there are probably alternative ways to achieve something. Even bigger setbacks will not be as overwhelming as they might first appear.
- Think about taking positive action: When you feel ready to, think about what you could do next which would be a positive way forward.

Optional Activity

Goal in Mind

In team activities, set targets such as scoring several goals, using the equipment correctly, getting everyone involved.

In the team activity, learners should focus on the goal and stay positive when things might go wrong. Once the goal is achieved, reset and come up with a new goal.

As a challenge select a team member to deliberately disruptive and not work towards the goal. How does the team stay positive?

15 mins

Group activity

Active

Reflection & Assessment

Embed these strategies across your teaching and coaching to help learners apply what they’ve learnt.

Sometimes when learners are facing setbacks themselves, a coach can play an important role in helping them to identify negative emotions they are feeling in response, and encourage them to continue to persist.

Use these ideas for ways of assessing this skill step to help you check learners’ understanding and confidence.

This step is best assessed through discussion and sustained observation, as learners face setbacks in their learning. It might also be explored through discussion, talking to learners about how they respond to setbacks in their wider lives.
Ask these reflective questions:
- How do you feel when something goes wrong?
- Why might negative emotions make you want to give up?
- How can you try to keep going instead?